Amadou & Mariam

Africa’s most renowned musical and marital couple return to the INmusic festival stages in June 2022 with their unique Malian blues and acclaimed album ‘La Confusion’!

Amadou Bagayoko and Mariam Doumbia met in the mid 70s at the Institute for the Young Blind in Bamako where their musical partnership began – Amadou, an already famous guitar virtuoso lost his sight at 16, while Mariam, an acclaimed signer songwriter, lost her eyesight in childhood. Beautiful music was the gateway to a life shared in marital love as well, and from a ‘blind couple from Bamako’ Amadou & Mariam became an absolute staple of African music winning over hearts across the world with their music, redefining the dessert blues genre, and opening doors to generations of West African musicians to come. Collaborations with musical greats such as David Gilmour, Damon Albarn, Manu Chao, Flea from RHCP, Johnny Marr, etc., to tours with Coldplay and U2 and performing at the Nobel Peace Prize Award ceremony, are only a handful of the professional achievements of this impressive musical couple. Following a five year long recording break, Amadou & Mariam released their critically acclaimed eight studio album ‘La Confusion’ in 2017. Considered by many their most experimental album to date, apart from introducing new and dynamic musical influences to their memorable harmonies, ‘La Confusion’ is unusually political in its subject matter – singing about gender inequality, hard life circumstances forcing their compatriots to venture to precarious migrations across the Mediterranean, violence and civil unrest in their country, ‘La Confusion’ is a testament to the turbulent times our society is facing but remains firmly rooted in contemporary Mali as the axis of this pair’s impressive body of musical work and international recognition.