Nass el Ghiwane Ya bani insane (1973)
Martin Scorsese’s 1988 film The Last Temptation of Christ was a polarizing piece of work. On the one hand, critics loved the epic religious drama starring Willem Dafoe, Harvey Keitel, Barbara Hershey and David Bowie. On the other, the film—an adaptation of Nikos Kazantzakis' 1955 novel of the same name—brought Christian fundamentalists to the fore, as they didn’t quite like the depiction of Jesus struggling with doubt, depression, lust and other temptations. In Paris, an Integralist Catholic group even set fire to a cinema while it was screening the movie. And Scorsese received various death threats upon the movie’s release that seemed serious enough for him to hire bodyguards for a while when appearing in public… Less controversial was the soundtrack of the movie composed by Peter Gabriel. In fact, it was later released as a fully-fledged Peter Gabriel record and awarded a Grammy for Best New Age Album. The album and its accompanying record Passion – Sources, which features material by musicians that inspired Gabriel or which he sampled for the soundtrack, introduced many listeners to artists from West Asia and North Africa. Among them is Nass el Ghiwane, an iconic band from Morocco with a cult following. One of the band’s biggest fans is Scorsese himself, who, apparently, put in his word to have them on the soundtrack of The Last Temptation of Christ. Originally active in Casablanca’s avant-garde political theater scene, the band formed in the early 1970s, “Ya bani insane” being one of their earliest recordings.
Start the conversation
Become a paid member of The Rest to gain access to the comments section.