FILM-FORWARD.COMReviews of Recent Independent, Foreign, & Documentary Films in Theaters and DVD/Home Video
I'LL SING FOR YOU
And sing he does. This musical journey focuses squarely on Afro-pop singer/guitarist Boubacar Traoré,
known as KarKar, as he travels and performs throughout Mali, which should share equal billing. In the
early ‘60s, he was the Malian Elvis Presley. He also helped popularize the electric guitar. His songs on the radio
became anthems for the newly independent and optimistic country. This mood is considerably contrasted with the
present day footage of dusty villages of thatched-roof mud huts, roaming goats, and the villagers' cautious looks cast to the camera. Without a record-buying public and because of family obligations, he disappeared from the
scene, later emigrating to France, and now has resurfaced with a following. It is his friends who provide the
on-camera interviews, leaving the still-youthful and taciturn KarKar to perform, creating more of a sketch
than a portrait. Because his life story is told by secondary sources, KarKar remains a distant figure. However, this
film is really about the music, which is both lively and melancholic. Even a song with the lyric “Glory to you, young
people of Mali/Don’t attack our army because our soldiers are brave and courageous,” sounds mournful. The subject
of many songs is his beloved late wife, Pierrette - “Your name will not disappear because I’ll sing it all over the
world.” Overall, this documentary will have strong appeal to world-music followers, such as the listeners of
KCRW’s Cafe L.A. or WXPN's World Cafe (both available on the Web), but the uninitiated may feel this tribute/travelogue is too long. KarKar's
performance is intimate, the film is not. Kent Turner
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