‘At night, his guitar comes into my mind’: Amadou and Mariam’s surviving singer on life after losing her husband and musical partner

As Amadou and Mariam, the blind couple tenaciously carved out a career as one of Africa’s biggest global acts. Now, after Amadou’s death this year, his wife tells the story of their first posthumous album

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n 4 April, Amadou Bagayoko died suddenly, aged 70, in Bamako, Mali. The country’s ministry of culture announced the news. Thousands attended the funeral, including former collaborators Manu Chao, Youssou N’Dour, Malian–French rapper Mokobé and Congolese superstar Fally Ipupa, all paying homage to a man they knew as an uncle, a blues-guitar giant, a leader, a friend.

“I miss him so much,” says Mariam Doumbia, his wife and musical partner of 44 years in the duo Amadou and Mariam. “We did everything together. We travelled together. We composed together. The sound of his guitar is always between my two ears. Especially at night, it comes into my mind. Even right now, I just heard it.”

Dressed with characteristic verve in white lace, gold jewellery and black shades, Doumbia is on a video call, to discuss, in French, the duo’s forthcoming ninth album L’amour à la folie. By her side is her son, Samou. This is the first album to be released since Bagayoko’s death.