Youssou N’Dour has a life, career, and musical style representative of much of Western Africa, specifically Senegal.  He is inarguably the most famous singer in that region of the world and as a result of where he’s from and who his fans are, his music carries a stronger message and often calls his listeners to act.  He helped create Senegal’s most popular national style of music, called “mbalax,” which is rhythmic dance music that draws inspiration from hip hop, jazz, Latin music, and the traditional drumming of Senegal: “sabar.” 

Youssou N’Dour is, for lack of a better phrase, the musical heart of Western Africa.  A self-described “modern griot,” meaning poet or wandering musician, N’Dour has collaborated with the likes of Paul Simon, Sting, Peter Gabriel, and Bruce Springstein and perhaps more importantly, N’Dour has been an active participant in a great many humanitarian causes like the “Amnesty International Campaign to Save Darfur,” and IntraHealth International.  In I Bring What I Love, filmmaker Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi chronicles the production, release, and consequences of N’Dour’s 2004 album Egypt.   The controversial album was a collaborative effort between N’Dour and the Egyptian Fathy Salama Orchestra and explores Islam as it is practiced in Senegal and Egypt.  His lyrics offer a hopeful, tolerant view of Islam, but were received with criticism from Muslims who felt that it was blasphemous to dilute the religion by melding it with pop culture. 

In I Bring What I Love, opening tomorrow at Laemmle’s Sunset 5 theatre, audiences are able to see the hopeful message N’Dour had intended with Egypt and how it all came to be.  The work on that album was intended to send a particular message to a world in which the Muslim religion is so often inaccurately associated with fear and terror.  He was trying to send the message that in his country and in his experience, Islam is a beautiful, tolerant, enjoyable religion.  

I Bring What I Love is playing from July 3 at the Laemmle Sunset 5 theatre.  For more information or to buy tickets, please call (323) 848-3500 or click here.