I’ll Sing For You (Music Documentary)
Picture: C+
Sound: C+ Extras: C Main Program: B-
Jonathan Demme, the original Demme of Something Wild
and Stop Making Sense, surfaces as producer after the twin disasters of Truth
About Charlie and the lame Manchurian Candidate remake to give us
Jacques Sarasin’s portrait of the number one musician in all of African
Blues. I’ll Sing For You (2003)
features master musician Boubacar “KarKar” Traoré in his later years.
It traces the past as he deals with reuniting with people
of his past, how he became a political force in the 1960s, how he fell into
obscurity, and how he later resurfaced in France to new acclaim for his music
to be heard by new generations. As much
a music history lesson as of history itself, the program constantly has new
things to offer. The Mali government
became more restrictive than ever after KarKar’s success, ending what they
feared would be a revolution. That he
could even return decades later is amazing, but it happened and the discussions
on how the Islam religion helped some is fascinating in and of itself.
The 1.78 X 1 image is letterboxed, not anamorphically
enhanced for DVD, and has some detail issues.
Stills are also included, but the program mostly consists of new materials. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo has no surround
information and is adequate for a location taping, even with the appearance of
celebrated musician Ali Farka Touré.
Extras include three more music performances, stills, two more interview
segments including with Maui Blues author Lieve Joris, and trailers for
four other First Run DVD titles. I’ll
Sing For You is something all those interested in African music will want
to see, though its 77 minutes length may not be enough for them. For others, it will be just right.
- Nicholas Sheffo
