Mariam Doumbia

"We never plan it ourselves, but when an opportunity does come up [to collaborate with other artists] we will work with anyone. Our door is always open."

"I was already singing by the time I was six years old. My neighbors would ask me to sing at festivities—marriages, baptisms, etc.—and they would give me presents. In 1973 [when I was 15], I went to the Institute for the Young Blind in Mali to learn Braille. When I was there I taught other people how to sing and dance."

"No, we’re always together. We’ve always played together so we will continue to play together, at least for now"

"No, there aren’t any musicians in my family; I’m the only one who sings."

"The husband-and-wife duo have been performing together for nearly 40 years. The band’s story begins at the Bamako Institute for the Young Blind in Mali. That’s where the two met in 1975. Amadou Bagayoko was blinded by cataracts as a teenager. Mariam Doumbia has been blind since she was 5 when she had the measles. They fell in love, married and began performing around Bamako, the capital of Mali. They became known around Africa as “the blind couple of Mali.”"

"I don’t think there’s ever been a band from Africa with whom people have engaged in quite such a way."