Amadou Bagayoko, one half of the Malian musical duo Amadou & Mariam, has died at the age of 70. Known for fusing Malian music with classic rock influences, Bagayoko is survived by Mariam Doumbia, his wife and musical partner, and his three children.
According to Mali’s Minister of Culture, Mamou Daffé, Bagayoko had been battling an undisclosed illness for some time. Daffé revealed on television that the musician passed away in Mali’s capital, Bamako, which doubled as Bagayoko’s birthplace.
Bagayoko was born in 1954 and became blind at 15, the result of a congenital cataract. This led him to study at Mali’s Institute for the Young Blind, where he met Mariam Doumbia in 1976 while playing in the school’s Eclipse Orchestra. The two would eventually marry in the 1980s. Doumbia lost her own eyesight when she was 5 years old, and the duo was often labeled as “the blind couple from Mali.”
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The duo steadily performed throughout the ’70s and ’80s before achieving increasing popularity in the ’90s and the aughts. 2004’s Dimanche à Bamako brought them wider global success, and 2008’s Welcome to Mali received a nomination for Best Contemporary World Music Album at the 52nd Grammy Awards. Damon Albarn provided additional production on Welcome to Mali, and the duo would provide support to Albarn on tours for his two bands, Blur and Gorillaz.
“People are often surprised when we explain how much we were influenced by Western pop music,” Bagayoko said in a quote obtained via Rolling Stone. “I grew up listening to records by Rod Stewart, Led Zeppelin, James Brown, Crosby, Stills, and Nash, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Pink Floyd, Stevie Wonder… That’s because they were the only records we had in Mali!”
The duo also provided musical accompaniment to two FIFA World Cups; alongside Herbert Grönemeyer, the duo composed “Celebrate the Day,” the 2006 World Cup’s official song. Later they performed with Alicia Keys, John Legend, Tinariwen and Shakira at the 2010 World Cup’s Kick-Off Celebration in South Africa.
As their worldwide recognition grew, Amadou & Mariam provided support to rock musicians like Blur, U2, Coldplay, and more. The duo often referred to David Gilmour as their personal hero, and in 2009, the Pink Floyd guitarist performed alongside them at a London charity show. That same year, the couple performed at Barack Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize ceremony.
During the press run for their 2017 record La Confusion, their final album, the duo said, “We seek to make people happy with our music, help humanitarian causes and share positive messages about the good work being done by people in every corner of the world.”
The duo had been performing up until Amadou’s death. Most recently, they covered Serge Gainsbourg’s “Je suis venu te dire que je m’en vais” at the 2024 Summer Paralympics’ closing ceremony.
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