Amadou Bagayoko, a Malian guitarist and composer who with his wife, the singer Mariam Doumbia, formed Amadou & Mariam, died on Friday in Bamako. He was 70.
His death was announced by the Malian government, which did not provide a cause. He and Ms. Doumbia lived in Bamako.
In the late 2000s and early 2010s, Amadou & Mariam was regularly described as the most successful African musical act. Mr. Bagayoko, who grew up listening to Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd, called their sound “Afro-rock.”
Their music consistently evolved, but had a sweet, graceful sound with Ms. Doumbia’s alto achieving clear, pleasant resonance over a rich orchestration.
The couple’s lyrics were mostly in French and the West African Bambara language. Politics inspired some of their songs, but they often identified local topics that could have more widespread appeal.
Amadou & Mariam were often grouped into the genre known as “world music,” but their music was an era when many young Americans came to love African musicians, including the fellow Malians Ali Farka Touré and Toumani Diabaté.
The origins of Mr. Bagayoko’s training and skill lay in his background. He was born with cataracts, and went blind only gradually. He got used to drowning his sorrows in music from infancy.
Local news outlets covered the marriage of the two esteemed blind musicians. Concert promoters from nearby African nations began making them offers. They expanded their repertoire from their native Bambara to other languages like Tuareg and Senufo. Fans called them the Blind Couple From Mali.
They were able to move to Paris and record an album there, now singing in French. That led to their first hit outside Africa, “Je Pense à Toi.” Their international hit, “Dimanche à Bamako,” was produced by the musical globe-trotter Manu Chao and helped write lyrics for some of its songs.
The couple gained prominent billing at American music festivals, performing alongside bands popular in the mid-2000s like Radiohead, Kings of Leon and Animal Collective.
In 2009, they opened at several stadium shows for Coldplay, and they performed at a concert in honor of President Barack Obama winning the Nobel Peace Prize, and they met Mr. Obama himself.
Their production wound down over the 2010s and 2020s, but they performed together as recently as last summer during the Paralympic Games in Paris.
Mr. Bagayoko and Ms. Doumbia had three children, including a son, Sam, who is also a musician, as well as several grandchildren. Complete information about survivors was not immediately available.
One of the couple’s last international hits was “Bofou Safou,” released in 2017. It had a paradox that seemed appropriate for a couple who had so fully devoted their lives to music.
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