In Memoriam: Amadou Bagayoko (Amadou and Mariam), a sad sunday in Bamako

Blinded at the age of 15 due to early and severe cataracts, Amadou was born in his beloved Mali in 1954 and passed away this 4 April at the age of 70.

Since the 1980s, his artistic journey and personal life were intimately linked to Mariam Doumbia, four years his junior. Both affected by blindness, they have, from the start, portrayed touching naive and unwaveringly positive snapshots of Malian society such as the recent "Mogolu" in the Bambara language (spoken in Mali), which might translate to The People. This was already the case in 2005 with, for example, the chorus of "La fête au village". Like many other African artists, the duo also doesn't hesitate to embrace causes they deem essential, such as the fight against hunger, nor to assert political opinions driven by common sense and a desire for justice for all, such as "Ce n’est pas bon" (on the album "Welcome to Mali") or "Afrique mon Afrique" (on "Folila" in 2012). Always using simple words that hit home...

They also regularly declare their unfailing love for each other, as in 2024, with "La vie est belle" and of course the emblematic "Je pense à toi" adorned with those typical electric sounds reminiscent of Vieux Farka Touré or the melodies cherished by Rokia Traoré. For Amadou was also an excellent guitarist nourished by the magical local arpeggios, a style often called Bajourou.

In Europe, a welcome boost from Manu Chao helped Amadou & Mariam reach the general public in 2005 with the album "Dimanche à Bamako" and the great popular success of "Sénégal Fast Food" performed with the former singer of La Mano Negra. In the wake of this, they even clinched a Victoire de la Musique in the World Music category. 

Like other African artists, such as Touré Kunda, Amadou & Mariam never hesitated to entrust their beautifully old-fashioned tunes to sound wizards ("Sabali") or to sneak into discotheques by giving carte blanche to a remixer like Major Lazer for "Mogolu". Amadou used to say, after all, that "encounters; that's life!"

In September 2024, at the conclusion of the Paris Paralympic Games, they performed "I'm here to tell you I'm leaving" by Serge Gainsbourg, a touching performance in front of spectators from around the world that today echoes like a requiem before its time.

(MH with Stéphane Soupart - Photo: © Music Belgium Photos)

Photo: Amadou Bagayoko on stage at the Ancienne Belgique in Brussels (Belgium) on March 27, 2024