https://www.vprogids.nl/2025/28/inhoud/etalage/p40-zondag/etalage-179623.html

Doudou – The Magic of the Rhythm: beautiful documentary about percussionist Doudou and the traditional sabar drum

Rick de Gier, July 13, 2025

Percussionist Doudou N’Diaye Rose, who performed with artists such as Miles Davis and The Rolling Stones, was the master of the Senegalese sabar drum.

The short documentary Doudou – The Magic of the Rhythm has an unusual history. Linguist Yoad Winter, affiliated with Utrecht University, spent years researching African “drum languages.” An important figure in his project was the Senegalese percussionist Doudou N’Diaye Rose, internationally known for his collaborations with artists such as Miles Davis, Stevie Wonder, and The Rolling Stones. After Doudou passed away in 2015, Winter decided to make a film about him with the support of the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (NWO). Together with director Sjors Swierstra (Het voorval – Armando en de mythe), he traveled to Dakar, where Doudou’s musical heritage is kept alive, among others by his many children and grandchildren. The documentary shows, among other things, a special commemoration of Doudou, with dozens of drummers who were trained by him (both men and women, which was unusual in his day). In addition, the filmmakers managed to make contact with star musicians Peter Gabriel and Youssou N’Dour, who speak admiringly about him.

Don’t expect an academic production, though; the film is primarily a beautiful, accessible introduction to Doudou and the instrument of which he is considered a modern master, the traditional sabar drum. Producer Winter clearly had one goal in mind: to convey his love for this music to others. “Listen to sabar music with an open heart,” he says in an interview on the university’s website, “and you will see: Doudou N’Diaye Rose’s oeuvre belongs in the pantheon of the greatest international artists of the second half of the twentieth century.”