Sekou Bembeya Diabaté

Sekou "Bembeya" Diabaté, AKA "Diamond Fingers" is one of the legends of West African guitar. As the lead guitarist for Bembeya Jazz, he helped to pioneer a movement of modern Manding dance music that moved the musical inspiration and lyrical eloquence of the Manding griot tradition onto the dancefloors and airwaves of young West African capital cities. Following the death of Bembeya Jazz's beloved lead singer, Demba Camara, Diabaté became central to the band's draw, and he certainly rose to the occasion, spilling out elegant, fiery solos on record after record. Even when dance bands went into decline in the 1980s, Diabaté forged on recording in a variety of settings.