Amadou & Mariam are gearing up for Nonesuch's March 24 US release of their latest album, Welcome to Mali. They're also preparing for a US tour that will include a number of dates opening for Coldplay. Spinner says the pair will have no trouble rocking out for the arena crowds, citing Amadou's love of rockers like AC/DC and suggesting "this shouldn't surprise anyone who has followed the rise of the couple in recent years from obscurity to international sensations. There was always a broad rock and pop consciousness in even their most straightforward music." "People can get into our music because they can hear the rock in it, the pop in it," Amadou tells Spinner. "People can find things they know in it. Maybe that's why it touches them."
Amadou & Mariam are gearing up for Nonesuch's March 24 US release of their latest album, Welcome to Mali, which has already made quite a splash in Europe and has kept them that at the top slot on Metacritic for months. They're also preparing for a US summer tour that will include a number of dates opening for Britpop powerhouse Coldplay.
Spinner's Steve Hochman says the pair will have no trouble rocking out for the arena crowds, citing Amadou's performance on "a rather rocking version of AC/DC's 'Whole Lotta Rosie,'" at a French festival last summer and suggesting "this shouldn't surprise anyone who has followed the rise of the couple in recent years from obscurity to international sensations. There was always a broad rock and pop consciousness in even their most straightforward music, and with 2005's Dimanche à Bamako they balanced along eclectic rock edges with producer/collaborator Manu Chao."
Hochman says that Amadou & Mariam's return to their longtime producers for their latest release has been "to great effect ... An experimental sense is heightened by having Blur's Damon Albarn on board as producer of the opening 'Sabali,' a seductive electronic setting for Mariam's North African melisma."
That track is just one example of the marriage of influences in and outside of the couple's home country on the new record. Spinner asked Amadou for a list of artists who have influenced him and his own music over the years. On the rather eclectic list: Stevie Wonder, AC/DC, John Lee Hooker, Jimi Hendrix, and legendary Nigerian performer Fela Anikulapo Kuti. He also lets it be known that he wouldn't mind working with Wonder either, not to mention Robert Plant or Pink Floyd's David Gilmour. It's this sort of interplay of musical styles that, as it has brought Western music to Mali, has also helped Amadou & Mariam introduce the the West to the rich tradition of their home country.
"People can get into our music because they can hear the rock in it, the pop in it," Amadou tells Spinner. "It links the music to that audience. This music has rock and blues and pop influence. People can find things they know in it. Maybe that's why it touches them. What touches people from America and Europe is the message we are trying to send—the message of love, of peace, of solidarity. It's a simple way to say it, but it's important to spread that kind of message."
Read the interview and listen to sound examples from Welcome to Mali at spinner.com. You can also hear three tracks off the new album, plus a song off their previous album on Nonesuch Radio.
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The pair are also featured in an interview in Free Williamsburg, from Brooklyn, New York's über-hip neighborhood. You can read the interview at freewilliamsburg.com.
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For information on Amadou & Mariam's summer tour, visit nonesuch.com/on-tour.
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