Festival in the Desert
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Free Music Notes for Festival in the Desert
Free Music Review: An Oasis of Music from the Heart of the Sahel
Hit: 5 Stars
So you can't make it to Essakane for the Festival in the Desert this year? Well don't worry, because theres finally a recording of performances from the annual festival on CD. For those not familiar, the Festival in the Desert is an annual event in Mali where artists from across West Africa (and, increasingly, across the world) gather in the middle of the Sahel (Africa's great dust bowl, the hot, dry, dusty region immediately south of the Sahara desert) for a performance. Some of the greatest names in Mande and Tuareg music appear on this outstandingly cool compilation - desert rockers Tinariwen, legendary wassoulou singer Oumou Sangare, Kel Tin Lokiene of Timbuktu, Mauritanian jali (griot) Aicha bint Chighaly, the late Ali Farka Toure (Mali's famous 'desert bluesman') and his protege Afel Bocoum, amongst many others. Adding a more international flavor, there are also appearances by artists from beyond the Sahel. Theres a collaboration between Justin Adams and Robert Plant (yes, THE Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin), French multi-cultural outfit Lo'Jo, and (most interestingly) a Navajo band called Blackfire. Any of these artists would be well worth it by themselves, and I strongly encourage you to seek out their individual releases if you like this CD, but together the result is... incredible. It's raw, live, gritty and dusty - just like if you were actually attending. So if you can't actually make it to Mali to see the Festival for yourself, maybe you should check out this CD instead. It will make you into a fan of West African music.Free Music Review: A Fountain of Music from the Desert
Hit: 4 Stars
Free yourself from the prison of top ten chart poppers. Enlightenment of the soul is to be found when you journey far from the path. Music is an ancient art infused with the timeless cultures of the world. Have a taste of this mysteriously spicy dish and your palette will never be the same.Free Music Review: GREAT DOCUMENTARY - NOT A CONCERT DVD
Hit: 4 Stars
"Festival in the Desert" is a beautiful and well-made documentary of North and West African musicians, along with a few European and American artists, performing in the Malian desert outside Timbuktu at the edge of the Sahara Desert, in what has to be one of the most unique musical events in the world....it is NOT a concert DVD. As some of the other reviewers have astutely indicated, there are cut-aways during songs. Some performer's songs are only heard as "sound bites." That being said, I respect the production values put forth in this DVD, and enjoy it in a Zen-like manner- it is what it is. But if you are a person who is only looking for soup-to-nuts musical video, with lots of DVD "bells and whistles", I'd urge you to spend your hard-earned money on other DVD's. Free Music Review: Festival of the Desert 2006
Hit: 5 Stars
Just returned, in January, from the latest edition of the Festival au Desert. The music was not as good as this album, but the experience of being at the most exotic music festival in the world certainly made up for it. The highlights, this year, were Habib Koite, an Irish traditonal band and the many lesser known Taureg bands that played throughout the three days. But I was introduced, via tape, to Tinariwen and I had gone hoping to catch Ali Farka Toure at the festival. Listening to this album has really taken me back to Essakane and the Sahara. It is truely a jewel of a cd, capturing some great perfomances by Lo Jo, Robert Plant, Tinariwen, Ali Farka Toure, and a Native American band called Blackfire. Great recording made out in the desert and a true treasure of Malian, Saharan, and other world music. I count it as a top five pick of recent African music.
Andy Hanson
Free Music Review: Disappointing!
Hit: 2 Stars
I was very excited when I saw this DVD in the store, and I bought it. I really wanted to see Oumou Sangare and Tinariwen perform live, but in both cases, just as the song starts, THEY CUT AWAY FOR AN INTERVIEW! Somehow they manage to include complete performances from the people I didn't care about (Robert Plant, the awful French group, the Navajo heavy-metal band...) while short-changing the actual local bands. The Navajo band is intriguingly weird: the lead singer gives a heart-felt speech about his people losing their culture and language, then the band launches into a heavy-metal song sung in ENGLISH. That was kinda (sadly) amusing...