Synopsis:
Youssou N’dour: I Bring What I Love is an uplifting, music-driven journey into the power of
one man’s voice to inspire global change. The film unfolds an extraordinary moment in the life...
Youssou N’dour: I Bring What I Love is an uplifting, music-driven journey into the power of
one man’s voice to inspire global change. The film unfolds an extraordinary moment in the life of
Youssou N’dour -- the best selling and most influential African pop artist of all time. The Grammy
Award-winning cultural ambassador has long been renown for bringing people of diverse nations and
backgrounds together through his collaborations with such musical superstars as Bono, Paul Simon
and Peter Gabriel -- and for rousing global audiences with his honey-like voice, electrifying rhythms
and impossibly catchy melodies. But when he releases his most daringly personal and spiritual album
yet, N’dour instead rocks his Muslim fans in Africa. Now, even as he garners accolades in the West,
N’dour must brave controversy and rejection at home as he sets out to win his audience back with the
sheer transcendent optimism of his music, which moves hips and feet but also hearts and minds.
As director Chai Vasarhelyi tracks N’dour’s emotional journey over two years -- filming his
ever-shifting life in Africa, Europe, and America -- she reveals why he has become an inspiration for
generations. He initially releases his album Egypt in the hopes of promoting a more tolerant face of
Islam. Yet, when his fellow Senegalese reject the album, and denounce it as blasphemous, he takes this
as a challenge to go deeper, to reach out to those who would attack him and to work even harder to use
the storytelling impact and infectious beats of his songs to unite a divided world. The resulting portrait
is not just of an incomparable musician turning his spiritual quest into art, but also that of a brave new
world in which pop culture now has equal power to incite fury and invite new connections.
Youssou N’dour: I Bring What I Love is the first feature-length documentary film by Chai
Vasarhelyi, who also acts as a producer on the film. A Groovy Griot Film In Association with 57th &
Irving Productions, the film is executive produced by Edward Tyler Nahem, Jennifer Millstone,
Patrick Morris, Jack Turner, Kathryn Tucker, and Miklos C.Vasarhelyi, and co-produced by Sarah
Price, Gwyn Welles, Scott Duncan, and Hugo Berkeley. The film’s cinematographers are Nick Doob
(From Mao to Mozart; an Academy Award winner ® for Best Documentary Feature), Jojo Pennebaker
(
The War Room), six-time Emmy ® winner Scott Duncan (Olympic Games, Survivor), and Hugo
Berkeley. The film’s original score was composed by Emmy® winner Martin Davich (Trinity) and six
time Academy Award ® nominee James Newton Howard (Blood Diamond). --© Official Site
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