Amadou & Mariam’s Amadou Bagayoko has died

Amadou Bagayoko, one half of great Malian duo Amadou & Mariam, died on Friday following an illness. The Malian ministry of culture released a statement saying they “learned with concern of the passing of artist Amadou Bagayoko this Friday. Amadou was a blind man who made his mark on the Malian and international scene.”

Amadou and Mariam met in the mid-’70s at the Institute for the Young Blind in Malia’s capital of Bamako where they both performed in the Eclipse Orchestra. They fell in love, married and began making music together, and had made a name for themselves by the mid-’80s with their blend of Malian blues and Western rock. It was in the mid-’90s when their cassette tapes began making their way around the world, and they signed to Polygram’s Emarcy label in 1996 after moving to Paris. Their first album made outside of Africa was 1998’s Sou Ni Tile which gave them a French hit with “Je pense à toi.” Their 2004 album Dimanche à Bamako (“Sunday in Bamako) was produced by Manu Chao and released via Nonesuch, and brought them global acclaim.

The duo recorded the official theme song for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, “Celebrate the Day,” with Herbert Grönemeyer, and in 2008 released Welcome to Mali which featured a collaboration with Damon Albarn. They made two more studio albums, 2012’s Folila and 2017’s La Confusion, and continued to tour through 2024.

Rest in peace, Amadou.