My first exposure to the African dance sounds of Amadou & Mariam was at last summer’s Bonnaroo festival. On day 2, there was an entire tent devoted to the music of Africa and even though I didn’t want to go see the husband and wife duo from Mali, who are both blind and met at Mali’s Institute for the Young Blind, my friends dragged me along, and boy am I glad they did. It was by far one of my favorite shows of the whole festival, and perhaps the most high-energy performance I saw that weekend. They do a great job of incorporating traditional Mali sounds with a modern dance beat and “Sabali”, the opening track from their album Welcome to Mali is a perfect example. It starts out with the more traditional sound but soon erupts into a great modern dance tune that grows and spreads as it goes on. When you find out that this track was produced by Damon Albarn, it makes even more sense. Make sure to catch this duo live if you ever have the chance.
buy it on 
or amazon
