Global pop from Africa

Guitarist-vocalist Amadou Bagayoko and singer Mariam Doumbia are a blind married couple from Mali who make some of the worlds most irresistibly funky music.

Guitarist-vocalist Amadou Bagayoko and singer Mariam Doumbia are a blind married couple from Mali who make some of the worlds most irresistibly funky music. Their latest album is Welcome to Mali,on which they proudly fly the globalist pop flag: African music is blended with electro-pop keyboards,blues-rock guitars,Motown soul,Memphis funk,disco,hip-hop,etc. We definitely choose the term global pop stars rather than African pop stars, Bagayoko says in a telephone interview translated by his manager. Amadou and Mariam performed Wednesday outside Washington.

A bunch of young,white indie-rock bands from New York have been incorporating Afropop elements into their music lately: Vampire Weekend,Yeasayer,Harlem Shakes,Dirty Projectors. Are you cool with them appropriating your music?

Yes,indeed. Because we African musicians have always integrated pop and rock into our music. So the other way around is rather cool for us. Its part of that global idea we have about music.

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And its nothing new: You listened to Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin when you were growing up and thought they sounded African,right?

Definitely. In that music we could find some kind of spitting images of our own African music.

A lot of people coming to your music dont understand the French lyrics. Does it bother you that theyre missing the messages?

It doesnt. When we first listened to those European and American bands on the radio,we didnt understand any lyrics,though we could sing those songs. Its all about melody and rhythm and emotion.

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Like when you listened to Stevie Wonder,you could understand?

Yes,its exactly that. We love Stevie Wonder. And imagine,I didnt even know he was blind! I listened a lot to Superstition and I was singing it all the time. I actually did not understand his lyrics,only a few words. But the language is not like a barrier.

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