Why musician Prince is hitting the headlines
The artist formally known as Prince, who a year later in 1994 changed his name back to Prince; famous for being eccentric, controversial, pioneering and often just damn right bizarre. Whatever your opinions of him, he is a musical legend having sold over 100 million records worldwide and at the same time picking up an Academy Award, a Golden Globe and 7 Grammys, there’s no doubting his credibility.
In a career that spans nearly 40 years Prince has made countless headlines, but why is he hitting the headlines now? Well not so much Prince himself but rather his work, more specifically the album and movie of the same name which was loosely based on Prince’s rise to the top had between them sold over 13 million copies in the US alone and spent 24 straights weeks at number 1 as well as winning an Academy Award and grossing over $80 million (£53m), the legendary ‘Purple Rain’. The reason being is that Purple Rain the movie is set to be remade. You would be forgiven to think the movie would have received a French, Spanish, German or even Hebrew translation! Not even close.
The movie has been remade in none other than the Western African Saharan Republic of Niger. Yes that’s right, The Republic of Niger. Now you might consider that to be a bit odd or the fact that the remake is aimed at the Tuareg people of Niger who probably have no idea who Prince is, but what’s worse and even stranger is there is no direct translation for the word ‘purple’, instead of ‘Purple Rain’ the Tuareg version is ‘Akounak Tedalat Taha Tazoughai’ which translates into a rather long-winded awkward title of ‘Rain the Colour of Blue with a Little Red in It’.
For those of you thinking this must be some sort of a joke, the low budget Akounak Tedalat Taha Tazoughai or Rain the Colour of Blue with a Little Red in It has actually become quite popular in Niger as it follows real life musician Mdou Moctar’s rise to the top as he rides his purple or blue with a little bit of red bike around the city of Agadez.
But there is some truth in the idea that this remake is some sort of joke as Christopher Kirkley, the co-writer and director of the remake confirmed when speaking to The Guardian “It started out as a joke, the idea to take this cult film from the west and remake it in the Sahara. But we realised if we took the original story and modified it, the remake would reflect the lives of every guitarist in the Tuareg community.”
What are your thoughts?
A story originally reported on The Guardian.
