Purple Rain, Prince’s self-mythologising 'rock opera' is being remade in the most unlikely of places – the Saharan nation of Niger, a place where Prince is unknown and where there is no word for purple. But Chris Kirkley, the man behind the project, explains, 'guitar is king' here.
Smoky Minneapolis is swapped for dusty Agadez, the largest city in the country’s central region, and the film follows self-taught musician Mdou Moctar as he uses his purple motorbike to ride from performance to performance, fighting to make a name for himself. Besides Prince being unknown in the region, another hurdle to the production was the fact that there is no Tuareg word for purple – the film’s title is therefore Akounak Tedalat Taha Tazoughai, which translates to 'rain the colour of blue with a little red in it'. Read more: theguardian.com