Purple Rain in the Saharan Desert: How a remake of Prince’s cult classic became the first-ever Tuareg-language fiction film Akounak Tedalat Taha Tazoughai (“r

Purple Rain in the Saharan Desert: How a remake of Prince’s cult classic became the first-ever Tuareg-language fiction film Akounak Tedalat Taha Tazoughai (“rain the color of blue with a little red in it”) The alcoholic, wife-beating father character from Purple Rain is swapped for a pious Muslim who bans music in his household and burns Moctar’s guitar for the sake of his son’s soul (“only drug addicts and alcoholics play guitar,” the father declares). Instead of the protagonist ordering his lover to “purify yourself in the waters of Lake Minnetonka,” Moctar tries to woo his love interest by driving her into the middle of the desert and pretending that his motorcycle has run out of gas. And, instead of one-upping Morris Day in a showdown on First Avenue, the Tuareg six-stringer squares off against his real-life rival Kader Tanoutanoute at the Agadez branch of the Alliance Française, a French language and cultural center. http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2015/02/purple-rain-in-the-saharan-desert/385234/ http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2015/02/pur...