Amadou Bagayoko of music duo Amadou & Mariam dies aged 70

Amadou Bagayoko, guitarist and singer of the Malian music duo Amadou & Mariam has died, aged 70.

His household confirmed his loss of life yesterday (April 4), together with his son-in-law Youssouf Fadiga telling Agence-France Presse “he had been ailing for some time”.

The duo’s France-based supervisor, Yannick Tardy, who had spoken to Mariam by telephone, stated Amadou had been taken to a clinic after feeling fatigued and had died later that day, per the Guardian.

Amadou and his spouse, Mariam Doumbia, fashioned the group Amadou & Marium after assembly in 1976, when Amadou was 21 and Mariam 18, on the Institute for the younger blind within the Malian capital, Bamako.

He had misplaced his eyesight on the age of 16, whereas Mariam grew to become blind at age 5 as a consequence of untreated measles. Upon assembly, they found that that they had related tastes in music and started touring collectively within the Nineteen Eighties.

Their music blended conventional west African devices such because the kora and balafon with the mainstream rock, soul and pop influences they grew up on, akin to Pink Floyd and James Brown.

After producing music and touring for many years, they noticed worldwide success with their 2004 album ‘Dimanche à Bamako’ and its title observe. With their songs elevating consciousness of these dwelling with blindness and different disabilities, the duo grew to become considered one of Africa’s bestselling teams, promoting tens of millions of albums internationally.

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Dubbed “the blind couple from Mali”, their storied careers noticed them play alongside the likes of Damon Albarn and Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour, in addition to at Glastonbury Competition and the live performance marking Barack Obama’s Nobel Peace prize award.

“There have been many musicians, many artists there. And Barack Obama got here to satisfy us,” Amadou stated in an interview final yr.

“We talked a bit. Barack Obama instructed us that he favored our music. Malian music, too. We had been very, very completely satisfied,” Mariam added.

In 2009, they supported Blur throughout their two reunion gigs in Hyde Park, in addition to Coldplay on eight reveals of their ‘Viva la Vida Tour’.

The couple had been additionally nominated for a Grammy award in 2010, with their album ‘Welcome To Mali’ up for Greatest Modern World Music Album.

Additionally they composed the official track for the 2006 soccer World Cup in Germany and simply final yr performed on the closing ceremony live performance for the 2024 Olympic Video games in Paris.

Confirming the musician’s loss of life to AFP, the Malian tradition minister, Mamou Daffé, stated he felt “dismay” on the loss.

Amadou Bagayoko is survived by three kids.