Today’s track come from one of the best African acts out there from any African country, let alone Mali. They are Amadou & Mariam, a blind husband and wife team from Bamako, Mali. Known as “the blind couple from Mali”, they met at Mali’s Institute for the Young Blind, and thirty years later here they are.
The track is called Sabali and it is taken from Welcome to Mali. They were ‘discovered’ for a non-African audience by Manu Chao, who produced their album Dimance a Bamako in 2004.
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They have played with quite a few eclectic acts over they years, including (taken from Wikipedia):
- In 2006 they recorded, together with Herbert Grönemeyer, the official anthem for the 2006 FIFA World Cup “Celebrate The Day” (German: “Zeit, dass sich was dreht”). The song topped the German charts in June 2006.
- In 2007 they supported Scissor Sisters at the MEN Arena on 30 July. In summer of 2008, they played the Lollapalooza music festival in Chicago, Illinois and the Latitude Festival in Henham Park, Suffolk.
- On May 26, 2009 they played a gig to support the homeless charity Crisis at the Union Chapel, in north London with David Gilmour playing second guitar supporting the whole 80 minute set and a 5-minute encore. On June 8, 2009 they performed on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.
- In 2009, they supported Blur during their two reunion gigs in Hyde Park and also supported UK based band Coldplay on their Viva la Vida Tour. It was recently announced that they have been chosen by Matt Groening to perform at the edition of the All Tomorrow’s Parties festival he is curating in May 2010 in Minehead, England.
