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'Purple Rain' — As Retold In A Language Without A Word For Purple
The songs may have changed, and so has the wardrobe, but the battle of the bands still stands at the heart of this Tuareg remake of <em>Purple Rain</em>.
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Courtesy of Christopher Kirkley
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In 1984, Prince was on top of the world, with a No. 1 album and later a No. 1 movie, both named Purple Rain.
Little did Prince know then how widely his projects' influence would spread, or the ways in which they might translate — literally. Three decades after the film first premiered, it got a remake filmed in Niger, featuring members of a nomadic group of people known as the Tuareg.
It's called Akounak Tedalat Taha Tazoughai -- which translates to "Rain the Color of Blue with a Little Red in It." That's because there's no word for "purple" in Tamajeq, the language spoken by the Tuareg.
Mdou Moctar is a local star among the Tuareg, based in the city of Agadez. Happily, Prince's iconic purple motorcycle also survived the translation.
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Courtesy of Christopher Kirkley
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Like the original, this version of Purple Rain, directed by Christopher Kirkley, tells the story of a guitarist and songwriter who battles his musical rivals, his conservative father — and eventually, his own ego. Those struggles are every bit as resonant in Niger's desert community as they were in Prince's Minneapolis. Over the past few decades, a vibrant new music scene has exploded among the Tuareg. Bootlegged cassette tapes of artists like Jimi Hendrix and Dire Straits have been traded and retraded across the Sahara.
"This guitar-based, heavily blues-influenced music is now essentially pop music for the Tuareg community," Kirkley says.
Local star Mdou Moctar plays the Prince role. And in the end — spoiler alert! -- he beats his rival in a battle of the bands. Moctar's show-stopper sounds a little different from Prince's, though. Also different: The risque love story of the 1984 original underwent some changes with actors from a conservative Muslim background.
"We obviously couldn't do a kiss on the screen," Kirkley says. "We even had problems with a hug. I thought, 'Well, maybe we can just end the film with the two of you hugging,' and they said no."
The remake is currently playing the film-festival circuit, but he's still waiting for one person in particular to buy a ticket.
"We haven't heard from Prince yet," Kirkley says. "I'm hoping that if and when we do, it's, uh, it's a positive experience."
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