Senegalese superstar Youssou N'Dour unveils new doc at TIFF
Last Updated: Monday, September 8, 2008 | 4:00 PM ET
CBC News
At the 2007 G8 Summit in Germany, President Bush, second from left, met and discussed issues with musician-activists, from left, Bob Geldoff, Bono and Youssou N'Dour. (Gerald Herbert/Associated Press)Senegalese singer Youssou N'Dour remains sanguine about the various challenges that face him in life, from the polarizing reception to a fusion of his faith and his music to dealing with perceptions of him as an African cultural icon.
Living between the two worlds of Africa and the West is "interesting .… Having the ability to touch two cultures, two worlds is really something fantastic," N'Dour told CBC cultural affairs show Q in Toronto on the weekend.
Saturday saw the singer attend the world premiere of the documentary Youssou N'Dour: I Bring What I Love at the Toronto International Film Festival and, later in the evening, turn in a rousing free outdoor concert that drew an estimated 10,000 people to the city's Yonge-Dundas Square.
The documentary, by U.S. filmmaker Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, documents the surprising response to N'Dour's 2005 album Egypt, the realization of his longtime desire to record an album honouring his Islamic faith, while fusing inspirations from the title country with that of his own.
Though it won incredible acclaim internationally, Egypt was rejected in Senegal, with merchants and DJs returning their copies and ads for the album blocked.
"I think they were really surprised about Egypt. They know my style of music. They were really expecting, every time, to get the same thing," N'Dour said.
Powerful Muslim leaders also spoke out against the album, because they considered themselves the only ones who should make or approve the production of devotional music, he added.
"At the time, I was really frustrated at the perceptions of people at home…It was not the majority, but a lot of people," N'Dour said.
It "worked out in the end" however: Egypt went on to scoop the Grammy Award for best contemporary world music album that year.
N'Dour said he tries to keep in mind the bigger picture; not resigning himself simply to Senegalese issues but tackling challenges facing the whole of Africa.
He admitted that it can be "really tough" at times live up to the public's perception of him as a sort of official representative of an entire continent, he is happy to do it.
"I try my best to bring the real image of Africa," he said. "This continent is a beautiful continent, a rich continent. [There's a] need to sacrifice your time and everything to tell other people on the other side how this continent is fantastic."
As an entertainment world celebrity who serves as a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations, speaks out for African development and raises funds for charity through his performances, he feels that famous faces are justified in being champions of international causes.
Being able to walk into a room and freely discuss world affairs with the president of the United States can definitely lead to change, he said.
"We have to know, definitely, where to stop, because you can't come in to be [the] executive," he acknowledged.
Still, "[celebrities] can change a lot of things, you can mobilize millions and millions of people ...and give them a real message, that they have a position, a voice."
