Amadou & Mariam

Style

The duo's early recordings in the 1980s and 1990s featured sparse arrangements of guitar and voice. From the late 1990s, Amadou & Mariam produced music that mixed traditional Mali sound with rock guitars, Syrian violins, Cuban trumpets, Egyptian ney, Indian tablas and Dogon percussion, in a mixture that has been called "Afro-Funk".

Career

Bagayoko was born in Bamako, Mali, in 1954. His father was a civil servant. He was born with cataracts on both eyes and was blind by the age of 16. He learned to play flute and harmonica, and when he was invited to join a festival parade with local musicians he realised that music could be a way to overcome his disability. He took up playing the guitar after hearing the music of Jimi Hendrix and James Brown and played in one of Mali's best-known dance bands, Les Ambassadeurs du Motel de Bamako.

He enrolled in the Bamako Institute for Young Blind People (L'Institute des Jeunes Aveugles), where in 1976, aged 21, he met Doumbia, four years younger, who had lost her sight at the age of five. They played in the institute's Éclipse Orchestra, conducted by Idrissa Soumaoro, and discovered that they had similarly eclectic musical tastes. They married in 1980 and began performing together. In 1982 Amadou won the “Discoveries” competition organized by RFI. They formed a band, Mali's Blind Couple, in the 1980s. By 1985, they had made a name for themselves playing Malian blues and embarked on a three-month tour of Burkina Faso. In 1990, they moved to Abidjan in Côte d'Ivoire, recorded several cassette albums and toured around West Africa. During this time, they met Stevie Wonder and started playing at music festivals around the world. In Abidjan, they met Nigerian producer Maïkano and began recording in December 1988. They released two cassette albums, Volume 1 and Volume 2, in March 1989. In February 1990, Amadou and Mariam returned to the studio with producer Maïkano and recorded the tracks that appeared on their cassette albums, Volume 3 and Volume 4, released in 1991.

In 1996, the duo moved to Paris and had a six-month residency playing in an African restaurant. They met a recording company executive and were signed to Polygram's Emarcy label. In 1998 they released their first album recorded outside of Africa, Sou Ni Tile. The track "Je pense à toi" ("I think of you"), a love song that Amadou had written for his wife, was a hit on French radio and the album sold 100,000 copies. In 2003, World–Latin music star Manu Chao produced their 2004 album Dimanche à Bamako ("Sunday in Bamako"), featuring his distinctive vocals. The album won the French equivalent of a Grammy award, Victoires de la Musique, and two BBC Radio 3 Awards for World Music.

In 2005, the Côte d'Ivoire recordings were released for the first time on CD as a limited-edition box set and "best of" collection, 1990–1995: Le Meilleur Des Années Maliennes. Amadou and Mariam won the French Victoire de la Musique prize for best world music album of 2005. After their show at the Olympia in Paris on 26 October 2005, they were awarded a platinum disc by the French Ministry of Culture for sales of 300,000 units of Dimanche à Bamako. They also won two BBC Radio 3 Awards for World Music in the African and Best Album categories for Dimanche à Bamako. In 2006, Bagayoko and Doumbia, together with Herbert Grönemeyer, recorded the official anthem for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, "Celebrate the Day" (German: "Zeit, dass sich was dreht"), and the song topped the German charts in June 2006. They played major festivals in the US, including Coachella and Lollapalooza. On 26 June 2007, they took part in Damon Albarn's "Africa Express" project at the Glastonbury Festival with a line-up including Rachid Taha, K'Naan, Tony Allen, Fat Boy Slim and Tinariwen. This was also their first encounter with Jake Shears of the Scissor Sisters. They supported the Scissor Sisters on their UK tour, which included three nights at London's O2 Arena. In the summer of 2008, they played the Lollapalooza music festival in Chicago, and the Latitude Festival in Henham Park, Suffolk.

In 2008, they released their sixth album, Welcome To Mali, with the participation of K'Naan, Keziah Jones, -M- and Damon Albarn. Their song "Sabali" was placed at no.15 on Pitchfork Media Top 100 Best Tracks of 2008. It also became the most-played French single worldwide of 2009. In the same year they played on the main stage at the Glastonbury Festival.

On 1 May 2009, Amadou & Mariam won in the 'Best Group' category in the inaugural Songlines Music Awards (2009), a new world music award organised by UK magazine Songlines. On 26 May 2009, they played a gig in support of UK homeless charity Crisis at the Union Chapel, in north London, where they were joined on stage by Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour, who played second guitar throughout their 80-minute set. On 8 June, they performed on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon on US TV Channel NBC. That same year, they supported Blur in their two reunion gigs in Hyde Park, London, and also supported UK-based band Coldplay in eight shows on their Viva la Vida Tour. They performed their duo set L'Afrique C'est Chic at The Jazz Cafe in London, and were joined on stage by special guests including Theophilus London, Beth Orton and Krystle Warren. They performed a headline show at the Roundhouse in London as part of the iTunes Festival. In 2009 they became Zeitz Foundation Ambassadors for Culture (Art) and helped to raise awareness and shape activities in their field. They performed live at the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize ceremony.

In 2010, their joint autobiography Away From the Light of Day was published in the UK by Route Publishing. On 11 June, Amadou & Mariam appeared in FIFA's Kick-Off Celebration for 2010's World Cup, hosted in South Africa, alongside Alicia Keys, John Legend, Tinariwen and Shakira, in front of 80,000 people and hundreds of millions of TV viewers. That same year, Amadou & Mariam contributed the song "Tambara" to the Enough Project and Downtown Records' Raise Hope for Congo compilation. Proceeds from the compilation funded efforts for the protection and empowerment of Congo's women, as well as inspiring individuals around the world to raise their voice for peace in Congo. Welcome To Mali was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary World Music Album at the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards. They were chosen by Matt Groening to perform at the edition of the All Tomorrow's Parties festival he curated in May 2010 in Minehead, England.

In February 2011, Amadou & Mariam performed as one of the support acts for U2 during the Johannesburg and Cape Town legs of their U2 360 Tour. In July, they performed their first concerts in the dark, Eclipse, which were commissioned by the Manchester International Festival. They staged these shows in London in November 2011, and in Paris in January 2012. In 2011, they became ambassadors for the World Food Programme. They travelled to Haïti and offered a new song, "Labendela" ("Children are the Future"), as an anthem.

Their eighth album, Folila, was released on 2 April 2012. Folila ("music" in Bambara) was recorded in Bamako and New York with guest musicians including Santigold, TV on the Radio, and Jake Shears. The first single from the album, "Dougou Badia", was released on 20 January. The track featured a guest appearance by Santigold and was hailed by the NME as a "masterstroke of genre-less genre mixing". For Folila, the idea was for the duo to release each album separately but it was decided to combine the recordings, mixing different takes of the same song in a third studio in Paris. In France, the track "Oh Amadou", a duet with Bertrand Cantat, was chosen as a single. Amadou & Mariam won the Victoires de la Musique award in February 2013 for Folila. On 22 September 2017, they released their album La Confusion, which dealt with events in Mali after invasion by Islamist groups. On 8 September 2024, they performed the Serge Gainsbourg song Je suis venu te dire que je m'en vais at the closing ceremony of the 2024 Summer Paralympics. Amadou and Mariam were scheduled to perform a European tour in summer 2025, including a concert in Vence in the Alpes-Maritimes and concerts in Britain.

Amadou Bagayoko died in Bamako, Mali, on 4 April 2025, aged 70. Thousands of people gathered at his funeral, which took place in Bamako on 6 April. He was buried in the garden of his house.

Discography

Studio albums

Compilations

• 2005: Je pense à toi: The Best of Amadou & Mariam
• 2006: 1990–1995 Le Meilleur des Années Maliennes
• 2007: Paris Bamako (DVD + CD 12 titres live)
• 2009: The Magic Couple: The Best of Amadou & Mariam 1997–2002

Contributing artist

• 2010: The Rough Guide To Desert Blues

Singles

(Selective / charting)

References

References

1. Presse, Agence-France. (5 April 2025). "Amadou Bagayoko of music duo Amadou & Mariam dies aged 70". The Guardian.
2. (18 May 2024). "Comment le dimanche est devenu le jour des seigneurs Amadou & Mariam". Le nouvelle obs.
3. (7 April 2025). "À Bamako, des milliards de personnes réunies pour les funéraires du chanteur Amadou Bagayoko". Le Figaro.
4. (8 May 2024). "20 ans d'Amadou et Mariam en France : "On tient à ce que les gens dansent"". France Bleu.
5. (14 April 2025). "Obituary Amadou Bagayoko: Malian guitarist in blind duo".
6. Durán, Lucy. (2025-04-07). "Amadou Bagayoko : le musicien malien aveugle dont les chansons joyeuses ont changé la musique ouest-africaine".
7. Aïnouz, Abigaïl. (2017-04-07). "Amadou & Mariam sont de retour avec une mixtape afro-disco-funk".
8. (7 April 2025). "À Bamako, des milliards de personnes réunies pour les funéraires du chanteur Amadou Bagayoko". Le Figaro.
9. (16 February 2021). "Des milliers de personnes assistent aux funérailles d'Amadou Bagayoko au Mali". RFI.
10. (7 April 2025). "Des milliers de personnes assistent aux funérailles d'Amadou Bagayoko au Mali". BBC.
11. (15 December 2008). "The 100 Best Tracks of 2008". [[Pitchfork Media]].
12. "The Yearly Airplay Charts: 2009". [[Francophonie Diffusion]].
13. (9 October 2017). "Amadou & Mariam are as experimental—and as political—as ever". [[The Economist]].
14. "Away From the Light of Day". Route Online.
15. (11 June 2010). "Amadou & Mariam – Welcome To Mali (2010 FIFA World Cup Kick-off Concert)".
16. (2017). "Amadou & Mariam. Global Ambassadors". wfp.org.
17. (17 January 2012). "Amadou & Mariam feat. Santigold & Nick Zinner – 'Dougou Badia'. Brilliant mash-up madness". NME.
18. (8 February 2013). "Amadou & Mariam remportent la Victoire de l’album de musiques du monde".
19. "Paris 2024 Paralympic Games Closing Ceremony: Full playlist".
20. (7 April 2025). "'Tu joues encore à travers nous tous' : disparition d'Amadou Bagayoko du duo Amadou et Mariam : le festival des Nuits du Sud de Vence rend hommage".
21. (4 April 2025). "Amadou of Malian blind music duo dies aged 70".
22. (7 April 2025). "Des milliers de personnes réunies à Bamako pour les funérailles du chanteur Amadou Bagayoko".
23. (6 April 2025). "Mali: plusieurs milliers de personnes rendent un dernier hommage à Amadou Bagayoko".
24. (8 April 2025). "A Bamako, dernier adieu au musicien malien Amadou Bagayoko, du duo Amadou & Mariam".
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31. "Le Top de la semaine : Top Albums – SNEP (Week 39, 2017)". [[Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique]].
32. "Amadou & Mariam - L'amour à La Folie - Reviews - Album of The Year". Album of the Year.
33. "Le Top de la semaine : Top Singles Téléchargés – SNEP (Week 16, 2017)". [[Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique]].
34. "Mon Cheri − Single by Sofi Tukker & Amadou & Mariam on Apple Music".
35. "Patience − Single by DJ Snake & Amadou & Mariam on Apple Music".