WorldView Magazine - Summer 2009 - (Page 32)

Opinion BRINGING WhAT ShE LOVES A young filmmaker sets out to show a different side of Africa and Islam by Erica Burman “I wanted to make an uplifting film about Africa,” she says simply. That sentiment is at the heart of director/producer Chai Vasarhelyi’s latest documentary, Youssou N’Dour: I Bring What I Love. The film is a portrait of Senegalese musician Youssou N’Dour who over the last three decades has become an international pop and world music star. A devout Sufi Muslim, N’Dour released a deeply personal and religious album called “Egypt” that brought together Senegalese and Egyptian musicians in the hope of promoting a tolerant face of Islam in the wake of the events of September 11, 2001. While the record went on to receive international acclaim and earn him is first Grammy Award, it was denounced as blasphemy by the local religious establishment and rejected by his fans. Vasarhelyi followed Youssou N’Dour for over two years—filming in Africa, Europe, and America—to tell the story of how he faced these challenges and eventually won over audiences both at home and abroad. In 2003 Vasarhelyi had just come off of another film project, a documentary about Kosovar refugees. “A Normal Life”—her directorial film debut—won the Best Film Award at the Tribeca Film Festival. She was all of 23 years old, and Lauren Bacall, one of the film’s judges, told her that from that point on she could do anything she wanted. Casting about for a subject, Youssou N’Dour came up. “I wish I could say that I was a fan earlier,” she confesses. She learned more about him and was intrigued. Not unlike Irish rock star Bono, N’Dour has gone from nationally beloved performer known for pioneering the hugely popular m’balaax style of dance music, to a national cultural figure who has embraced social and political 2 Summer 2009 causes on the international stage. In the early 1990s N’Dour participated in the Amnesty International Human Rights Now! Tour with Bruce Springsteen and Tracy Chapman and over the years he has collaborated with a diverse group of artists including Peter Gabriel, Paul Simon, Branford Marsalis and Wyclef Jean. He has served as a spokesperson for Oxfam International’s Fair Trade campaign, and more recently for Malaria No More, a group dedicated to raising awareness about malaria. Vasarhelyi arranged to meet N’Dour, and when they did he shared some songs from the “Egypt” project. He had recorded them in 1999 and 2000, but then held their release because the timing was wrong. Emotions were still raw and he didn’t want to be seen as endorsing violent Islam. For her part, Vasarhelyi was not interested in making a biopic, but she thought, “This is very important. People need to see this completely different vision of Islam that Youssou presents.” That initial meeting in the U.S. was followed by a meeting in Spain, Photo: Timothy Greenfield-Sanders director Chai Vasarhelyi where N’Dour agreed to be the subject of her film. But N’Dour “can be elusive,” says Vasarhelyi. She decided she needed to go to Senegal to finalize things. In a New York bar she met a former N’Dour bodyguard who promised to get her in front of the singer if she would pay for his ticket. She agreed. Six hours after her arrival in Dakar she was on the band’s tour bus headed for an anti-malarial concert in Matam, a riverine area on the eastern border of Senegal. She spent the next two days on the road, bonding with the band members. After a late night show that drew a seemingly endless crowd, she finally got her chance. Her new friends said to N’Dour, “Come meet Chai.” Finally face to face on his home turf, he laughed when he realized who she was—and unambiguously agreed to do the film. They signed a contract and two days later filming began. Vasarhelyi would ultimately spend a total of 20 months in Senegal. She traveled with him to performances in Europe and the U.S., but she says, “It was in Senegal that I found the heart of the film.” I Bring What I Love paints a vibrant, color-soaked portrait of Senegal and her people. The concert footage of N’Dour is electric. The scenes in the holy city of Touba show a face of Senegal and Islam with which few will be familiar. But it is the intimate family moments—N’Dour stroking the head of his beloved, ancient grandmother; explaining tolerance to his son on the feast of Tabaski, confessing that his father still makes him feel like a teenager—that are deeply affecting, deeply human. Given the visual lushness and narrative sweep of the movie it is hard to believe that a crew of dozens wasn’t involved. But it is true. “We had very little

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of WorldView Magazine - Summer 2009

WorldView Magazine - Summer 2009
Contents
More Peace Corps Campaign: Better and Bolder!
Africa Rural Connect
Readers Write
You Too Can Be Bill Gates
Taking Peace Corps Back into the Field
Come for the Information, Stay for the Dancing
A “Green” Community Rising
Microfinance Pioneer Receives 2009 Shriver Award
The Colombia Project
A Voice for the Unheard
Hear Ye, Hear Ye: Microfinance Podcasts
Selected Microfinance Resources
Bicycle! Bamenda! Orange!
Luck and Fame
A Step in the Right Direction
Bringing What She Loves
Letter from Botswana: First Tongues of the Kalahari
Letter from Tanzania: Homo Sapien in Africa
In the Beginning (There Was John)
The Peace Corps Community Making a Difference
Community News
Advertiser Index

WorldView Magazine - Summer 2009

https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/worldview/fall09
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/worldview/summer09
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/worldview/spring08
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/worldview/winter07
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/worldview/fall07
https://www.nxtbookmedia.com