Art that spans global divides often relies either on the loveliness of gauzy universals or the shock of gritty minutiae. Chronicling a tumultuous period in the career of an urbane internationalist, the African music superstar Youssou N'Dour, filmmaker Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi tries to split the difference between these approaches in her documentary "Youssou N'Dour: I Bring What I Love."
She shows a certain weakness for gorgeous words and pictures. N'Dour, who comes off as both highly intelligent and fairly down to earth, still tends to slip into Bono-esque inspirational talk (translated from the French) when interviewed. And Dakar, his hometown, often appears in a colorful, slow-motion haze.
But Vasarhelyi doesn't bury all of her specifics in the feel-good fluff of "we are the world" rhetoric. They surface almost as incidentals that soon prove more powerful than the film's more sweeping statements.
Here is Africa's most popular living musician, getting flustered at the prospect of sacrificing a goat at a family gathering; pulling on a traditional robe after shedding his chic Parisian leisure wear as he prepares to take the stage at Carnegie Hall; adjusting the eyeglasses of his ancient and bedridden grandmother, who raised him and who died during this film's production.
And here he is too playing for audiences across Europe, always making sure to hand the microphone to the immigrants up front when it comes time for crowd participation.
"I Bring What I Love" is best when exploring the nitty gritty of N'Dour's life as a musician, favorite son and cultural ambassador.
And it's most persuasive when it speaks through his music, which is both dazzling and full of fascinating detail.
N'Dour has released more than 20 albums since he pioneered the spiritually uplifting, danceable mbalax sound in the 1970s, blending Latin rhythms and soul with traditional African forms. In 2004, N'Dour -- a devout Sufi Muslim who wanted to cast international light on his nation's version of the faith -- released "Egypt," which brought together Senegalese musicians and an orchestra from Cairo to create a new Muslim devotional music.
Violating the Muslim taboo against mixing religious and secular expression, N'Dour sought both to modernize his own country's approach to spiritual art and to show the world how Islam connects Arabic nations to Africa.
