Amadou Bagayoko, a guitarist and Malian composer who with his wife, singer Mariam Doumbia, formed Amadou & Mariam, inventing a widely accessible sound that made people fans around the world know little about music in Africa, died Friday in the capital of Bamako, Mali. He was 70 years old.
His death was announced by the Malian government, which did not provide a cause. He and Mrs. Doumbia lived in Bamako.
At the end of the 2000s and early 2010, Amadou & Mariam was regularly described as the most successful African musical act of the new century.
Mr. Bagayoko, who grew up listening to Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd, described its «Afro-rock» sound, and the group regularly combined its moving guitar alone with, for example, the blow of a Djembe drum of Western Africa.
However, group music also constantly evolved. His success, the 2005 album «Dimanche à Bamako», had sections, sirens, sirens, the hubbub of the crowds, the city’s sounds became melodies. His 2008 album «Welcomome to Mali», on the contrary, adopted a funk electronic style, opening with a song, «Sabali» With Damon Albarn of the Hip-Hop Gorillaz group.
What was consistent was a sweet and elegant sound that still had the power to build the crescendos, with the high of Mrs. Doumbia achieving a clear and pleasant resonance on a rich orchestration.
Mr. Bagayoko also sang. The couple’s letters were mainly in the French and Western African language. Politics inspired some of his songs, but often identified local songs that could have a more widespread attraction, as in his 2004 song «Quick Sénégal food».
Amadou and Mariam were often grouped into the Very persecuted gender Known as «world music», but any provincialism that may seem guilty, this was an era in which many young Americans came to love African musicians, including Malian companions Ali Farka Touré and Toumani Diabaté, who died last year. Almost at the same time, American stars like Bonnie Raitt and Ry Cooder made Bamako pilgrimages to get stuck with local artists.
«What they do back to classic rock and real musicality,» said Jake Shears, the main singer of the American indie band Scissor Sisters, to The Times in 2012. «Now with all the bands, when you are playing live, they all have return clues. Everyone is working with a network. They are a rock band from the old old school.»
The origins of that training and ability are found in the background of the couple. Each of their lives had largely depended on music. Mr. Bagayoko and Mrs. Doumbia were born with their eyes, but both were blind as children due to poor medical treatment.
Amadou Bagayoko was born on October 24, 1954 in Bamako. His father, Ibrahima Bagayago, was an instructor of a mason, and his mother, Mariam Diarra, dedicated himself to raising his 14 children.
Amadou Milky Eyed was born, with cataracts, but he was blind only. Later, a doctor told his family that the child’s real problem had actually been a tracoma infection addressed too late. It was also impossible in Mali to obtain a cornea transplant, which could have saved Amadou’s vision.
«In those days,» Bagayoko wrote in the couple’s joint memoirs, «far from the day» (2010), «Being blind was the worst thing that could happen to him in Malian society. It was equivalent to being a beggar.»
From practically his childhood, Amadou got used to «drowning his sorrows in music,» he wrote. He became good enough on the flute and harmonica so that his teacher asked him to play the Malian National Anthem after class every day.
An idea formed in your young mind. «Music,» he wrote, «it would be my step out of poverty.»
Around 13, an uncle began to show Amadou the guitar. He soon realized that he could differentiate the manufacturer’s guitars based on sound.
In a short time, Amadou was playing with the embassies of Les Du Motel, one of Mali’s best known musical groups. It also began to attend the Institute for Blind Young people, the First Modern School of Mali for the blind. A teenager there was highly appreciated for his song: Mariam Doumbia. She had been blind since the age of 5 years of unwanted measles.
Mariam showed Bondou letters that he had written about the harsh reality of being disabled in Mali. Amadou began to put his songs in music.
They played together for years as friends and collaborators. In 1980, dancing at a party, Mr. Bagayoko declared that his true feelings for her were romantic. Mrs. Doumbia kissed him. «I felt that the doors of Paradise opened,» he wrote in his memoirs.
The local media covered the marriage of the two estimated blind musicians. The promoters of concerts of the nearby African nations began to make offers. They expanded their repertoire of their native bambara to other languages such as Tuareg and Senufo. Fans called them the blind couple of Mali.
For 1996, they were able to move to Paris and record an album there, now singing in French. Which led to «Je thought à toi» His first success out of Africa.
The musical-trotter manu chao He produced «Dimanche à Bamako» and helped write lyrics for some of his songs. The album sold more than 100,000 copies only in France in almost a week and became an international success.
The couple won prominent billing at American music festivals such as Bonnaroo and All Points West, along with popular bands in the mid -2000s such as Radiohead, Kings of Leon and Animal Collective.
In 2009, they opened in several shows of the Stadium for Coldplay. The same year, they acted in a concert in honor of President Barack Obama winning the Nobel Peace Prize, and Mr. Obama himself met.
Its production ended during the years 2010 and 2020, but they worked together as recently as last summer during the Paralympic Games in Paris. From Sunday, Its website still listed the dates For a European tour in May and June.
Mr. Bagayoko and Mrs. Doumbia had three children, including a son, Sam, who is also a musician, as well as several grandchildren. Complete information about survivors was not immediately available.
One of the last international successes of the couple was «Bofou Safou» Released in 2017. He had a paradox that seemed appropriate for a couple who had dedicated their lives to music. The letter reprimands young people to concentrate less on dance and more to work, however, the cheerful and wonderful rhythm challenges you will not dance.
