Pop Talk by George Varga

Coachella. Lollapalooza. Bonnaroo. Glastonbury.

Over the past four years, the husband-and-wife team of Amadou & Mariam has performed its ebullient electric guitar-driven music at most major rock festivals on either side of the Atlantic.

During that time, the couple from the West African country of Mali has also collaborated with a growing bevy of musical admirers from Europe and the United States. Their partners in tune have included Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea, erstwhile Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour, rapper Black Thought from The Roots, Living Colour drummer Will Calhoun, Manu Chao (who expertly produced Amadou & Mariam's 2005 breakthrough album, "Dimanche a Bamako") and Blur's Damon Albarn (who participates on several songs on their splendid new album, "Welcome to Mali").

Yet, while too many misguided attempts have been made to lump Amadou & Mariam in the meaningless "World Music" category, their rhythmically charged songs and gripping ballads transcend easy categorization.

"We have our own way of doing rock 'n' roll," said guitarist-singer Amadou Bagayoko, who performs with his wife and their six-piece band. "But, mainly, we're doing music that's universal and we just want to share that."

Make that "universal" as in rock, blues, funk, dance-pop, Cuban son and other styles from the Western Hemisphere, which are deftly mixed with various idioms from Mali and across Africa. What results is a distinctive global pop amalgam that is earthy and exotic. Wisely, Amadou & Mariam generally avoid the slick aural sweetening that too many African artists use to make their music palatable to Western audiences.

Amadou grew up as a fan of Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin and other rock bands from England. But he and his wife, Mariam Doumbia, started off playing almost exclusively Malian music, which they sang in Bambara, their native tongue. They now also sing in French (and, on rare occasions, in English).

In any language, the couple's goal is to move their listeners, even if they don't share Amadou & Mariam's multilingual abilities.

"We want to tell a message and entertain people," Amadou said. "The flow and the rhythm has to entertain people, but it's really important to keep the message in our lyrics."

And what is that message?

"Love, solidarity, peace and freedom," he replied.

"In those countries where there is a language barrier, first people listen to the music. When they've been taken by the music, they try to discover what the message in the songs is saying. Basically, there is no language barrier, because the main language is music. Then, people realize, as individuals, that what they are hearing is from another culture and country, and they want to know what we're saying. It's the music that first guides you."

While not every Coldplay fan is likely to explore the lyrical messages in Amadou & Mariam's songs, few who listen will be able to resist Amadou's cascading guitar lines and robust singing, Mariam's alternately sweet and tart vocals, or the propulsive beats that drive many of their songs.

The couple met in 1976 at the Institut des Jeunes Aveugles (Institute of the Young Blind) in Bamako, the capital of Mali.

Mariam had lost most of her eyesight by the time she was 6; Amadou was in his teens when a cataract led to his going blind.

At the time they met, Amadou was the new musical director at the Institute, where Mariam had enrolled to study music and dance. The harmony they created soon blossomed into a romance fueled by their love of music and a shared quest to overcome any obstacles in their path.

"I loved her voice immediately. The first song we did together in 1976 was 'Pere la Sede,' which was written by Mariam," Amadou said, speaking through a French-speaking interpreter.

"The song is about raising awareness and consciousness about the blind or people who are disabled. It's a song to tell other people that people who are blind should not be marginalized from society, because it's not really a big handicap and it's not their fault. It was written to empower blind people."

Other songs written by Amadou & Mariam take aim at political corruption in Africa, such as "Ce N'est Pas Bon," a slow-building number from "Welcome to Mali." The song's title translates as "It's Not Good."

"'Ce N'est Pas Bon' was inspired by politicians," Amadou explained. "Because in a lot of governments in Africa, people who head governments are very greedy and make empty promises. Everything they do is for their own interests, not for the people. They're greedy leaders who sometimes end up in dictatorships.

"But we mostly get our inspiration from life, everything that's happening, night or day. And it's not like we have a deadline; it's living one day at a time and seeing what's going on. Our music flows from everyday life."

All three of Amadou & Mariam's children are now adults. Their second-oldest son, Sam, 28, performs in a "conscious rap" group in Africa. By coincidence, the roots of rap can be traced back more than 500 years to Mali and other West African countries, where griots (oral historians) captured the lives of their people in song.

"The griot is a master of ceremonies, telling a message, and that's basically what rap is," Amadou said.

Although their daughter and two sons are no longer at home, children play a role in some of Amadou & Mariam's music videos, such as "M'Bife," which begins with a snippet of conversation between several kids.

"The reason why you hear those voices is because the song is about life in Mali," Amadou said. "When you go to Africa, what you hear all the time are voices of women and children. And those voices stay in your mind."

To find out more about George Varga and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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