Amadou & Mariam live @ Electric Picnic 09

Perhaps my absolute highlight of the weekend. Late Sunday night, Amadou & Mariam played a brilliant set befitting of their brilliant recent albums – Dimanche a Bamako and >Welcome to Mali. It was everything that doesn’t suck about world music. Amadou is an amazing guitarist and those backing singers were pretty mesmerising also.

I talked to a few people in the tent afterwards who were welling up in tears thinking about how good they were. I think seeing them being escorted off-stage reminded a lot of people that they were blind. They are amazing musicians first though. In contrast, my mate didn’t realise they were blind until later that night when I told him. He thought Mariam was just in a pissy mood. 🙂

The sound quality was a bit sucky for this video.

Niall Byrne

Niall Byrne is the founder of the most-influential Irish music site Nialler9, where he has been writing about music since 2005 . He is the co-host of the Nialler9 Podcast and has written for the Irish Times, Irish Independent, Cara Magazine, Sunday Times, Totally Dublin, Red Bull and more. Niall is a DJ, founder of Lumo Club, club promoter, event curator and producer of gigs, listening parties & events in Dublin.

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