6. The Mande Variations

The kora is something incredible. It’s like a piano, you know? I don’t know how they do it, and I really love the way Toumani Diabaté plays. It even makes me think about maybe playing with him just to see what would happen. Because my songwriting is very straightforward, I write from my surroundings, what my surroundings give me. When I’m in love, I write love songs and when I’m sad I write really sad songs, and when I see people living in difficult circumstances, I look at that subject. Now we have the terrorists we have to write songs about revolution. So I would love to play with him. And I can leave space for him with my playing – a guitar is an instrument that you can do whatever you like with.