Amadou & Miriam

Philadelphia Weekly
June 12, 2006
Editor's Picks

MUSIC

Amadou & Mariam

Wed., July 12, 8pm. $25. With DJ Frosty. Perelman Theater, Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, Broad and Spruce sts. 215.893.1999. www.kimmelcenter.org

The compensatory features of the human brain are truly astounding. How else to explain the sheer sonic brilliance of so many visually impaired musicians? Stevie Wonder, Blind Lemon Jefferson and Ray Charles lent credence to the theory that the blind process sound in an entirely different manner than the sighted.

Add Amadou & Mariam, a blind couple from Mali, to that list of notables. Playing world music in all its forms for the past 25 years, Amadou & Mariam have attained the equivalent of rock star status in West Africa. Their latest recording Dimanche a Bamako leaves them poised to grasp that elusive brass ring Stateside and throughout Europe.

Produced by the inimitable Manu Chao, Dimanche has already spawned a slew of dance remixes that have invaded the U.K. club scene with their driving polyrhythmic beats and textured guitar lines.

This Kimmel performance may lack the sweat, grime and requisite pill-popping of the Brit dancesphere, but the intimacy of the music easily transcends such superficialities. (Joshua Valocchi)