Toumani Diabaté

Tuning in…

desert is.land

“And if you could take only one…” — a semantic wireless tuned to the Desert Island Discs archive.

The listing

Transmission

Not affiliated with the BBC · Built for the love of the long wave · Made by Daniel Hails

Toumani Diabaté — Artist · desert is.land

Artist

3 episodes

Chosen over the decades

Total castaways

2020s

Peak decade

Decades seen

Castaways who chose this

Abdulrazak Gurnah
Abdulrazak Gurnah on mistaking the Nobel Prize call for a cold call
Castaway · 25 May 2025Lauren Laverne
Maria Balshaw
Maria Balshaw on seeing a child scoot into the gallery
Castaway · 9 August 2020Lauren Laverne

desert is.land

“And if you could take only one…” — a semantic wireless tuned to the Desert Island Discs archive.

The listing

Transmission

Not affiliated with the BBC · Built for the love of the long wave · Made by Daniel Hails

Peter Piot on explaining to nuns that their needles spread disease

Castaway · 25 January 2015Kirsty Young