Malian Night with Toumani & Sidiki Diabaté and Rokia Traoré at Royce Hall in Los Angeles

Two of Mali’s most significant acts, Toumani & Sidiki Diabaté and Rokia Traoré, are set to perform on Friday September 28 at Royce Hall in UCLA (Los Angles). The concert is presented by CAP UCLA and KCRW.

Toumani Diabaté is one of the most popular musicians on the African continent. He plays the kora, a harp with 21 strings found in West Africa. Toumani popularized the kora throughout the globe and has become a world music star. He is touring with his eldest son Sidiki, in support of their self-titled album, Toumani & Sidiki, which came out earlier this year and has been garnering rave reviews worldwide.

Sidiki Diabate is a kora-player and hip hop producer and the latest addition to the celebrated Diabate musical dynasty. Like his father, and his grandfather before him Sidiki is a jeli (griot) – a custodian of the ancient oral traditions of West Africa’s Mandé people, which stretches back, father-to-son for over seven hundred years.

Rokia Traoré is one of the leading female vocalists from Mali. She has composed three different new sets of music: the acoustic “Damou” (Dream), the often bluesy “Donguili” (Sing), and the rock-influenced “Donke” (Dance). She has toured the UK on the Africa Express train, stopping off around the country for concerts that included collaborations with Damon Albarn as well as Paul McCartney and John Paul Jones, who joined her backing band for the London finale. And she has continued acting as well, with British and European performances in Toni Morrison and Peter Sellars’ theatrical/musical re-working of the Shakespearian story of “Desdemona,” for which she wrote the music.

Her most recent album “Beautiful Africa,” released in 2014, is a collection of new songs, first heard in her Donke project, reminding listeners it was rock music that first inspired Traoré’s career.

General tickets ($29-$59) are available at cap.ucla.edu, all Ticketmaster outlets, by phone at 310.825.2101 or in person at the UCLA Central Ticket Office located in the southwest corner of the James West Alumni Center. Student rush tickets, subject to availability, are offered at $15 one hour before show time to all students with valid ID.