MARIAM: Amadou & Mariam

When Mariam comes to Cosmopolite on 2 April, she will come without Amadou. It feels almost strange to write.

But now Oslo will experience a new and vulnerable chapter in one of world music’s most iconic stories. After several decades in which Amadou and Mariam were almost inseparable on stage, Mariam now stands alone. And yet she chooses to continue.

Here at the Cosmo office, we almost feel a need to remind ourselves, and you, why this particular moment feels so powerful.

For more than forty years, Amadou Bagayoko and Mariam Doumbia were one of the world’s most beloved musical couples. But they were more than musical partners. They were husband and wife. A lifelong bond. Two voices that, through decades of music, almost became one story.

They met as young people at the institute for the blind in Bamako in the 1970s. There began both a love story and a musical journey that would take them from Mali out into the world. As Amadou & Mariam, they played for millions, collaborated with Manu Chao and Damon Albarn, among others, shared stages with U2, Coldplay and Stevie Wonder, and became one of the truly great international voices of African music.

But in April 2025, Amadou died, about a month before their planned concert here at Cosmopolite on 8 May. And suddenly Mariam was left without the man she had lived and made music with for almost five decades.

In the time since, she has spoken about how she still feels Amadou’s presence. About the music, the memories and the love that still accompany her when she meets audiences: “Amadou is no longer here, but you are my strength to continue.”

The new album, L’Amour à la folie, was completed before Amadou died and still carries both their voices. Now Mariam takes this story forward on stage, together with the musicians who have been part of the journey, and their son Samou, who also accompanies her on the road.

And perhaps that is precisely why this concert means something truly special. For this is not just a reunion with the music of Amadou & Mariam. It is Mariam in a new musical context. An artist who continues to create, not because Amadou can be replaced, but because the music they created still bears traces of them both.

We hope that you, like us, would like to stand there in the concert hall - and feel the power of a love story that still lives through the music.