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Exhibition: Akounak | Zerzura Christopher Kirkley, Mdou Moctar + Ahmoudou Madassane
July 12 - August 10, 2019
SAW Video - Knot Project Space, 2 Daly Ave.

In collaboration with Debaser, Timekode and Sahel Sounds, SAW Video's Knot Project Space is pleased to present a special summer exhibition featuring two music-based films from the Sahara: Akounak Tedalat Taha Tazoughai [Rain the Colour of Blue with a Little Red in It] (2015) and Zerzura (2017). Both of these Tamasheq-language films are projects by the Sahel Sounds record label and its founder Christopher Kirkley, who employs a participatory mode of ethnographic, community-based filmmaking in which participants and actors play a central role in shaping the nature of the film’s dialogue, narrative and overall trajectory. The two films also speak to the potential of the ‘re-make’ as a mode for transcultural exchange, with Akounak transposing Prince’s 1984 classic Purple Rain into a desert landscape, and Zerzura recalling Jim Jarmusch’s 1995 western Dead Man, propelled by Neil Young’s meandering guitar improvisations.

At the heart of each of these works are two musicians from Agadez, Niger: the ‘Hendrix of the Sahara’ Mdou Moctar, and his rhythm guitarist Ahmoudou Madassane, who star in each film, respectively. In advance of a live performance by Mdou Moctar and his band in Ottawa on Friday, July 26th at Queen St. Fare, this exhibition presents Akounak and Zerzura alongside playback of their original scripts, treated by Kirkley and his team as points of departure and sites of negotiation. Through this comparative mode of viewing, between the script and the edit, loose narrative threads can be seen weaving in and out of scenes depicting everyday life of the Tuareg people. Stunning performances by Mdou Moctar and Ahmoudou Madassane transcend the fictions in which they are situated to tell a different story altogether.

Akounak Tedalat Taha Tazoughai
In 1984, Prince took the world by storm with Purple Rain, launching the artist's career through a mythologized self-portrayal. Thirty years later the legend of ‘The Kid’ was reborn and transformed through an unexpected transnational exchange. Akounak Tedalat Taha Tazoughai pays homage to Purple Rain, and is set in Agadez, a city in the region Sahel in central Africa. The film, whose title translates as “Rain the Colour of Blue with a Little Red in It” is the first ever feature film made in the Tamasheq language of the Tuareg people (in which there is no word for the colour purple). Since its release in 2015 the film has toured internationally and has helped to expose the world to its star: virtuoso Tuareg guitarist, poet, and composer Mdou Moctar, garnering him international acclaim. The magnetic performances of original music that appear in the film point to how Moctar draws on both modern and traditional sources in his playing, and combines these elements into new sonic formulations. Moctar’s recent album Ilana: The Creator (released in March 2019) shows Moctar continuing to push the boundaries of Tuareg musical traditions.

Zerzura
Zerzura is genre-defying film that transposes a modern folktale with an ethnographic acid Western, inspired by the films of Alexander Jodorowsky and Jean Rouch. The film follows a young man in search of an enchanted oasis as he journeys through a surreal vision of the Sahara, crossing paths with djinn, bandits, gold seekers, and migrants. The film stars and is scored by Ahmoudou Madassane, a member of Mdou Moctar's band and a supporting actor in Akounak.

http://www.sawvideo.com/knot/exhibit/akounak-zerzura