25 July 2009
Lagos — The expression "love is blind" finds expression in a musical husband-and-wife duo that got its start in Mali. Amadou and Mariam met in 1975 at Mali's Bamako Institute for the Young Blind. Amadou (born Amadou Bagayoko in Bamako in October of 1954) began his musical career in 1968, and by 1974 joined Les Ambassadeurs du Motel, a leading group (which counted Salif Keita as a member) in his home country.
He wound up at the aforementioned institute after becoming blind as a teenager through a congenital cataract. His future wife, Mariam Doumbia (born in Bamako on April 15, 1958), was already at the institute (she became blind at the age of five), studying Braille as well as teaching classes in dance and music. Over time, the pair would have a huge influence on the artistic programs at the school, with Amadou directing a group of pupils and Mariam handling lead vocal duties for the school orchestra.
It didn't take that much time, till Amadou realized that he had found his true love in Mariam. Fortunately, for him - and all of us - Mariam felt the same way. The story is absolutely true and whoever doesn't believe it should ask Brehima, Samou or Kadiatou, the three children of Amadou and Mariam, who are now living with their parents in Bamako, where it all began.
Ever since, Amadou and Mariam have travelled, worked, composed, performed together, wherever the road took them. And at the beginning of their musical career the road took them, via Burkina Faso, to Cote d'Ivoire, where they recorded five cassetes between 1989 and 1993, spreading their fame throughout West Africa and they soon became known as "le couple aveugle du Mali" i.e. "the blind couple from Mali".
In 1980, the pair married and decided that they would make a good collaborative musical team. Over the next five years, they performed in their home country, and Amadou's solo career and work won him many accolades and awards. In 1985, the group toured out of country for the first time, with shows in Burkina Faso.
In 1986, Amadou and Mariam, realizing that Mali and its distinct lack of recording resources would be a major hindrance in their career, opted to move to the neighboring Ivory Coast. There they began to release a series of cassettes (with help from the Nigerian producer Maikano) that would become the foundation of their later successes. By 1991, the pair had released four volumes of their work on cassette, and the buzz was enough that in 1994 they were invited to Paris to perform and record new work there.
Although the resulting sessions were never released, Amadou and Mariam kept on, and in 1998 they released their first CD album, Sou Ni Tile. From 1998 to 2002, a series of releases highlighting their early work (both together and solo) preceded their next album, Wati. In 2003, world music luminary Manu Chao began to work with the couple, and in 2004 Amadou and Mariam emerged from the studio with what was to be their landmark album, Dimance a Bamako. The success of the album led to tours, awards, and accolades from all over Europe and Africa.
In 2005, they released a live album and DVD, and in 2007 got involved with Damon Albarn (of Blur and Gorillaz fame) and his Africa Express project, which played the famous Glastonbury Festival. In addition, that same year Amadou and Mariam performed at Bastille Day celebrations, as well as opening up for the American rock act Scissor Sisters in England. Released in 2008, Welcome to Mali featured guest appearances by K'Naan, Keziah Jones, -M-, Toumani Diabaté, Tiken Jah Fakoly, andJuan Rozoff, as well as production help from the aforementioned Alburn.
Most American listeners discovered Amadou and Mariam via the duo's 2005 Nonesuch debut, Dimanche à Bamako, produced by the Paris-based world-music provocateur Manu Chao, who himself commands a large States-side following.
With Chao behind the wheel, Dimanche à Bamako was like a fast, bumpy taxi ride straight into the heart of the Malian capital. Cacophonous sounds from the streets mixed in with the spare, skittering rhythms of the songs. It felt thrillingly immediate, like the soundtrack to a jump cut-filled, color-saturated documentary. Dimanche à Bamako became a global hit, selling more than 600,000 copies worldwide and garnering Amadou and Mariam numerous honors, including a Grammy nomination; France's prestigious Victoire de la Musique; and the Album of the Year and Best African Album distinctions in the BBC Radio 3 Awards for World Music. Amadou and Mariam also became the first African artists to make the short list in MOJO magazine's annual Honours List.
Though less high-concept than its predecessor, Amadou and Mariam's latest effort is perhaps an even more authentic representation of who they are as songwriters and performers. All the exhilaration and sweat, the vocal interplay and guitar fire, of their live shows make it onto these beckoning tracks. On Welcome to Mali, the widely traveled pair extend an invitation to a place that's more a state of mind than a spot on a map, and listeners from around the globe may find that it feels a lot like home.
The duo's early recordings in the 1980s and 1990s feature sparse arrangements of guitar and voice. Since the late 1990s Amadou and Mariam produce music that mixes 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"
Between 1974 and 1980, Amadou played with Les Ambassadeurs du Hotel. In 1980 the couple married and began to play together as well as Amadou continuing with a successful solo career and running the blind institute's music programme.
In 2003 they were approached by World-Latin music star Manu Chao, who then produced their 2004 album Dimanche à Bamako ("Sunday in Bamako"), which also features his distinctive vocals.
In 2006 they recorded, together with Herbert Grönemeyer, the official anthem for the 2006 FIFA World Cup "Celebrate The Day" (German: "Zeit, dass sich was dreht"). The song topped the German charts in June 2006.
In 2007 they supported Scissor Sisters at the MEN Arena on 30 July. In summer of 2008, they played the Lollapalooza music festival in Chicago, Illinois and the Latitude Festival in Henham Park, Suffolk.
In 2008, their song "Sabali" placed 15 on Pitchfork's Top 100 Best Tracks of 2008.
Amadou and Mariam won the Best Group category in the inaugural Songlines Music Awards (2009) - announced May 1, 2009 - the new 'world music' awards organised by the UK-based magazine, Songlines.
On May 26, 2009 they played a gig to support the homeless charity Crisis at the Union Chapel, in north London with David Gilmour playing second guitar supporting the whole 80 minute set and a 5-minute encore. On June 8, 2009 they performed on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.
In 2009, they supported Blur during their two reunion gigs in Hyde Park and they will support UK based band Coldplay on their Viva la Vida Tour.
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