LIFF
I’ll sing for you is a fascinating documentary about the life and music of Malian bluesman, Boubacar Traore, known as « KarKar » in his home country. Famous in the sixties for his exuberant rock act, dressed in leather and modelled on a young Elvis, Kar Kar exemplified the youthful vitality of a newly independent country. He disappeared into obscurity in subsequent, more jaded years and French filmmaker Jacques Sarasin tracked him down, following him around rural Mali always playing his haunting music.
There is a claming, hypnotic flow to the film, consistent with Sarasin’s patient approach and foregrounding of the music. He spent a long time getting acquainted with the musician and getting comfortable with the camera in everyday situations, shooting only 16 hours of film in a month and a half. He opted to eschew conversation entirely because all the important things Traore had to say were perfectly encapsulated in his songs. The lyrics discuss political views, his relationship with his family (especially his late wife Pierrette, who died tragically in childbirth) feelings about Islam and expatriation (he emigrated to work in France after his wife’s death).
Such a method of filmmaking also has the advantage that it captures the real experience of Mali, a place of beauty, but also hardship and anguish. Sarasin considers the highest praise to have come from an African director who said : the only thing wrong with your film Jacques is that you made it. It should have been made by an African.