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Amadou Bagayoko, half of the blind Grammy-nominated duo Amadou & Mariam, has died. He was 70.
Bagayoko died on Friday, April 4 in Bamako, the captial of Mali, per The New York Times. Mali’s Minister of Culture Mamou Daffé announced his death with a statement airing on state television. “Amadou was a blind man who made his mark on the Malian and international scene,” it read, according to Reuters.
Thousands of fans gathered in Mali to honor the late musician on Sunday, April 6. A cause of death was not given, though he was suffering from a brief illness.
“I took his hand and tried to make some movements with it, but it didn’t move,” Mariam Doumbia said told BBC of Bagayoko’s final moments. “I said, ‘Amadou, don’t do this, speak to Mariam… but he didn’t speak anymore.” Bagayoko was then taken to the hospital where he died.
“I thought that, if Amadou went just like that, then me, I’m alone,” Doumbia continued. “I was alone and I will remain alone in life.”
Bagayoko, who was born in 1954, had been interested in music from a young age. He became blind at 15 years old due to a congenital cataract.
He met Doumbia, his wife and musical partner, in 1970 at the Institute for Young Blind People in Bamako. (Doumbia became blind at 5 after suffering from measles.)
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“Mariam heard my voice at the radio and she really liked it and the way I played the guitar,” he told OkayAfrica in 2017. “After meeting at the Mali institute, we realized we both we had the same dreams with music.”
Five years after meeting, they formed the band Mali’s Blind Couple. Their music features West African influences along with rhythm and blues, rock and pop.
The musical duo was nominated for three Grammys: best contemporary world music album for their 2004 breakthrough album Dimanche à Bamako, best contemporary world music album for 2008’s Welcome to Mali and best world music album for Folila in 2013.
In 2009, the band opened for Coldplay and also performed at the Nobel Peace Prize concert in Oslo the same year. They performed at Glastonbury in 2023 and Coachella in 2006. The duo is also credited for writing the 2006 World Cup theme music.
Their most recent album La Confusion came out in 2017. They collaborated with Sofi Tukker on the single “Mon Cheri” in 2021. His final performance was at the closing ceremony for the 2024 Paris Paralympics.
Bagayoko’s spokesman Djiby Sacko told the AFP news agency, per BBC, that he will “be buried in family intimacy in the courtyard of his home.”
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