Ironically, she ended up making her mark in a world that was even less welcoming for women: as a virtuoso of the kora, the majestic 21-string instrument that her West African griot family has ...

Diabate, a renowned master of the kora—a traditional West African stringed instrument—died at a private clinic in Bamako, the capital of Mali. Born in 1965 into a family of griots, Diabate was ...