Youssou N'Dour: [squiggle squiggle suiggle] Egypt

Again, I'm left somewhat torn: I'm not enthusiastic about Islam, but the Islamic aesthetic that N'Dour draws on for this CD is very appealing.

this is worth exploring, yes? i find this aspect of bob marley and fela kuti pretty great... on the other hand, when i think of musician's musician from africa, i think of ali farke toure, who doesn't really go in for d.r./s.-p.f. so much.

as for the n'dour cd, the change in songwriting style is carried off well and impresses me more than the singing which i've come to expect to be startling.

Christgau: If Um Kulthum has always sounded weird to you, so will this, and N'Dour doesn't want you if that settles the matter. But compared to Kulthum's, Salama's strings are lighter in color, touch, and pitch.

Christgau hedges his bets here, but he's right that the strings on this CD aren't like what you hear on Oum Kalthoum's recordings. Also, he does note that "the melodies have Senegalese contours." I don't know enough about Senegalese music to know about this, but melodically, this CD does sound very different from Egyptian music, to me, so he's probably right about that too. But I think Oum Kalthoum is somewhat beside the point here (although she's the most famous example of an Egyptian singer who worked with one of those big Egyptian orchestras, so I can see why he would mention her): you could like Oum Kalthoum and not like this, and vice versa.

That Christgau, dragging Oum Kalthoum into everything! Haha.

What a literally lame excuse.

Anyway, I was just struck by that rhythmic bump again tonight, and I'm not going to get up to check the title because I'm too lazy.

will post response in next couple of days.

http://www.reeldc.com/ Mark Jenkins' October 11th posting of his interview with the director of "Youssou N'Dour: I Bring What I Love", that covers the making of the Egypt album and the controversy with its release.

the intro:

NEW YORK-BASED FILMMAKER of Hungarian, Chinese, and Brazilian descent, Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi spent five years on Youssou N'Dour: I Bring What I Love. Her first solo documentary, the film is a portrait of the great Senegalese singer as he released and promoted Egypt, an album in praise of Sufi Islam and 19th-century Senegalese religious leader Cheik Ahmadou Bamba, founder of Mouridism. Although N'Dour has a strong following in Europe and North America, he feared the album would be controversial in the West. Instead, it was spurned in his homeland, where longtime fans reflexively rejected a pop star's attempt at devotional music. Vasarhelyi's documentary, which observes this storm, has proved a success in Holland, France, and a few American cities, and opened Friday at the Avalon. In a recent interview, the director explained why she felt compelled to make the film, even though when she started she didn't know Youssou N'Dour's music.

Saw the movie last night. It's at the Avalon in DC for a week. Poorly promoted--there were maybe 12 people at the 8:15 show last night. But it's great. Youssou talking about Uum Kalthum and his faith. Footage of a pilgrimmage to the Senegalese mosque in Touba, Youssou singing backstage and onstage. Plus dean of rock critics Robert Christgau complimenting N'Dour to his face in a kind of stilted manner (I'd probably do the same). Weird how N'Dour winning a Grammy for the cd caused Senegalese people to reappraise the work and give it respect(N'Dour reissued it there as it was widely rejected the first time around). His voice is stunning in the movie which has English captions for the lyrics.

Sux that his bid for the Senegalese presidency has been invalidated.

The five-judge body said N'dour had "produced a list of 12,936 voters supporting his candidacy of which only 8,911 could be identified and their signatures validated". A minimum of 10,000 was needed

Read more: http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/Youssou+Dour+fights+Senegal+presidency/6067313/story.html#ixzz1lFLOoRX0

hmmmmmm

The candidate he supported gave him a job. But after serving for 2 years as Minister of Culture he's just an advisor now, and released a new album back in April called Fatteliku that I have just heard about.

Just toured Europe and is coming to the US now

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/worldfolkandjazz/10986092/Womad-2014-Youssou-NDour-Senegals-minister-of-sound.html

Some cuts from Fatteliku on youtube but I can't find the whole thing anywhere

I think I found it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_l9FXZRvME&list=PLYpm9V0YueVGW-OeQn1qPhsoGFh_iBA-V

His voice is still fabulous

this album (Egypt) rules

It is awesome. Some folks on this board seem to only know his crossover to Western pop efforts, but not this.

Which are his crossovers? You mean the duets with other people? PG and Neneh Cherry?

yes

His June 2015 released song speaking out against violence against women is called
Dijiguéne Gni",
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZweEsGkmIo

reformatting a couple of interviews i did with YN'D in 1986 for a thing: so i hunted out what ILx had to say and discovered this, which i never heard

on first listen, it's utterly gorgeous

Yes!!!