Amadou Bagayoko and Mariam Doumbia are the couple that make up Amadou & Mariam, an afro-blues group from Mali. The pair has been performing for decades and have released seven albums, including last year’s Folila, along with a number of compilations. Both musicians are blind and they are sometimes called “the blind couple from Mali,” which is sort of more informational than it is a nickname.
I first started listening to Amadou & Mariam in 2000 when they released Tje Ni Mousso, and my favorite track from that album is still Si Ni Kan. Most of Amadou & Mariam’s music is in Bambara, the national language of Mali, but they also sing in French or occasionally in English, Spanish, or another Malian language. I haven’t looked into the meaning of their lyrics because it’s so easy to appreciate the rhythm and diverse instrumentation in their music anyway, but it would be cool to know what some of these tracks are about. [Spotify, Amazon, iTunes]
