Previewed Thursday at the Vues d’Afrique festival, then Saturday at the Sherbrooke World Cinema Festival, the documentary The desert rocker by Sara Nacer is a gem.
For nearly a decade, the Quebec director has been interested in the life of the icon of Gnaoua music Hasna El Becharia, considered the first woman to play guembri, this three-string bass recognizable by its rectangular sound box. . And traditionally wielded by the masters — the maalem — , only men, until the stubbornness of this character that Sara Nacer presents as “the greatest feminist I know, she who doesn’t even know what that word means”.
You could say in a way that The desert rocker begins with the happy conclusion of the story of the life of Hasna El Becharia who, at 72, still performs on stage. Sara Nacer takes us to a maalemone of these masters of the divan (the Algerian-style gnaoua), musician from generation to generation, transmitter of tradition, who observes his children rehearsing the repertoire. All young girls, one of them even playing the guembri. “Today, a woman who plays the guembri is normal. But 40 years ago, there was only one who was fighting against tradition,” says the director.
Of Algerian origin, Montrealer Sara Nacer was born in London, where her parents attended university. From the age of 4 to 8, she lived in Quebec, where her mother was finishing her doctoral thesis.
“I fell in love with Quebec, and what’s funny is that [une fois rentrée en Algérie]I wanted at all costs to return to the place where I met Santa Claus”, laughs the young woman who, after studying architecture, turned to communications before becoming a producer of shows and so participate in the visit of Algerian musicians to the Nuits d’Afrique festival or the Montreal International Jazz Festival.
It was while producing concerts in her country of origin that she met Hasna El Becharia, on whom the eye of the French public fell in the 1990s. is made known practically only at the age of 50, explains Sara Nacer. From 17-18 years old to 50 years old, she is this woman who animated weddings in the desert with her electric guitar. It’s crazy, she was only known in her region [de la ville de Béchar, au nord-ouest du Sahara algérien]. »
This first invitation, in 1999, to go on stage at the Cabaret Sauvage, a famous hall in the Parisian park of La Villette, was a revelation: never before had we heard a woman play the guembri and defend the tradition divan. Images of this electrifying spectacle are reported in The desert rocker.
In 2001, the French record company Label Bleu released its first album, Jazair Johara. Hasna El Becharia didn’t even know what a record was until she was shown one by the mythical “granny of raï” Cheikha Rimitti, she says in the documentary dedicated to her! “It was this album that revealed her, abroad, but also in Algeria. All of a sudden, we discovered this artist, who came from our country and who is the pioneer of female Gnaoua music,” says Sara Nacer.
A long journey
During their first meeting, in 2011, the Montreal filmmaker made two promises to Hasna El Becharia: to organize concerts for her in America — she will thus perform at the Nuits d’Afrique festival in 2013, a visit filmed by the documentary filmmaker — and to a film about his life, completed last summer.
“It was an obstacle course for me, because I had no experience in cinema. However, I had to assume all the roles”, including that of editor, the one she had initially hired having withdrawn during the project. “But I had watched her work, so as I could no longer afford another one, I installed the software and I assembled everything myself”, adds the one who, in 2019, presented his first film, Let them all goa documentary collecting the testimonies of Algerian youth during the Hirak, “the smile revolution” launched in February of the same year to protest against President Bouteflika’s desire to cling to power.
Sara Nacer takes an intimate look at this great musician who, through the story she tells of her own career, powerfully expresses the determination that allowed her to take her place in a world of men. The desert rocker is thus, as the director says, a film about “the evolution of mentalities [dans le monde arabe] over the years “. ” [Avec le temps], even the most conservative minds have agreed to see women engage in art. »
Hasna El Becharia has not yet seen the final cut of the documentary, but it will come, since the film will be presented in Algeria, promises Sara Nacer. “Hasna must be celebrated during her lifetime. »
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