He is blind and so is she. Despite everything, the Malian duo Amadou & Mariam has been making thousands of people dance from one end of the world to the other for over 50 years to their mixed rhythms of blues, rock, and traditional African music.
On August 27, they will be among the guests of the Grand concert de la francophonie, given on the occasion of the Superfrancofête, and will make the Agora of the port of Quebec vibrate with their catchy groove. Both originally from Bamako and of Bambara tradition, they met at the Institute for Young Blind People, when Mariam was 17 and he was 20. Mariam was struck blind by measles, Amadou suffered from a congenital disease.
Even when they were very young, they played in an orchestra called Éclipse, which brought together sighted and blind people.
“There are great blind musicians, like Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder, with whom we have performed, who gave us the courage to continue. We were just starting out and they already had a great career behind them,” says Amadou, who took up the guitar at a very young age, after having tried percussion, the harmonica and the flute as a child.
Despite this blindness, Mariam is, on stage, dressed in a splendid African boubou, like those worn in Bamako at weddings, as in the album Sunday in Bamakowhich contributed to their worldwide fame. It was none other than Manu Chao who produced and partially arranged this opus, after having a crush on the group.
“Manu Chao was in his car when he heard our song Driverswho wanted to encourage the truckers in their work, says Mariam. After hearing this, he told our manager that he wanted to meet us, and that he wanted to work with us.”
Despite her blindness, Mariam loves to tell stories about Malian weddings, with the well-dressed men and women, and the parties that continue late into the night.
But there is no recording studio in Mali. So the couple went to Ivory Coast, then to France, where they won two Victoires de la Musique awards, for Sunday in Bamakoin 2005 and for Leafin 2013, in the world music category.
While their initial goal was to reach France, they now perform all over the world.
Today, they continue to write songs. “Each of them writes their own songs,” says Mariam. “I write my songs at night. Amadou writes in the morning. In the morning, I show him the compositions I made during the night, and I ask him what he thinks.”
The rhythms come to them, among other things, from dances and their Bambara culture, as do the lyrics of their songs, which generally navigate between Bambara and French.
The duo is set to release a new album with their greatest hits on September 6. It also includes three new songs, including the irresistible single Mogoluwhich has just been released and instantly makes you want to shake your hips. Mogolu means “people” in Bambara, and celebrates the power of meeting people, and sharing experiences, Amadou said.
The album will be called Life is beautifuland will be accompanied by a recording of the show Eclipsewhich the duo performed in total obscurity in 2012.
“Already, in Mali, our orchestra was called Éclipse, and brought together sighted and blind people,” recalls Mariam. “So we wanted to draw inspiration from that.” […] We wanted to show how blind people can react to music. Take people to another universe. Let them discover music without the images. Let the image be in their heads. When we did the eclipse, we were in the light,” she says.
Today, Mariam thinks that such a show would no longer be possible for security reasons. So it is under the spotlights that Amadou and Maria will, once again, be part of the party at the Agora du port in Quebec.