Amadou & Mariam

After seven acclaimed Amadou and Mariam’s story is one Amadou Bagayoko was born in Ba- Ambassadeur’s sighted keyboard play-international albums, gold and platinum discs and countless sold-out concerts, Amadou & Mariam, one of Africa’s most successful and popu- lar musical exports have been using lockdown to recharge their batteries. “When we are in Bamako we usually like to spend time with our family and friends and learn about the changes that happened while we were touring,” explains Amadou Bagayoko.“This year it has been very challenging being away from our fans, and our thoughts are with everyone affected by the virus, and with our musicians and technicians, who have been without work all year.We have been using our time to reconnect with our roots in Mali, feeling the vibe of our neighbourhood and engaging with busy charities and other groups.”
“We love what we do,” adds Mariam Doumbia, his wife of more than four decades, “and our goal is to make people happy with our music, help hu- manitarian causes and share positive messages about the good work being done by people in every corner of the world.” of the most inspiring tales in the music world; a love affair that propelled two veterans of Mali’s music industry, who first recorded together in the 1970s, into charts around the globe in the 21st century, winning enough awards to fill several sideboards in their home on the outskirts of Bamako and raising aware- ness of the diffi- culties in living in one of the world’s poorest countries. Into their orbit came such stars as Manu Chao, David Gilmour, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Scissor Sisters and Damon Albarn, who told The Observer: “I don’t think
there’s ever been a band from Africa with whom people have engaged in quite such a way.”Yet it is also a story that began in adversity and continues to evolve and inspire more than 40 years after it began. mako, Mali, in 1954, six years before the country declared independence from France. With eyesight that had been failing from birth, as a young boy he was unable to join in any communal outdoor work, but would play his flute to entertain fishermen LOVE and often found making music a more lucrative way to pass WHAT the time. A love of rock and blues meant that the teenage Amadou swapped his flute for a guitar in 1967 and was taken under the wing of the Guinean guitarist Kanté Manfila.
As the 1970s dawned, Amadou, though now completely blind, was one of Mali’s busiest musicians, making a living playing Cuban songs for growing crowds, and in 1974 he joined Manfila and the singer Salif Keita in Les Ambassadeurs du Motel de Bamako, the city’s most progres- sive big band. Idrissa Soumaoro, Les
er, worked at Bamako’s Institute for the Young Blind. Among his favoured students was Mariam Doumbia. Four years younger than Amadou and blind from the age of five, she was an accomplished songwriter.
In their joint autobiography, ‘Away From The Light Of Day’, Amadou explained why he suggested he help arrange her songs. “My real motivation was Mariam herself. Her beautiful voice, that is. The lyrics touched me because they reflected her sadness and the hypocrisy with which society often treats disabled people. I told her music was a good way to discover that we had a place in society. People would like us because we sang well and this meant we would be able to cut through obstacles; we could get by in life and forget a little about our handicaps.”
In 1980, the couple got married and played their first gig together. Live shows paid poorly, however, and there were no singles or albums because there were no recording studios in Bamako – almost the only place where music could be captured on tape was the national radio station, where the likes of Ali Farka Touré could often be seen recording.“Really, there was no music industry in Mali,” says Amadou. “It was not easy to buy recordings of Malian singers on vinyl or cassette then.”
In 1994, a Malian expatriate invited them to play a concert in France;there, they met Marc-Antoine Moreau, a fan who had discovered their music while travelling in Africa and believed pas- sionately that they had what it takes to connect with audiences all around the world.Taking him on as manager would be a crucial step.Three years later, their first single, ‘Je Pense À Toi’ was a hit on French radio.The trio of albums that followed – ‘Sou Ni Tilé’ (1998), ‘Tie Ni Moussou’ (1999) and ‘Wati’ (2002) – demonstrated how adeptly the duo could take their rock and soul heroes’ music and add an Af- rican twist to it. In September 2003, Amadou & Mariam and the Fran- co-Spanish singer Manu Chao set up camp in Studios Davout in Paris to record the album that would be their breakthrough. In January 2004, the
trio performed live together for the first time at the famous ‘Festival in the Desert’ near Timbuktu, playing songs from their next long-player,‘Dimanche A Bamako’, to a select group of hardy travellers. “Manu Chao had enriched our music,” says Amadou. “Each time we made an album we hoped it would be a big success, but we really didn’t know about that one.”
“We didn’t know if it was good until we received a gold disc,” interrupts Mariam.“Then we realised it was ok.” It went to No. 2, was certified triple platinum (selling more than 500,000 copies) and spent 101 weeks on the French album charts. In early 2005, they won the ‘Victoires de la Mu- sique’ prize, the French music-indus- try’s equivalent of a Grammy, for ‘Best Reggae/Ragga/World Album’, and two honours at the BBC Radio 3 Awards forWorld Music.“A lot of people in a lot of places got to know about Sun- days in Bamako,” laughs Amadou.“We have always wanted to break barri- ers and open ears to new sounds, to bring Malian music to people around the world in a form they could under- stand and enjoy.”
The rest of that decade passed in a blur as Amadou & Mariam became Africa’s hottest musical export.They toured constantly, becoming regulars at Damon Albarn’s ‘Africa Express’ events, where each concert meant collaborating with the likes of Johnny Marr or Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Amadou’s musical hero, David Gilmour, formerly of Pink Floyd, enlisted him as second guitarist for a London date.The duo appeared on the Main Stage at Glastonbury, criss- crossed America, supported Blur at Hyde Park, toured with Coldplay and U2, performed at a Nobel Peace Prize concert in honour of Barack Obama - “He was cool,” says Amadou, admiringly - and played at the opening cer- emonies of the 2010 and 2014 FIFA World Cups. The duo also debuted their ‘Eclipse’ concerts, shows that take place in total darkness, allowing their audiences to experience the music in the same way they do.
After ‘Dimanche A Bamako’ came ‘Welcome To Mali’ (2008); their second Victoires de la Musique award-winner and another gold re-
cord; 2012’s ’Folila’ (the title means ‘music’ in Bambara, the couple’s first language); and ‘La Confusion’ (2017), which was their third album nomi- nated for a Victoires de la Musique award.This quartet of albums expanded the Amadou & Mariam palette by introducing their African soul music to electro-pop, art-rock and hip-hop. “We love to listen to all kinds of mu- sic in order to find new influences for our personal sound,” says Mari- am. “We are really passionate about blending different types of music and genres.” Yet listeners could also follow the songs as a commentary on Mali’s slide from optimism and peace into chaos and insurgency after 2012, as instability in the north gave way to violence and the collapse of the government.
In 2014, Mariam joined with fellow Malian legends Mamani Keïta and Oumou Sangaré in founding Les Amazones d’Afrique, an all-female colletive promoting gender equality and the end of violence against women. Their first album, ‘République Am- azone’, was released in March 2017,
with Barack Obama nominating the track ‘La Dame Et Ses Valises’ as one of his favourites of the year, and the corresponding tour included dates in Bamako, Paris and Wroclaw.
With ‘La Confusion’ also released in 2017, European and North America tours kept them on the road from May to November, with festival dates and television appearances squeezed in alongside appearances in Africa and a charity appearance in Beirut for Sk- oun, a non-governmental organisation that works with people suffering from addiction problems in Lebanon.
“Since the beginning of our career we have been involved with charity work,” says Amadou. “In Bamako we held concerts to support the Institute for Blind and publicise their work. In 2009 we became Ambassadors for Culture at the Zeitz Foundation, and we played a show in support of the homeless charity Crisis in London. In 2010 we contributed to the Enough Project’s ‘Raise Hope’ compilation, raising funds for women’s rights and peace in Congo. We have been ambassadors for the World Food Pro-
gramme since 2012, supporting cam- paigns. This is a natural part of our career, but the fact we are well known means that we can help just by our presence.We feel blessed to be able to use our voices, image and music to support these causes.”
Although there was no new album in 2018, the duo kept busy with Af- rican and European dates, a headlin- ing show at WOMAD and a return to the Far East in November. “This was our second trip there,” recalls Ama- dou.“This time the audiences in Sin- gapore and Hong Kong welcomed us very warmly. Perhaps we were not as well known there as in Africa,America or Europe, but there was the sense of excitement and surprise that we love - they were discovering us and and we were learning about a new culture, too.”
There were further tours and festival shows across five continents in 2019, but life was about to take an unpredictable twist. “Covid-19 meant we had to cancel our tour with the Blind Boys of Alabama, plus shows in Austra-
lia, North America and Africa.A whole year cancelled. Hopefully, however, we will soon be able to meet again with all our fans with new music and new projects. We have been working on several music collaborations that will be released during 2021, and on our new album, too. We look forward to telling you more about that soon.”
In these unprecedented time, the global success of Amadou & Mariam, the world famous “Blind Couple from Mali”, should be a reminder that people can triumph over adversity, and that with cooperation, enthusiasm and dedication, we can succeed even when everything seems against us.
After further shows in Shanghai and Beijing in March 2019, the most sig- nificant dates in 2019 were on a joint headlining tour with American gospel legends The Blind Boys of Alabama. This was followed by festival shows in Israel, Britain, France, Belgium and New Caledonia and a tour of South America that took in Brazil, Argenti- na and Chile. Little did anyone know it, but these would be the last shows
for a while. “Our original plan was to keep touring with the Blind Boys of Alabama,” explains Amadou. “But Covid-19 meant we had to cancel that, as well as our tour of Australia and shows in North America and Af- rica.A whole year of concerts..”
Yet, in these unprecedented times, the global success of Amadou & Mariam should be a reminder that people can triumph over adversity, that with cooperation, enthusiasm and dedica- tion, we can succeed even when everything seems to be against us. The famous “Blind Couple From Mali” have a positive message to send out: “We know that music, films and art have always been very important, but they have been especially so during lockdown. Hopefully, we will be able to meet again with all our fans from around the globe with new music and new projects.We have been working on several music collaborations that will be released during 2021, and on our new album, too.We look forward to telling you more about that soon.”