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Vasarhelyi Elizabeth Chai , director. Youssou N'Dour: I Bring What I Love . 2008. Arabic, English, French, and Wolof with English subtitles. 102 minutes, plus six special features. United States . Groovy Griot Film, in association with 57th & Irving Productions . $12.99.
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On Saturday, August 13, 1994, Youssou N'Dour and Le Super Etoile de Dakar performed at the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Woodstock Festival in Saugerties, New York. Largely unknown in the U.S., Youssou N'Dour presented a set that included "Nelson Mandela," a jam tribute that was the title track of the album of the same name released eight years earlier, when Mandela was still in prison. Few in the audience could have realized then that this extraordinary African talent would bring such hope to the world with his music and positive message about Islam. Over his phenomenal career, Youssou N'Dour has released some twenty-five studio albums and appeared in a convincing role as Olaudah Equiano in the abolitionist film Amazing Grace (directed by Michael Apted, 2007). Youssou N'Dour: I Bring What I Love, Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi's biopic, stunningly conveys N'Dour's life as a musician, griot, and Muslim. The film opens with his performance of the powerful pan-African anthem "New Africa," and from the start his beautiful tenor voice--along with his pleas, inspired by Kwame Nkrumah, for African unity, creativity, and self-reliance and for all to remember the difficult days of colonialism--are captivating.
The documentary is...