Youssou N'Dour: I Bring What I Love

A music-infused cinematic journey about the power of one man’s voice to inspire change.Youssou Ndour is the highest selling African artist of all time and has collaborated with musical superstars Bono, Neneh Cherry and Peter Gabriel.  At home in Senegal, the Grammy-award winning artist is an inspiration for generations. The film—which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in September and has won Audience and other Awards throughout the world— chronicles Ndour, a devout Sufi Muslim, as he releases a deeply personal and religious album called Egypt in the hope of promoting a tolerant face of Islam. Almost instantly, his fellow Senegalese reject the album, and denounce his actions as blasphemous. Director Chai Vasarhelyi follows Ndour for over two years – filming in Africa, Europe, and America – to tell the story of how he faces these challenges and eventually wins over audiences both at home and abroad.

“What’s not to love about a documentary portrait of the Senegalese superstar Youssou N’Dour, as long as we get to groove to his crisp, soaring, polyrhythmic music? There’s plenty of it in Youssou N’Dour: I Bring What I Love, and when the man’s onstage, joined by his supremely confident band, it makes for happy viewing — even if the songs address themes of postcolonial anger and frustration.” (Nathan Lee, New York Times)