Category Archives: Film

Film documentary: Billy Bang: Long Over Due

Text by Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi

The is the trailer for the documentary film Billy Bang: Long Over Due on legend jazz violinist Billy Bang, directed and written by award winning director Oscar Sanders. This film will be released sometime this year. It will remind you why this man, who passed away in April last year, was so revered by musicians and the jazz audience.

This film documents the music and the working style of Billy Bang, an internationally known, critically acclaimed violinist. Also interviews with musicians and personalities that know Billy Bang first hand and reveal what makes this extremely talented, award winning recording artist tick. Production began in November of 2010 in Patterson, New Jersey at the Patterson Public Library.

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Documentary film: Boubacar Traoré “Je chanterai pour toi (I’ll Sing For You)”

Boubacar Traoré (born 1942 in Kayes, Mali) is a renowned singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Traoré also goes by the nickname Kar Kar, (a footballing nickname in Bambara meaning “The Dribbler” given him by his friends). In 1968, when Moussa Traoré overthrew Malian president Modibo Keita, Boubacar Traoré, widely seen as an artist associated with the previous regime, disappeared from the airwaves. During the 1970s Traoré’s popularity faded, until a surprise television appearance in 1987. Soon after this “rediscovery,” Boubacar’s wife died during childbirth. Grief-stricken, he moved to France and did construction work to support his six children. While there, a British record producer discovered a tape of one of Traoré’s radio performances, and he was finally signed to a record deal. His first album, Mariama, was released in 1990. Since then, Traoré has enjoyed international popularity, touring Europe, Africa, and North America. Boubacar figures in the book Mali Blues (Lonely Planet, Australia), by Belgian writer Lieve Joris. The book inspired Swiss film director Jacques Sarasin for the 2001 film Je chanterai pour toi (“I’ll Sing For You”) about Boubacar, released on DVD in 2005.

 About the film

Film screening: India by Song

Date: Friday, November 18, 2011
Venue:  Asia Society and Museum (725 Park Avenue at 70th Street, NYC)
Time: 6:45 – 8pm
Tickets: $7 members; $9 students/seniors; $11 nonmembers

Dir. Vijay Singh. India. 2010. 64 min. Digibeta.

Post-screening Q&A with filmmaker moderated by Aseem Chhabra, entertainment writer, Festival Director of New York Indian Film Festival, and board member of South Asian Journalists Association (SAJA)

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