Amadou Bagayoko from Muziekduo Amadou & Mariam died at the age of 70

The Malian singer Amadou Bagayoko died on Friday at the age of 70reports news agency AFP. He was a guitarist and singer of the blind Malian music duo Amadou & Mariam.

Amadou and his wife, Mariam Doumbia, formed a very popular duo together. With their mix of traditional Malian music, Western blues and rock guitars, they sold millions of albums around the world. The Bluesy Afropop of the Malinese with the simplified drumbeat was nominated three times for a Grammy.

The two met in 1976 at the Institute for Young Blind in the Malian capital Bamako. Amadou was 21, Mariam was 18, and they shared a broad love for music. From traditional West African instruments such as the Kora and Balaphone to the Western sounds of Pink Floyd and James Brown. In 1980 they started performing and wrote songs about their lives and the problems they encountered as young people with disabilities. They sang in the Bambara, the official language of Mali, French and English.

In 2004 the couple brought Dimanche à Bamako (Sunday in Bamako) and broke through worldwide. They were at festivals such as Glastonbury throughout the world and played with Damon Albarn (Blur, Gorillaz) and their childhood idol David Gilmour, the guitarist of Pink Floyd. They also composed the official song for the 2006 World Cup in Germany and during the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris provided part of the Slot ceremony. It was one of their last major performances together.

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