In 2004 a visitor from Cape Town gave me a copy of Youssou N’Dour’s album, “Egypt,” devotional music celebrating his Sufi Islam faith recorded with the Egyptian National Orchestra in Cairo in 2003. Since then it has become one of my favorite albums (partly, because it reminds of my favorite musician Abdullah Ibrahim’s own attempts to put his devotion to his faith to music).
At the time, however, I was not aware of the controversy around the making of “Egypt.” Religious conservatives in N’Dour’s native Senegal condemned him as “blasphemous” and felt he should not publicly perform the songs in a secular context (the songs references the religious leader Cheikh Amadou Bamba as well as the holy city of Touba).
All of this and more is captured in “I bring what I love,” a film by Chai Vasarhelyi. That film, was shown last year at festivals. It is scheduled for general release in the US on June 12, 2009. I want to see it.
The film’s website. For more background, see also here and for reaction to the film by Western critics, here and here. You can also read and hear clips (audio is scratchy) from an interview with N’Dour and director Chai Vasarhelyi about the film’s impact and the process.
HT: Texas African
Thanks for the link!
Thanks a lot for the reference. This movie sounds intriguing.