Diam
Daby Touré
79753 Real World

Daby Touré's star is on the rise, with this solo debut for Real World on the heels of his immensely well-received tour appearances with Peter Gabriel across Europe and the UK. No one has performed In Your Eyes in duet with Gabriel as compellingly since superstar Youssou N'Dour's original version — and this charismatic and heartful young singer has the clear potential to join N'Dour in the pantheon of great contemporary West African vocalists and original songwriters.

Hailing from Mauritania, near Senegal and Mali, Daby grew up among the traditions of his own Soninke' people and of the neighboring Toucouleur and Wolof cultures, and he provided music at village feasts and weddings from a very early age while his father practiced medicine in their village. When political unrest severely disrupted their country in 1989, his father forsook medicine and left to join Daby's uncles in the great musical ensemble, Touré Kunda, based in Paris — and Daby moved with him.

Absorbing the musical diversity the great city offered, Daby began to play club gigs and rock cover bands, eventually leaving business school over his father's protest to form the group Touré Touré with his cousin Omar. They explored the vivid common frontiers of African music and jazz, and toured extensively — including numerous dates in the U.S. — but over time, Daby felt stylistically limited. He sequestered himself to write and arrange, record and mix. And, after 7 years of hard work and with the help of electronic wizard Cyrille Dufay, DIAM was born.

DIAM means "peace" — and its songs tell of freedom, family, the state of the world in general, and the importance in particular of being positive when times are hard. Its tunefulness and deceptive simplicity beautifully frame a great new voice and songwriting talent from the musical richness of Africa , and a charismatic new star.