Celtic Connections

Toumani Diabaté with RSNO

Glasgow Royal Concert Hall

Rob Adams

FOUR STARS

The main event, billing-wise, sat between two sets of more conventional African music, a programming choice that might have emphasised the unlikely nature, the unsuitability even, of the first-ever venture in integrating the Malian and western classical traditions. Instead, it underlined just how lovingly the orchestrations had been crafted to create a natural partnership.

With Toumani Diabaté and his son Sidiki, both now, you’d have to say, absolute masters of the African harp, the kora, seated in front of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and members of Diabaté’s band, the Symmetric Orchestra, taking up position alongside their RSNO colleagues, there was an ease about the stage set-up that was matched by the use of orchestral sections as extensions of the African musical language.

Violas played gently jabbing riffs over a dancing cello undertow as the violins explored and developed a melody in sympathy with the Diabatés’ soulful improvising. It was beautiful, undulating, understated and quietly proud music that had its moments of humour – Sidiki quoting The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, as he would do again in the final set – as well as truly compelling emotional power.

Either side of this came Trio Da Kali, whose blending of balafon player, Lassana Diabaté’s amazing percussive virtuosity, Mamadou Kouyaté’s coolly energetic bass ngoni lines and Hawa Kassé Mady Diabaté’s gospel-like vocal style, quickly became infectious, and the Symmetric Orchestra in more familiar guise. This again featured Lassana Diabaté and his almost torrential creativity but it was the parting father-son duet, with Diabaté senior calling for humanitarian concerns to take priority over economic ones, that left the strongest impression of music’s ability to override words.