Amadou Bagayoko, one half of the Malian musical duo Amadou & Mariam, has died on the age of 70. Identified for fusing Malian music with basic rock influences, Bagayoko is survived by Mariam Doumbia, his spouse and musical companion, and his three youngsters.
In accordance with 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 ultimately marry within the Nineteen Eighties. Doumbia misplaced her personal eyesight when she was 5 years outdated, and the duo was typically labeled as “the blind couple from Mali.”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 attaining rising recognition 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 Finest Modern World Music Album on the 52nd Grammy Awards. Damon Albarn offered extra manufacturing on Welcome to Mali, and the duo would supply assist to Albarn on excursions for his two bands, Blur and Gorillaz.
“Persons are typically shocked after we clarify how a lot we have been influenced by Western pop music,” Bagayoko stated in a quote obtained by way of 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 Surprise… That’s as a result of they have been the one data we had in Mali!”
The duo additionally offered musical accompaniment to 2 FIFA World Cups; alongside Herbert Grönemeyer, the duo composed “Celebrate the Day,” the 2006 World Cup’s official tune. 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 offered 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 show. That very same yr, the couple carried out at Barack Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize ceremony.
Throughout the press run for his or her 2017 file La Confusion, their remaining album, the duo stated, “We search to make folks pleased with our music, assist humanitarian causes and share optimistic messages in regards to the good work being executed by folks in each nook of the world.”
The duo had been performing up till Amadou’s dying. Most not too long ago, they lined Serge Gainsbourg’s “Je suis venu te dire que je m’en vais” on the 2024 Summer season Paralympics’ closing ceremony.
