Latest news with #Bagayoko
New York Times
14-04-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
The Musicians Who Knew a Malian Rock Star Pay Tribute to His Legacy
African music lost one of its titans last week with the death of Amadou Bagayoko, a guitarist who recorded with American rock stars, performed at the Nobel concert for Barack Obama, and became a national icon in his home, Mali. With his wife, the singer Mariam Doumbia, Mr. Bagayoko composed the duo Amadou & Mariam, which rose to international fame in the 2000s and 2010s with hits like 'Beautiful Sundays.' Mr. Bagayoko was 70 when he died last week, of complications from a malaria infection. He and his wife, who is 66, were scheduled to perform across Europe next month. And while their fame has faded in the United States since the peak of their global success, they remained huge celebrities in Europe and in West Africa, where their music inspired generations of artists. We asked relatives and friends of Mr. Bagayoko for their favorite songs by Amadou & Mariam, and the significance of the guitarist and his music — a blend of blues riffs, guitar solos, and djembe — to them. 'Toubala Kono' Cheick Tidiane Seck, a keyboard player who knew Mr. Bagayoko since the guitarist was 14, was in neighboring Ivory Coast for a concert last week when Mr. Bagayoko died. Mr. Seck opened the concert with 'Toubala Kono,' a song he wrote with Mr. Bagayoko, whom he called a 'brother.' But he couldn't finish performing it, he said in an interview, adding, 'I would have collapsed.' With only a spare, reverberating guitar doing circular riffs, the song revolves around loneliness, a feeling that Mr. Seck said had haunted him since his friend's death. 'Mogoya' Sam Bagayoko is the only one of Mr. Bagayoko's and Ms. Doumbia's three children who embraced a musical career. He had toured with his parents and was in Paris to organize their planned concerts in France this summer when Mr. Bagayoko died. His parents were especially proud of how their songs kept appealing to younger generations, he said in a telephone interview from Bamako, Mali's capital and the family's home, where visitors were coming this week to pay tribute. His favorite song is 'Mogoya,' which he composed for his parents to perform with him. In the song, he plays the guitar with his father while his mother sings about daily life in Mali and promises that people often fail to keep. 'It was always an honor to play with my parents, but this was our last collaboration together,' said Sam, who is 45. 'I will never see nor hear my father's guitar anymore.' 'I Think About You' Idrissa Soumaoro, a well-known musician and singer in Mali, met Mr. Bagayoko in 1973, when at 19 years old he joined the band Les Ambassadeurs du Motel de Bamako. He quickly saw that 'Amadou was bright and ambitious,' he said. Later in that decade, Mr. Soumaoro trained Mr. Bagayoko and Ms. Doumbia at a Malian national school for blind people, where they deepened their friendship. (Mr. Bagayoko was blind, as is his wife.) At the school, Mr. Soumaoro said, they would listen to blues for hours in a rehearsal room, working on tonalities in what Mr. Soumaoro called 'research work like I've never done with any other musician.' Mr. Soumaoro picked 'I Think About You,' a love song that the duo released in 2005, saying, that the couple's love 'was also part of their success.' 'In it, Amadou sings, 'I think about you, don't abandon me,'' said Mr. Soumaoro, who is 75. 'He didn't abandon her, but the sad reality is that he has left her.' He added, 'I hope Mariam will have the strength to bear life.'
BBC News
07-04-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Amadou Bagayoko - thousands attend funeral of Malian musician
Thousands of people gathered in Mali on Sunday for the funeral of musician Amadou Bagayoko, of the world-renowned duo Amadou & relatives, fans and fellow artists flocked to the ceremony in the capital city of Bamako - including the musician Salif Keita and former prime minister Moussa of the most successful African musical act of the 2000s, husband and wife duo Amadou & Mariam achieved global fame by combining West African influences with rhythm and breakthrough album, 2004's Dimanche à Bamako, sold half a million copies worldwide and led to collaborations with Blur's Damon Albarn, as well as appearances at the Glastonbury and Coachella festivals. Mali's culture minister, Mamou Daffé, said on state TV that Bagayoko had died on Friday in the city of Bamako, aged 70. The musician's family confirmed the news, adding that he "had been ill for a while".No further information was given on the cause of death, but his widow, Mariam Doumbia, described her husband's last moments."I took his hand and tried to make some movements with it, but it didn't move," she said."I said: 'Amadou, don't do this, speak to Mariam... but he didn't speak any more."The musician was taken to hospital, where he subsequently died."I thought that, if Amadou went just like that, then me, I'm alone," Doumbia added. "I was alone and I will remain alone in life." Franco-Spanish star Manu Chao, who produced Dimanche à Bamako, led tributes to Bagayoko in a post on Instagram, saying: "We will always be together... Wherever you go."Mariam, Sam, the whole family, your pain is my pain. I love you," he Malian singer Sidiki Diabate lamented "another immense loss for Malian music".Youssou N'Dour said he considered Amadou & Mariam to be "the ambassadors of African music almost everywhere in the world".Speaking to France's TV5 Monde, he said Bagayoko had pursued his career with "a dignity and a way of life that inspired us all... and encouraged us in what we were doing". Inventor of 'Afro-rock' Born in Bamako in 1954, Bagayoko went blind when he was 15 because of a congenital cataract. He subsequently enrolled at Mali's Institute for the Young Blind, where he met his future wife, Mariam, who had lost her vision at the age of five after contracting measles. They formed a band called Mali's Blind Couple in 1980, and moved to the neighbouring Ivory Coast in 1986, having realised that Mali's under-developed music industry would be a hindrance to their they recorded a series of cassettes, pairing Doumbia's soulful voice with Bagayoko's powerful guitar style, inspired by British acts like Led Zeppelin and Pink aim, Bagayoko said, was to "find a link between them and our Bambara culture". He christened the sound "Afro-rock". Their lives were changed when Manu Chao heard one of their songs on the radio and offered to produce their next ended up co-writing and singing on the record, adding eccentric rhythmical touches to their brand of desert result was Dimanche à Bamako, which won both the Victoire de la Musique - France's equivalent to a Grammy Award - and the BBC Radio World Music Award in follow-up, 2008's Welcome to Mali, was nominated for best contemporary world music album at the record was produced by Damon Albarn, who had invited the duo to take part in his Africa Express project in 2007, and invited them to tour with Blur during their 2009 reunion Shears of Scissor Sisters was also a fan, and took Amadou & Mariam on the road with his band in 2012. "What they do hearkens back to classic rock and real musicianship," he told The Times as the tour kicked off. "Now with all bands, when you're playing live, everybody's got backing tracks going on. Everyone's working with a net. They are a proper old-school rock band." In 2009, they played in Oslo as Barack Obama was awarded the Nobel peace prize; and in 2011 staged a series of concerts in the dark, to show audiences how they experienced music. A year later, they decided to record two versions of their sixth album Folila - one in New York and one with traditional musicians in Bamako. The idea was to release each separately but, in the end, the duo decided to combine the recordings, mixing different takes of the same song together in a third studio in contributions from Santigold, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and TV On The Radio, it earned the group a second Grammy nomination in 2012.2017's La Confusion, addressed the political turmoil in their homeland, where Islamic extremists had imposed Shariah law and banished like Bofou Safou offered messages of strength, resistance and optimism amidst the turmoil. Bagayoko said he hoped the music was universal"We started to work on the things that were happening in our homeland, but then realised that they could be applied to a lot of other countries in the world," he told OkayAfrica. "There is a confusion all over the world, and it's time to communicate, to talk and share ideas for a better future and understanding."The duo continued to record and tour until last year. Bagayoko's final performance came at the closing ceremony of the Paris 2024 Paralympic of Sunday, the duo's website still listed dates for a European tour in May and is survived by his wife and a son, Sam, also a "will be buried in family intimacy in the courtyard of his home", his spokesman Djiby Sacko told the AFP news agency.
Yahoo
05-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Malian singer Amadou Bagayoko dies at age 70
BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — Renowned guitarist and singer Amadou Bagayoko of Mali's music duo Amadou & Mariam has died. He was 70. Mali's Minister of Culture Mamou Daffé paid tribute to the blind musician in a televised broadcast on state TV. He said that Bagayoko died Friday in the city of Bamako, his birthplace, but didn't give further details. Bagayoko went blind when he was 15 because of a congenital cataract. He studied music at Mali's Institute for the Young Blind, where he met his future wife, Mariam Doumbia. They formed a band called Mali's Blind Couple in 1980, making their mark locally and internationally. Their music, which blends traditional African influences with elements of rock, blues and pop, has won them a global following. They produced over 10 award-winning albums, including France's Grammy Awards equivalent, Victoire de la Musique, in 2005, for 'Dimanche à Bamako' and again in 2013 for 'Folila.' 'Dimanche à Bamako' also won them one of the BBC Radio Awards for World Music in 2006. Their 2008 album 'Welcome to Mali' was nominated for Best Contemporary World Music Album at the Grammys. Bagayoko's last world-class performance with Doumbia was at the closing ceremony of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games. He is survived by his wife and a son, Sam, also a musician.
Yahoo
05-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Amadou Bagayoko of Acclaimed Malian Duo Amadou & Mariam Dead at 70
Amadou Bagayoko, singer and guitarist in the Grammy-nominated Malian duo Amadou & Mariam, has died at the age of 70. Mali's Minister of Culture Mamou Daffé said on state TV that Bagayoko died Friday in the city of Bamako, his birthplace. Bagayoko's family confirmed the death, adding that he 'had been ill for a while,' though no cause of death was provided. More from Rolling Stone Johnny Tillotson, 'Poetry in Motion' Singer, Dead at 86 Tim Mohr, Journalist and Author With Duff McKagan and Paul Stanley, Dead at 55 Val Kilmer, Actor Who Starred in 'Top Gun' and 'The Doors,' Dead at 65 Bagayoko, who became blind at the age of 15 due to a congenital cataract, studied music at Mali's Institute for the Young Blind, where he met his future wife and band mate, Mariam Doumbia, who had been blind since the age of 5. The pair performed together in Mali throughout the Seventies and Eighties before breaking out in Europe in the mid-Nineties. As Amadou & Mariam, the duo brought Malian music to the world stage, attracting famous fans like Stevie Wonder, David Gilmour, and Damon Albarn; the latter enlisted the duo to take part in his Africa Express project, co-produced their Grammy-nominated 2009 album Welcome to Mali, and recruited Amadou & Mariam to open for Blur during that band's reunion shows in 2009. Bagayoko's jaunty style of playing — fusing Malian music with a Western rock sound — landed him on Rolling Stone's list of the 250 Best Guitarists. 'People are often surprised when we explain how much we were influenced by Western pop music,' Amadou Bagayoko once told an interviewer. 'I grew up listening to records by Rod Stewart, Led Zeppelin, James Brown, Crosby, Stills, and Nash, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Pink Floyd, Stevie Wonder … That's because they were the only records we had in Mali!' Over the past two decades, Amadou & Mariam were mainstays at music festivals around the world, including Glastonbury, Coachella, and Lollapalooza. The duo also served as opening act for stadium tours by the likes of Coldplay and U2. Amadou & Mariam's two most recent albums were 2012's Folila — which featured collaborations with TV on the Radio, Santigold, Yeah Yeah Yeahs' Nick Zinner, and Scissor Sisters' Jake Shears — and 2017's La Confusion. In Sept. 2024, the duo took part in the closing ceremony at the 2024 Summer Paralympics in Paris, performing Serge Gainsbourg's 'Je suis venu te dire que je m'en vais.' Best of Rolling Stone The 50 Greatest Eminem Songs All 274 of Taylor Swift's Songs, Ranked The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time
Yahoo
05-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Amadou Bagayoko, Member of Malian Duo Amadou & Mariam, Dies at 70
Renowned guitarist and singer Amadou Bagayoko of Mali's music duo Amadou & Mariam has died. He was 70. Mali's Minister of Culture Mamou Daffé paid tribute to the blind musician in a televised broadcast on state TV. He said that Bagayoko died Friday (March 4) in the city of Bamako, his birthplace, but didn't give further details. The musician's family confirmed his passing, noting that he had been ill for some time, Rolling Stone reports. A cause of death was not provided. More from Billboard Gone But Not Forgotten: Musicians We Lost in 2025 Tracy Chapman on Revisiting Her Self-Titled Debut Album, 37 Years Later: 'I'm Just So Proud of It' FKA Twigs Has to Drop Out of Coachella, Cancel North American Tour Dates Due to Visa Issues: 'I'm Devastated' Bagayoko went blind when he was 15 because of a congenital cataract. He studied music at Mali's Institute for the Young Blind, where he met his future wife, Mariam Doumbia. They formed a band called Mali's Blind Couple in 1980, making their mark locally and internationally. The pair performed together in Mali during the '70s and '80s before making a breakthrough in Europe in the mid-'90s. Their music, which blends traditional African influences with elements of rock, blues and pop, has won them a global following. They produced over 10 award-winning albums, including France's Grammy Awards equivalent, Victoire de la Musique, in 2005, for Dimanche à Bamako and again in 2013 for Folila. Dimanche à Bamako also won them one of the BBC Radio Awards for World Music in 2006. Their 2008 album Welcome to Mali was nominated for best contemporary world music album at the Grammys. Bagayoko's last world-class performance with Doumbia was at the closing ceremony of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games. He is survived by his wife and a son, Sam, also a musician. Best of Billboard Chart Rewind: In 1989, New Kids on the Block Were 'Hangin' Tough' at No. 1 Janet Jackson's Biggest Billboard Hot 100 Hits H.E.R. & Chris Brown 'Come Through' to No. 1 on Adult R&B Airplay Chart
