Amadou & Mariam was a musical duo from Mali, composed of the couple Mariam Doumbia (vocals) (born in Mali's capital Bamako 15 April 1958) and Amadou Bagayoko (guitar and vocals) (born in Bamako 24 October 1954; died 4 April 2025). The pair, known as "the blind couple from Mali" met at Mali's Institute for the Young Blind, and found they shared an interest in music.
The duo produced music that mixed traditional Mali sound with rock guitars, Syrian violins, Cuban trumpets, Egyptian ney, Colombian trombones, Indian tablas and Dogon percussion. All these elements put together have been referred to as "Afro-blues".
In 2004 they put out an acclaimed album produced by Manu Chao.
In 2006 they were acknowledged with BBC Radio 3 Awards for World Music in the two categories: Africa and Album of the Year (for the "Dimanche à Bamako" release).
In 2008 they released their 6th album Welcome To Mali with the participation of K'Naan, Keziah Jones, -M- and Damon Albarn. Their song "Sabali" was placed 15 on Pitchfork Media's Top 100 Best Tracks of 2008.
The duo won the Best Group category in the inaugural Songlines Music Awards (2009) – announced 1 May 2009 – the new world music awards organised by the UK-based magazine, Songlines.
Their eighth album Folila was released on 2 April 2012. Folila, which means "music" in Bambara, was recorded in Bamako and New York with special guests including Santigold, TV on the Radio, and Jake Shears.
On 22 September 2017 they released their album La Confusion.
www.amadou-mariam.com
Read more on Last.fm.
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