A film about music, mysticism, and family history, The Hand of Fatima tells the story of music critic NY Times Robert Palmer's friendship with a legendary Sufi band called the Master Musicians of Jajouka. Lured by the Master Musicians appearance in fiction by William Burroughs as well as by the recordings Rolling Stone Brian Jones made of their music, Palmer first visited Jajouka in 1971 on assignment for Rolling Stone. He returned with Ornette Coleman in 1973, and was adopted by the leaders of what Timothy Leary called "a 4,000 year-old rock band." Filmmaker Augusta Palmer examines the legends established by Burroughs, Brion Gysin, and Stephen Davis (Jajouka Rolling Stone) by interviewing the band in their remote village and a host of famous fans of the Master Musicians and Robert Palmer, whose book Deep Blues is still considered a seminal history of American popular music.
