Amadou & Mariam

Introduction

Discovered and produced by Manu Chao and Damon Albarn, the blind couple from Mali made a huge splash. Hollywood doesn't make movies as good as the life story of Amadou & Mariam. At Bamako's Institute for Young Blind People, Amadou Bagoyoko met Mariam Doumbia, and the pair forged two parallel partnerships, one in marriage and the other in music. Their parents approved of neither. Whether posing with the Scissor Sisters or whooping it up with Franz Ferdinand, U2 and Coldplay, Amadou & Mariam are rock's favourite African couple and one of music's most unlikely success stories - cutting all kinds of influences into their sound, from son cubano and horn-spiked funk to reggae and Delta blues. They're massive! Amadou & Mariam are eventually being appreciated by an audience of millions: not as 'world music', but as the product of an authentically global pop phenomenon. Following their acclaimed album Welcome To Mali, Amadou & Mariam have now released Folila feat. Santigold, TV On The Radio, Ebony Bones, Theophilus London, Bertrand Cantat, Amp Fiddler, and Jake Shears of Scissor Sisters.