Guardian Music — New Century Hall, ManchesterThe biggest-selling act to have emerged from Africa this century first met at a school for the blind in Mali in the early 1970s. Subsequently married, Amadou Bagayoko and Mariam Doumbia have since received support from the... more info

Guardian Music — Performers from non-European countries are taking Britain off the playlist because border controls are too stringentIdrissa Soumaoro should have been rehearsing with the celebrated Malian musicians Amadou & Mariam for a show at the Manchester interna... more info

Guardian Music — Immersive theatre is everywhere right now – even classical concerts are getting in on the act. Andrew Dickson investigatesIt's late in the evening, and in a room deep inside Chetham's School of Music the young Russian virtuoso Alina Ibragimova is e... more info

Guardian Music — (Because Music)Five years ago, when I visited Amadou and Mariam at their home in Bamako, I was approached by their son Sam, who asked me onto the roof to listen to some songs he had been working on with his friends. Now they have recorded them, and S... more info

Guardian Music — Amadou & Mariam will perform their MIF show in the dark for a richer sensory experienceAt this year's festival, you'll be able to hear the music of Mali's finest the way it was conceived, in darkness – Amadou & Mariam are both blind. "If you cannot... more info

LargeHeartedBoy — The Times Live profiles Amadou and Mariam. While authorities at the Institute for Young Blind in Bamako initially advised the young couple against having a relationship - there were many who felt that a union between two blind people would... more info

Altsounds — Malian superstars Amadou & Mariam will release a fourteen-track album of remixes on the 10th January 2011. The Remixes collection features some of their greatest singles from their best-selling albums 'Welcome to Mali' and 'Dimanche à Bamako'... more info

Stereogum — As its title suggests, the 13-song Amadou & Mariam Remixes finds a variety of DJs and producers remixing longtime Mali couple (and World Cup vets) Amadou & Mariam’s eclectic Afro-pop. Some of the revisions have been floating around, others are prev... more info

Guardian Music — As Damon Albarn forms yet another new band, we thought you might be able to suggest some other hobbies he could take up instead. After all, what's wrong with clay pigeon shooting?To be honest, yesterday's news that Damon Albarn has decided to start a... more info

Guardian Music — The mobile soundsystems of 1970s Colombia embraced the music of Nigeria, Congo and beyond long before anyone else – and all because it reminded them of their donkeysFrom the Afrobeat indie of New York's Vampire Weekend to the ongoing rise of Mali's... more info