TOUMANI Diabate pulls off a musical coup here, matching his bewitching playing of the kora - a sort of harp - with an African big band.

It would be easy to imagine the Mali musician would be lost amid such an ensemble, especially as, at times, this is a loudly enthusiastic band, mixing electric and acoustic instruments, and mashing the traditional with the modern.

But while guitars, scorching horns and fantastically energetic percussion drive everything along, Diabate's kora soars above it all, holding its own with a magical scattering of notes.

This album is the culmination of years of Friday night jam sessions at the Hotel Mand, a happy preparation which sees the musicians playing together with instinctive, life-affirming gusto.

Anyone still deluding themselves that music begins and ends in the West should listen to this fantastic album.