Amadou Bagayoko – Thousands of people attend the funeral of the Malian musician

Thousands of people gathered in Mali on Sunday for the funeral of the musician Amadou Bagayoko, of the world renowned duo Amadou & Mariam.

Friends, parents, fans and other artists flocked for the capital ceremony, Bamako – including the musician Salif Keita and former Prime Minister Moussa Mara.

One of the most successful African musical acts of the 2000s, the duo husband and wife Amadou & Mariam has reached world famous by combining West African influences with the pace and the blues.

Their revolutionary album, Sunday in Bamako in 2004, sold half a million copies around the world and led to collaborations with Damon Albarn de Blur, as well as appearances at the Glastonbury and Coachella festivals.

The Minister of Culture of Mali, Mamou Daffé, told state television that Bagayoko died on Friday in Bamako at the age of 70.

The musician’s family confirmed the news, adding that he “had been sick for some time”.

No other 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 that, “says Mariam … But he didn’t talk about it. “”

The musician was taken to the hospital, where he died later.

“I thought, if Amadou went like that, then I am alone,” added Doumbia.

“I was alone and I will stay alone in life.”

The Franco-Spanish Manu Chao star, who produced Didanche in Bamako, led tributes to Bagayoko in a post on Instagram, saying: “We will always be together … everywhere you go.

“Mariam, Sam, the whole family, your pain is my pain. I love you,” he added.

The young Malian singer Sidiki Diabate deplored “another immense loss for Malian music”.

Youssou N’Dour said that he considered Amadou and Mariam as “the ambassadors of African music almost everywhere in the world”.

Speaking to France TV5 MondeHe said Bagayoko had continued his career with “a dignity and a way of life that inspired us all … and encouraged us in what we were doing”.

Born in Bamako in 1954, Bagayoko became blind at the age of 15 because of a congenital cataract.

He then registered in Mali’s Institute for the Young Blind, where he met his future wife, Mariam, who had lost his vision at the age of five after contracted measles.

They formed a group called Mali’s Blind Couple in 1980 and moved to neighboring Ivory Coast in 1986, after having realized that the underdeveloped music industry in Mali would be an obstacle to their careers.

There, they recorded a series of cassettes, combining the moving voice of Doumbia with the powerful Guitar style of Bagayoko, inspired by British acts like Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd.

The goal, said Bagayoko, was to “find a link between them and our Bambara culture”. He baptized the sound “Afro-rock”.

Their life has changed when Manu Chao heard one of their songs on the radio and offered to produce their next album.

He ended up co-writing and singing on the disc, adding eccentric rhythmic touches to their brand of desert blues.

The result was on Sunday in Bamako, who won both the Moque’s victory – the equivalent of France to a Grammy Award – and the BBC Radio World Music Award in 2005.

Their follow -up, Welcome to Mali in 2008, was nominated for the best contemporary world music album in The Grammys.

This record was produced by Albarn, who invited the duo to participate in his Africa Express project in 2007, and invited them to tour with Blur during their reunion shows in 2009.

Jake Shears de Scissor Sisters was also a fan and took Amadou & Mariam on the road with his group in 2012.

“What they are heard in classic rock and real musicality,” he told Times while the tour started.

“Now, with all the groups, when you play live, everyone has supporting pieces. Everyone works with a net. They are a good rock group at the old school.”

In 2009, they played in Oslo while Barack Obama received the Nobel Peace Prize; And in 2011, organized a series of concerts in the dark to show the public how they lived 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 take out each separately but, in the end, the duo decided to combine the recordings, mixing different taken from the same song in a third studio in Paris.

Presenting contributions from Santigold, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs and TV on the radio, it earned the group a second Grammy nomination in 2012.

The confusion of 2017, tackled political disorders in their homeland, where Islamic extremists had imposed sharia and banned from music.

Songs like Bofou Safou have offered messages of strength, resistance and optimism in the middle of the agitation. Bagayoko said he hoped that music was universal

“We started working on the things that were going on in our homeland, but we then realized that they could be applied to many other countries in the world” ” He said Okyafrica.

“There is confusion all over the world, and it’s time to communicate, speak and share ideas for a better future and understanding.”

The duo was to do a European tour in May and June, including the British dates in Cheltenham in Brighton.

The final performance of Bagayoko occurred at the closing ceremony of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games.

He is survived by his wife and a son, Sam, also a musician.

Bagayoko “will be buried in family intimacy in the courtyard of his house,” said his spokesperson Djiby Sacko to the AFP news agency.