Amadou & Mariam's latest album, Welcome to Mali, was recently described by Chicago Sun-Times music critic Jim DeRogatis as "a constant source of sunshine" in a difficult time for much of the world. In a series of video interviews for Nonesuch.com, with concert footage featured throughout, the couple shares some of the inspiration behind their new album and their lifelong commitment to spreading joy through music.

In Mariam's Early Musical Memories, the singer discusses her early musical influences and her childhood experience as the go-to singer for weddings and other important community events in Bamako. Opening the segment is an excerpt of Amadou & Mariam's performance of "Sebeke" live at Radio France's Studio 104 last December.

The couple discuss their first meeting at Bamako's Institute for Young Blind People and the founding of their eponymous group for a concert in 1980, one month after their wedding, in On First Making Music Together. Interspersed throughout are archival photos of the pair from their early years together.

"I think the best term for us now is Afro-blues rock," Amadou explains in discussing the evolution of Welcome to Mali's dance/rock sound in Moving Beyond World Music. The topic was recently examined in two feature articles, in the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times, in which the former described the new album as "less an abandonment of the group’s culture than an updating of it" and the latter credited Amadou & Mariam's success with having "helped define the current African shift." This segment features an excerpt of the pair's live performance of the album's title track at Radio France.

Further to the discussion of making music outside strict genre definitions is the Africa Express series of concerts organized by Blur/Gorillaz front man Damon Albarn. In Blurring Borders in Africa Express, Amadou discusses his lifelong love of musics of all types—blues, rock, jazz, rap, even disco—and from countries across Africa and around the world, as exemplified in their participation in Africa Express. "The great thing about Amadou," says Albarn, "is he's got open ears." Featured is an excerpt of Amadou & Mariam's performance at the Africa Express concert at the BBC Electric Proms.

Albarn's connection with the couple is hardly limited to their Africa Express appearances. He produced Welcome to Mali's opening track, "Sabali," and co-wrote the song with Mariam and album producer Marc Antoine Moreau. In Collaborating with Damon Albarn, Mariam and Albarn explain the creative process behind their work together on this tune, the music video for which is featured in the episode.

Among the international borders crossed in the making of this record was that between countries within Africa itself. On the song "Africa," Somali-born rapper K'Naan contributes guest vocals to what he calls "the original West Coast–East Coast collaboration." In Collaborating with K'Naan, Spreading Message of Peace, Amadou & Mariam explain how the connection came about, and, what's more, how themes of peace and solidarity  feature prominently in their work.

To watch all of these videos, along with the complete live performance of "Sebeke" from the Radio France concert, visit nonesuch.com/media.