The internationally successful Malian duo performed I came to tell you that I’m leaving accompanied by a string quartet.
The duo Amadou & Mariam introduced the final extinction of the Paralympic flame in song this Sunday, September 8, during the closing ceremony of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games.
This couple of artists, trained at the Institute for Young Blind People in Bamako in 1976, were accompanied by a string quartet in the empty Tuileries Garden. They performed a fitting song: I came to tell you that I’m leavinga composition by the Frenchman Serge Gainsbourg inspired by the poet Paul Verlaine.
Collaborations with Damon Albarn, Coldplay or Stevie Wonder
The Malian duo became known in France in 1998 with I’m thinking of youbefore blossoming internationally in 2004 with the album Sunday in Bamako (and his refrain “Sundays in Bamako are the wedding day” – a real-life experience for the couple in 1980).
This will be followed by a collaboration with Damon Albarn, leader of Blur and Gorillaz, on the title Different in 2008, opening for Coldplay in 2009 and U2 in 2011, charity evenings with Stevie Wonder in Ivory Coast or David Gilmour (Pink Floyd) in London.
The duo also performed in honor of Barack Obama when he received his Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo in 2009. “There were a lot of musicians, a lot of artists there (Lang Lang, internationally renowned Chinese pianist, Wyclef Jean of the Fugees and megastar Will Smith, editor’s note). And Barack Obama met us,” Amadou Bagayoko, 69, recently recalled to AFP.
“We talked a little. Barack Obama said he liked our music. Malian music, too. We were very, very happy,” added Mariam Doumbia, 66.
After more than a million albums sold, numerous awards (Victoires de la musique in France, BBC radio awards in Great Britain…) and a nomination for the American Grammy awards in 2010, Amadou & Mariam also released their best of on Friday entitled Life is beautiful.
