First, there was Peters & Lee in the '70s (ask your mother). Then there was 2 To Go in the last series of The X Factor (ask your kids). And now there's Amadou et Mariam (er, ask the nearest fan of World Music).

Actually, Amadou et Mariam are a bit different from the other two duos, who were made up of the pairing of a blind male singer with a sighted female, because this middle-aged married couple from Mali are both blind. I've listened to a little of their music via their official website (which is all in French - sorry!) and it's quite poppy and funky, offering a little sunlight on such a grey and overcast day.

Looking for a better description, I asked our office's resident expert on the World Music scene - Colin, who works on the BBC's Skillswise website - to sum up Amadou et Mariam's sound rather more knowledgeably, and he informed me that it's "traditional Malian music, sprinkled with a flavour of Francophone pop". So there you go.

Amadou et Mariam, then. Definitely worth checking out - and you can do just that by watching Later with Jools Holland this Friday at 11.35pm on BBC TWO. Coldplay are on, too - if that's more your musical cup of tea.