The Grammy Award-winning Youssou N’Dour is a superstar of world music from Senegal in West Africa, famous in Africa and Europe, now winning a North American following. He also seems to be a nice man, with his heart in the right place.
The documentary “Youssou N’Dour: I Bring What I Love” opens with his anthem to Africa, “Wake Up (It’s Africa Calling),” in which he calls on the continent to unify itself, insist on honest leaders and realize its potential.
It follows him on tour at home and abroad, showing him as a charismatic stage presence whose music is powerful, joyous and danceable. Many of his fans may have no understanding of his French, Wolof and Arabic lyrics, but he also sings in English, which must leave other fans behind. The music translates itself.
N’Dour, born into a family that encouraged study, wanted to be a musician, hanging out in the music clubs of Dakar and eventually running away from home to perform in the Ivory Coast. His father brought him home, relented to his musical ambitions, and he became a star overnight.
One of the leaders of the world music scene, he fuses African, traditional Muslim, Caribbean and Cuban traditions, and even a flavoring of American jazz and soul. He considers himself a “griot” singer, and through his grandmother, is a member of that West African caste of singers of praise and celebration. We see him at his grandmother’s bedside and sense the love flowing between them.
He is popular not only because of his persuasive music, but because of his unaffected, natural presence, his closeness with audiences and his lack of big-star affectations. It also has something to do with his message.
N’Dour is a Sunni Muslim, reflecting that faith’s mystical orientation in contrast with more worldly Muslim traditions. He sings of an African-Arab connection, and that led him into trouble. In 2004, he released an album named “Egypt,” which mixed secular and religious music, and worse, was released during the holy month of Ramadan. He was sharply criticized by Sunni leaders.
Then the album won a Grammy Award. All was forgiven. He was paraded through the streets of Dakar, his Grammy held aloft, and invited to a reception at the presidential palace.
This documentary by Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi could have used more music for my taste, and fewer talking heads. But it’s absorbing all the same. N’Dour is the sort of humanitarian bridge that we need in a world so sharply divided.
“YOUSSOU D’NOUR: I BRING WHAT I LOVE.”
PG for thematic elements and brief smoking. Documentary. In French, Wolof, Arabic and English, with English subtitles. 1 hour, 42 minutes. Written and directed by Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi; with Youssou N’Dour, Peter Gabriel, Moustapha Mbaye, Kabou Guèye, Bono, Fathi Salama. Opens today at Starz Filmcenter.
