Mamadou Diabate seated behind the balafon.

With a distinctive melodic sound, the balafon, an ancient West African instrument similar to a xylophone, will take center stage Friday, Jan. 31, in a concert at New Mexico Tech’s Macey Center. Burkina Faso native Mamadou Diabate will bring his Percussion Mania show to Socorro for a two-hour performance beginning at 7:30 p.m., sponsored by the NMT Performing Arts Series.

Tickets are $20 for adults, $15 for seniors age 65 and older, $8 for youth under age 18, and free of charge for NMT students who show a Tech ID. Ticket information and a full schedule of NMTPAS 2024-2025 events is available online at: nmt.edu/pas. NMTPAS 2024-2025 season tickets are available, and subscribers save 25% off tickets for the entire year. Special pre-show events are an additional charge.

Born into a traditional musician family within the Sambla ethnic group in southwestern Burkina Faso in West Africa, Diabate started his professional training at age 5 with his father, Penegue Diabate, who was considered the best balafon player in that area. At age 8, he began an apprenticeship with renowned balafonists of neighboring peoples. In 1988 and 1998, he won first prize in the “National Culture Week” of Burkina Faso. In 2016, he was made Knight of the National Order of Burkina Faso and, in 2019, he received the “Best International Artist” award of Burkina Faso. He has released 14 CDs with his own compositions and two with collaborators in Sambla and Tusia authentic music, which were world premiere recordings.

Since 2000, Diabate has lived in Austria, and travels to international festivals in Europe, Africa and Asia, sharing his West African heritage through music and storytelling. He started Percussion Mania in 2006 as a trio and grew it to seven people on stage playing the balafon, drums and other instruments.

Dana Chavez-Baca, NMTPAS director, described Mamadou Diabate as “energetic and dynamic” and encourages students, faculty, staff and Socorro community members to take advantage of this opportunity to learn more about the music of West Africa.

“It may be cold outside, but we expect to heat things up inside Macey Center with Mamadou Diabate and Percussion Mania,” she said. “Don’t miss this chance to hear some of the most outstanding percussionists in the world right here in Socorro.”

This performance and community appearances from Percussion Mania are funded by another successful grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. The Challenge America award of $10,000 is the fourth such grant that NMTPAS has received to bring the world of music, culture and art to Socorro. 

Other sponsors include: Betty Clark Endowment Platinum Memorial, Bob and Kathy Markwell, the Deborah Treder Turquoise Memorial and KUNM-FM.