Amadou & Mariam
Amadou Bagayoko and Mariam Doubla have been making music together since the early 1980s and today are possibly the most famous duo in World music. This year they have published their biography, Away From the Light of Day, entitling them to their latest honour of being included as authors on Booktunes.
They met at Mali's institute for the Young Blind in the late 1970s. Amadou started to write songs for Mariam, and their career (and romance) swiftly blossomed. They toured incessantly, released numerous of albums and worked hard to bring their afro-blues to a national, and international audience. Their breakthrough in France came with their album Si Nou Tile, which introduced them to their manager Marc-Antoine Moreau.
International performance and collaborations soon followed. Manu Chao produced their most famous album Dimanche à Bamako; in 2006 they made the football World Cup hit 'Celebrate the Day' with Herbert Grönemeyer; and on their last album Welcome to Mali they worked with names as big as Damon Albarn and K'naan.
In 2008 they released their biography À part de la lumière de jour in France. It was written with Idrissa Keïta, a writer, artist and musician with the same Malian roots as the couple. It tells the story of Amadou's life; of his blindness, growing up in Mali, being a musician and living with his soulmate.
Do look forward to see this unique couple at any of the festivals this weekend, and prepare for the new songs they are working on at his moment.
text by E. de Loor / transl. by W. Georgi / drawing by Ytje