Guitarist and singer Amadou Bagayoko of the star Malian music duo Amadou & Mariam has died aged 70 following an illness, his family said on Friday, paying tribute to the Grammy-nominated blind musician.
With his wife Mariam Doumbia, Bagayoko formed half of a group whose blend of traditional rock guitars and Western blues saw them sell millions of albums and conquer dance floors across the world.
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 FIFA World Cup in Germany and played at the closing ceremony concert for last year’s Paris Games.
Photo: AFP
“He had been ill for a while,” said Bagayoko’s son in law, Youssouf Fadiga.
Their France-based manager Yannick Tardy, who had just spoken to Doumbia by phone, said that Bagayoko was taken to a clinic after feeling fatigue, before dying in the afternoon.
Confirming the musician’s death, Malian Minister of Culture Mamou Daffe said he felt “dismay” at the loss.
After meeting in 1976, when Bagayoko was 21 and Doumbia 18, the pair discovered they had similar tastes in music.
They began touring together from the 1980s, mixing traditional west African instruments such as 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.
Dubbed “the blind couple from Mali,” the duo 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.
They went on to play at festivals including Glastonbury, share bills with Coldplay, U2 and Stevie Wonder, and play for former US president Barack Obama at the concert marking his Nobel Peace Prize award.
“There were many musicians, many artists there, and Barack Obama came to meet us,” Bagayoko said in an interview last year.
“We talked a bit. Barack Obama told us that he liked our music. Malian music too. We were very, very happy,” Doumbia added.
Bagayoko is survived by three children.
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