Grammy-nominated Malian musician Amadou Bagayoko, who won global fame by moulding traditional West African sounds with Western rock and pop influences as one half of the blind duo Amadou & Mariam, has died aged 70, the Malian government confirmed on Saturday..
The ministry of culture "learned with concern of the passing of artist Amadou Bagayoko this Friday," it said in a statement read on state television. "Amadou was a blind man who made his mark on the Malian and international scene."
Among other achievements the pair, who met at the institute for the young blind in the Malian capital Bamako, composed the official song for the 2006 football World Cup in Germany and played at the closing ceremony concert for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
"He had been ill for a while," Amadou's son in law Youssouf Fadiga told AFP.
Their France-based manager Yannick Tardy, who had just spoken to Mariam by phone, told AFP that Amadou was taken to a clinic after feeling fatigue, before dying in the afternoon.
"Dimanche a Bamako"
Bagayoko was born in Bamako in 1954 and played music from an early age. He met his wife and musical partner Mariam Doumbia at the Institute for Young Blind People in Bamako.
After meeting in 1976, when Amadou was 21 and Mariam 18, the pair discovered they had similar tastes in music.
They began touring together from the 1980s, mixing traditional west African instruments like the kora and balafon with the Pink Floyd and James Brown records from their youth.
At the start they sang songs to raise awareness of the problems facing their peers living with blindness and disabilities.
A few decades later their 2004 album "Dimanche a Bamako" (Sunday in Bamako) brought them worldwide success backed up by the title track.
The album's producer, Franco-Spanish star Manu Chao, paid tribute to Amadou after his death in a post on Instagram, saying: "We will always be together... With you, wherever you go," with a photo of him and the duo.
"I will never forget his friendship," said Senegalese singer-songwriter Youssou N'Dour. "My thoughts are with my dear Mariam."
Gorillaz, Coldplay, Obama
Dubbed "the blind couple from Mali", Amadou and Mariam became one of Africa's best-selling and beloved pairs, playing alongside the likes of Damon Albarn of Blur and Gorillaz and Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour -- a childhood idol.
The duo went on to play at festivals including Glastonbury in England, share bills with Coldplay, U2 and Stevie Wonder, and play for Barack Obama at the concert marking the US president's Nobel Peace Prize award.
"There were many musicians, many artists there. And Barack Obama came to meet us," Amadou told AFP in a 2024 interview.
"We talked a bit. Barack Obama told us that he liked our music. Malian music too. We were very, very happy," Mariam added.
Besides a Grammy nomination in 2010, Amadou & Mariam also won prizes at the BBC radio awards and France's Victoires de la Musique.
Amadou Bagayoko is survived by three children.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP and REUTERS)
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