Amadou Bagayoko, one half of the Malian musical duo Amadou & Mariam, has died on the age of 70. Recognized for fusing Malian music with basic rock influences, Bagayoko is survived by Mariam Doumbia, his spouse and musical associate, and his three kids.
Based on Mali’s Minister of Tradition, Mamou Daffé, Bagayoko had been battling an undisclosed sickness for a while. Daffé revealed on tv that the musician handed away in Mali’s capital, Bamako, which doubled as Bagayoko’s birthplace.
Bagayoko was born in 1954 and have become blind at 15, the results of a congenital cataract. This led him to review at Mali’s Institute for the Younger Blind, the place he met Mariam Doumbia in 1976 whereas taking part in within the college’s Eclipse Orchestra. The 2 would finally marry within the Nineteen Eighties. Doumbia misplaced her personal eyesight when she was 5 years previous, and the duo was typically labeled as “the blind couple from Mali.”
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The duo steadily carried out all through the ’70s and ’80s earlier than reaching rising reputation within the ’90s and the aughts. 2004’s Dimanche à Bamako introduced them wider world success, and 2008’s Welcome to Mali acquired a nomination for Greatest Up to date World Music Album on the 52nd Grammy Awards. Damon Albarn supplied further manufacturing on Welcome to Mali, and the duo would offer assist to Albarn on excursions for his two bands, Blur and Gorillaz.
“Persons are typically shocked once we clarify how a lot we have been influenced by Western pop music,” Bagayoko mentioned in a quote obtained through Rolling Stone. “I grew up listening to data by Rod Stewart, Led Zeppelin, James Brown, Crosby, Stills, and Nash, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Pink Floyd, Stevie Marvel… That’s as a result of they have been the one data we had in Mali!”
The duo additionally supplied musical accompaniment to 2 FIFA World Cups; alongside Herbert Grönemeyer, the duo composed “Have a good time the Day,” the 2006 World Cup’s official track. Later they carried out with Alicia Keys, John Legend, Tinariwen and Shakira on the 2010 World Cup’s Kick-Off Celebration in South Africa.
As their worldwide recognition grew, Amadou & Mariam supplied assist to rock musicians like Blur, U2, Coldplay, and extra. The duo typically referred to David Gilmour as their private hero, and in 2009, the Pink Floyd guitarist carried out alongside them at a London charity present. That very same yr, the couple carried out at Barack Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize ceremony.
Through the press run for his or her 2017 report La Confusion, their last album, the duo mentioned, “We search to make individuals pleased with our music, assist humanitarian causes and share optimistic messages concerning the good work being achieved by individuals in each nook of the world.”
The duo had been performing up till Amadou’s loss of life. Most lately, they lined Serge Gainsbourg’s “Je suis venu te dire que je m’en vais” on the 2024 Summer season Paralympics’ closing ceremony.