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Amadou & Mariam

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Amadou & Mariam

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World music duo

The ancient musical traditions of the West African land of Mali, whose story songs accompanied by stringed instruments are thought by some to be the source of the blues style in America, have proven unusually adaptable to collaborations involving other musicians from around the world. African Americans such as Taj Mahal have worked with Malian singers and instrumentalists, as have Spanish flamenco guitarists; Malian musicians, in turn, have borrowed from American pop, from reggae, and from various Latin American traditions. The husband-and-wife duo of Amadou & Mariam, however, have taken musical fusion to a whole new level.

Amadou Bagayoko and Mariam Doumbia were born near the Niger River in Mali. Although they grew up just a few blocks from one another, they did not meet until years later. Both were born sighted but went blind as young people, Amadou at age 15 as a result of a congenital cataract, and Mariam at five, after contracting measles and receiving inadequate medical care. Both played music when they were young, Mariam in a traditional African setting. "I started in traditional and family gatherings," she was quoted as saying on the World Music Net website. "I worked on my voice with a little transistor radio of my father's, then began to gain

confidence, and I moved out of the background and started composing."

Amadou, meanwhile, had begun performing in bands as a singer and guitarist. Western musical influences in Mali were diverse in the 1960s and 1970s, with American pop and rock, the music of Mali's former French colonizers, and stylistic exports from newly socialist Cuba all playing a role. He joined a band called National Orchestra B and then, moving to the Malian capital of Bamako, played with one of the top West African groups of the day, Les Ambassadeurs du Motel de Bamako, which also spawned the career of the internationally successful Malian star Kalif Seita. Remaining with Les Ambassadeurs from about 1974 to 1980, Amadou traveled with the group to such musical capitals as Paris, Lagos, and Abidjan, the capital of Ivory Coast. "That was my high school, the place where I could finally perfect my playing and face professional musicians," Amadou was quoted as saying on World Music Net. "I realized what I lacked technically, and the immensity of our repertoire. There were musicians from all over West Africa: Ivory Coast, Senegal, Ghana."

The next step in Amadou's personal and professional life came when he met Mariam at Mali's Institute for the Young Blind, where both were singing in a choir. They became inseparable and began performing together, and later married and had three children.

In the late 1980s Amadou and Mariam took to the road, leaving their children behind in Mali, to seek out a more vigorous popular music industry than the one their home country could offer. Passing through Burkina Faso, they ended up in Abidjan and immediately found a diverse music scene there. Billed as "The Blind Couple of Mali," they began to find new fans, and beginning in 1988 they released a series of five cassettes under the guidance of a Nigerian producer named Aliyu Maikano Adamu. These spare recordings featured only Mariam's singing and Amadou's electric guitar, but they nevertheless showed a unique new style, and the duo's fame spread, partly through the efforts of Africa's energetic pirate recording distribution network. Some of the songs Amadou & Mariam recorded during this period resurfaced on their international breakthrough album Sou ni tilé. Eventually they returned to Mali, having achieved stardom there in absentia.

The success Amadou & Mariam experienced in Africa brought them to the attention of European record companies, and after touring African venues in Europe in 1995 they were flown to London by the giant Polygram label to make a demonstration recording. The duo backed up the 1998 release of Sou ni tilé (on the Polygram subsidiary Emarcy) with a move to Paris, bringing their music to European audiences with appearances at such venues as the Transmusicales festival in Rennes, France. Sou ni tilé (Bamanan for "Night and Day") was released in the United States on the Tinder label in 1999, and an Amadou & Mariam track was included on the American label Putumayo's widely circulated Mali to Memphis compilation the following year.

Sou ni tilé displayed some of the duo's trademark eclecticism. Accompanied by a band, Amadou & Mariam included the Indian sarangi and tabla on one track, featured French-style fiddling on another and, like other West African artists, gestured toward reggae, blues, and horn-driven funk. Yet it was not just the dexterity with which Amadou & Mariam referred to other styles that attracted critics, it was the way they incorporated various influences into music that seemed personal and homegrown. "[N]either Amadou nor Mariam has a powerhouse voice, but everything on this disc comes across as heartfelt and genuine," noted Dirty Linen's Peggy Latkovich, who added that "Sou ni tilé is rich, sweet, and delicious."

Several more releases exposed audiences to different aspects of the versatile duo's music. The 1999 French release Se Te Djon Ye captured the intimate feel of their duet performances without a backing band. Tje Ni Mousso ("Man and Woman" in Bambara) was released in the United States on the Circular Moves label in 2000, and featured an organ and a horn section that made clear the debt Amadou & Mariam owed to American funk, specifically to the music of an influence they readily acknowledged, that of James Brown.

An Amadou & Mariam album was a linguistic mix as well, featuring lyrics in French and in the African languages of Bambara, Prul, Dogon, and Bamanan. Some of their songs dealt with contemporary scenes and issues in African society, but many had a more general spiritual or philosophical tone that sometimes reflected the couple's Islamic faith. "We are Muslims," Mariam explained in a French-language interview appearing on the scorbut.be website, and Amadou added, "Which means we believe in helping people, in taking on their suffering. We want to say to people that it's necessary to extend a hand, to work together. Life lasts only a short time."

Amadou & Mariam returned with the album Wati, released in Europe in 2002 and in the United States in 2003. The album continued to blend the sounds of Mali with those of the West, and it impressed writer Chris Nickson of the All Music Guide with "a sound that's remarkably down-home." After 15 years of recording, Amadou & Mariam have remained vital and open to new influences. What may turn up next in the Malian musical stew that informs Amadou & Mariam's music remains to be seen.

Selected discography
Le couple aveugle du Mali, vols. 1-5, Maikano (Ivory Coast), 1989-93.
Sou ni tilé, Universal, 1998.
Se Te Djon Ye, Sonodisc, 1999.
Tje Ni Mousso, Circular Moves, 2000.
Wati, Circular Moves, 2002.

Sources
Periodicals
Daily Telegraph (London, England), July 12, 2003, p. 12.

Online
"Amadou & Mariam," All Music Guide, http://www.allmusic.com (April 12, 2004).
"Amadou & Mariam," Emarcy Records, http://www.emarcy.com/artists.asp?artist_id=17 (April 12, 2004).
"Amadou et Mariam," Scorbut.be, http://www.scorbut.be/interview/interview_amadoumariam/interview.htm (April 12, 2004).
"Amadou et Mariam," Ritmo Artists, http://www.ritmoartists.com/AmMar/AmMar.htm (April 12, 2004).
"Amadou et Mariam: Sou Ni Tilé," Roots World, http://www.rootsworld.com/reviews/amadou-mariam.html (April 12, 2004).
"Amadou & Mariam," World Music Net, http://www.worldmusicnet.com/artists/amadoumariam_01.html (April 12, 2004).
"Sou ni tilé," Dirty Linen, http://www.dirtynelson.com/linen/85/recordings.html (April 12, 2004).
AMG AllMusic Guide: Pop Artists:

Amadou & Mariam

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  • Genres: World

Biography

A musical husband-and-wife duo that got its start in Mali, Amadou & Mariam met in 1975 at Mali's Bamako Institute for the Young Blind. Amadou (born Amadou Bagayoko in Bamako in October of 1954) began his musical career in 1968, and by 1974 had joined Les Ambassadeurs du Motel, a leading group (which counted Salif Keita as a member) in his home country. He wound up at the aforementioned institute after becoming blind as a teenager through a congenital cataract. His future wife, Mariam Doumbia (born in Bamako on April 15, 1958), was already at the institute (she became blind at the age of five), studying Braille as well as teaching classes in dance and music. Over time, the pair would have a huge influence on the artistic programs at the school, with Amadou directing a group of pupils and Mariam handling lead vocal duties for the school orchestra.

In 1980, the pair married and decided that they would make a good collaborative musical team. Over the next five years, they performed in their home country, and Amadou's solo career and work won him many accolades and awards. In 1985, the two toured out of country for the first time, with shows in Burkina Faso. In 1986, Amadou & Mariam, realizing that Mali and its distinct lack of recording resources would be a major hindrance to their career, opted to move to the neighboring Ivory Coast. There they began to release a series of cassettes (with help from the Nigerian producer Maikano) that would become the foundation of their later successes. By 1991, the pair had released four volumes of their work on cassette, and the buzz was great enough that in 1994, they were invited to Paris to perform and record new music there in.

Although the resulting sessions were never released, Amadou & Mariam kept on, and in 1998 they released their first CD album, Sou Ni Tile. From 1998 to 2002, a series of releases highlighting their early work (both together and solo) preceded their next album, Wati. In 2003, world music luminary Manu Chao began to work with the couple, and in 2004 Amadou & Mariam emerged from the studio with what was to be their landmark album, Dimance a Bamako. The success of the album led to tours, awards, and accolades from all over Europe and Africa.

In 2005, they released a live album and DVD, and in 2007 got involved with Damon Albarn (of Blur and Gorillaz fame) and his Africa Express project, which played the famous Glastonbury Festival. That same year, Amadou & Mariam performed at Bastille Day celebrations, as well as opening up for the American rock act Scissor Sisters in England. Released in 2008, Welcome to Mali featured guest appearances by K'Naan, Keziah Jones, -M-, Toumani Diabaté, Tiken Jah Fakoly, and Juan Rozoff, as well as production help from the aforementioned Albarn. The Magic Couple followed in 2009. The duo performed in Albarn's multi-artist Africa Express concerts, and, more recently, performed at the informal L’Afrik C’est Chic jam sessions with various special guests in London and New York. Together with longtime producer Marc-Antoine Moreau, they cut sessions for a new album in New York and Bamako, keeping the best tracks from each. The end result was Folila, issued in early 2012. The album featured guest appearances by Theophilus London, TV on the Radio, Nick Zinner of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and fellow countryman and ngoni master Bassekou Kouyate. A digital EP was released in January of that year, entitled Dougou Badia, for the album's first single. ~ Chris True, Rovi
Wikipedia on Answers.com:

Amadou & Mariam

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Amadou & Mariam

Mariam Doumbia and Amadou Bagayoko
Background information
Origin Bamako, Mali
Genres Malian music, worldbeat
Years active 1974–present
Labels Because Music, Nonesuch
Website www.amadou-mariam.com
Members
Amadou Bagayoko
Mariam Doumbia

Amadou & Mariam are a musical duo from Mali, composed of the couple Amadou Bagayoko (guitar and vocals) (born in Bamako 24 October 1954) and Mariam Doumbia (vocals) (born in Bamako 15 April 1958). The pair, known as "the blind couple from Mali" met at Mali's Institute for the Young Blind, where they both performed at the Institute’s Eclipse Orchestra, directed by Idrissa Soumaouro, and found they shared an interest in music. Amadou lost his vision at the age of 16 while Mariam became blind at age 5 as a consequence of untreated measles.[1]

Contents

Style

The duo's early recordings in the 1980s and 1990s featured sparse arrangements of guitar and voice. Since the late 1990s Amadou & Mariam have produced music that mixes traditional Mali sound with rock guitars, Syrian violins, Cuban trumpets, Egyptian ney, Indian tablas and Dogon percussion. In combination these elements have been called "Afro-blues".

Background

Between 1974 and 1980, Amadou played guitar in the West African band Les Ambassadeurs du Motel de Bamako. In 1980 the couple married and by 1983 they began to play together while Amadou continued a successful solo career and ran the blind institute's music programme.

Career

By 1985 the couple had made a name for themselves playing Malian blues. They embarked on a tour of Burkina Faso. In 1986 the couple moved to Côte d'Ivoire and recorded several cassette albums . During this time they met Stevie Wonder, and the duo started playing at festivals around the world.[citation needed]

By 1996 the duet moved to Paris where they were signed to Polygram’s Emarcy label.

In 1998 they released their first album recorded outside of Africa, Sou Ni Tile. The track "Je pense à toi" was a hit on French radio and the album went on to sell 100,000 copies.

In 2003 they were approached by World–Latin music star Manu Chao, who then produced their 2004 album Dimanche à Bamako ("Sunday in Bamako"), which also features his distinctive vocals.

In 2005 The Côte d'Ivoire recordings were released for the first time on CD as a limited edition box set and "best of" collection, 1990–1995: Le Meilleur Des Années Maliennes. Amadou & Mariam won the French Victoire de la Musique prize for best World Music album of the year with Dimanche à Bamako. On 26 October (2005) after their show at the Olympia in Paris, they were awarded a platinum disc by the French Ministry of Culture for selling 300,000 units of Dimanche à Bamako. They also won two BBC Radio 3 Awards for World Music in the African and Best Album categories for Dimanche à Bamako.

In 2006, they recorded, together with Herbert Grönemeyer, the official anthem for the 2006 FIFA World Cup "Celebrate The Day" (German: "Zeit, dass sich was dreht"). The song topped the German charts in June 2006.

They went on to play major festivals in the US including Coachella and Lollapalooza. On 26 June 2007 they took part in Damon Albarn’s “Africa Express” project at Glastonbury with an impressive line-up including Rachid Taha, K’Naan, Tony Allen, Fat Boy Slim and Tinariwen. This was also their first encounter with Jake Shears of the Scissor Sisters. They then supported the Scissor Sisters on their UK tour, including three nights at London’s O2 Arena . In summer of 2008, they played the Lollapalooza music festival in Chicago, Illinois and the Latitude Festival in Henham Park, Suffolk.

In 2008 they released their 6th album Welcome To Mali with the participation of K’Naan, Keziah Jones, M and Damon Albarn. Their song "Sabali" was placed 15 on Pitchfork Media's Top 100 Best Tracks of 2008.[2] In the same year they had played the main stage at Glastonbury Festival.

Amadou & Mariam won the Best Group category in the inaugural Songlines Music Awards (2009) – announced 1 May 2009 – the new world music awards organised by the UK-based magazine, Songlines. On 26 May, they played a gig to support the homeless charity Crisis at the Union Chapel, in north London where they were joined on stage by their hero, Pink Floyd’s guitarist, David Gilmour, who played second guitar supporting the whole 80 minute set and a 5-minute encore. On 8 June, they performed on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon on US TV Channel NBC. That same year, they supported Blur during their two reunion gigs in Hyde Park and also supported UK based band Coldplay on their Viva la Vida Tour on 8 shows. They also performed their duo set L’Afrique C’est Chic at the Jazz Cafe in London where they were joined on-stage by special guests including Theophilus London, Beth Orton, Krystle Warren; and they performed a headline show at the Roundhouse, London as part of the iTunes Festival. Also in the 2009, they became Zeitz Foundation Ambassadors for Culture (Art); they help raise awareness and shape activities in their respective dimension.

In 2010 their autobiography Away From the Light of Day was published in the UK by Route Publishing.[3] On 11 June, Amadou & Mariam appeared on FIFA's Kick-Off Celebration for 2010's World Cup, hosted in South Africa, alongside Alicia Keys, John Legend, Tinariwen and Shakira in front of 80 000 people and hundreds of millions of TV viewers.[4] That same year, Amadou & Mariam contributed the song "Tambara" to the Enough Project and Downtown Records' Raise Hope for Congo compilation. Proceeds from the compilation fund efforts to make the protection and empowerment of Congo’s women a priority, as well as inspire individuals around the world to raise their voice for peace in Congo. Their album “Welcome To Mali” was nominated in the “Best Contemporary World Music Album” at the 52nd ceremony of the Grammy Awards. They were chosen by Matt Groening to perform at the edition of the All Tomorrow's Parties festival he curated in May 2010 in Minehead, England.

In February 2011, Amadou & Mariam performed as one of the support acts for U2 during the Johannesburg and Cape Town legs of their U2 360 Tour. In July, they performed their first concerts in the dark, Eclipse, which were commissioned by the Manchester International Festival. They went on to stage these shows in London in November 2011, and in Paris in January 2012. They also became ambassadors for the World Food Program. They travelled to Haïti and offered a new song “Labendela” (Children are the future) as an anthem. Their early biography Away From The Light of Day was published in the US.

Their eighth album Folila will be released on 2 April 2012. Folila, which means “music” in Bambara, was recorded in Bamako and New York with special guests including Santigold, TV On The Radio, and Jake Shears from Scissor Sisters. The first single of the album “Dougou Badia” was released on 20 January. The track featuring guest appearance of Santigold, was hailed by the NME as "a chuffing great masterstroke of genre-less genre mixing".[5] In France, the track “Oh Amadou” which is a duet with Bertrand Cantat, was chosen as a single.

Discography

Studio Albums
Compilations
  • 2005 : Je pense à toi: The Best of Amadou & Mariam
  • 2006 : 1990–1995 Le Meilleur des Années Maliennes
  • 2007 : Paris Bamako (DVD + CD 12 titres live)
  • 2009 : The Magic Couple: The Best of Amadou & Mariam 1997–2002

References

  1. ^ Teran, Andi. "Amadou & Mariam, Mali's Blind Polyphonous Polyglots | Blogs". Vanity Fair. http://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2009/03/amadou-mariam-malis-blind-polyphonous-polyglots.html. Retrieved 2011-08-21. 
  2. ^ Pitchfork Media. "The 100 Best Tracks of 2008", Pitchfork Media, 2008-12-15. Retrieved on 2008-12-17.
  3. ^ "Away From the Light of Day". Route Online. http://www.route-online.com/all-books/away-from-the-light-of-day.html. Retrieved 2011-08-21. 
  4. ^ "Amadou & Mariam – Welcome To Mali (2010 FIFA World Cup™ Kick-off Concert)". YouTube. 2010-06-11. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16WHwEXGAUs&feature=channel. Retrieved 2011-08-21. 
  5. ^ "Amadou & Mariam feat. Santigold & Nick Zinner – 'Dougou Badia'. Brilliant mash-up madness". NME. 17 January 2012. http://www.nme.com/reviews/santigold/12612. Retrieved 18 February 2012. 

External links

Amadou & Mariam
Studio albums

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