Festival in the Desert

I just found another article in the Economist about a festival similar to the one held where I live. I am hoping to go to this next January. While the two are quite different in their locations within Mali, they are, however, quite similar with the music performed and general atmosphere. Habib Koité played at the Festival sur le Niger in Segou too and was probably my favorite performer. In any regard, here is a short article about Festival-au-Desert.

Mali Desert discs

Jan 18th 2007 TIMBUKTU
From The Economist print edition

The political roots of one of Africa's liveliest music festivals

AS A very cold wind swept across the sand dunes in the early hours, the time had come for the last concert of this year's “Festival in the Desert”. It is held annually near Essakane, an oasis some 40 miles (65km) north-west of Timbuktu, the ancient city on the Niger river. Reaching it tests endurance, with miles of impermanent sand tracks to negotiate. The reward is a three-day feast of music that has now become so popular that this year 4,000 people turned up.

It is mainly a celebration of the musical heritage of the Touareg, a fiercely independent nomadic people who live in the area. Their concerts feature electric guitars, loud singing, drumming and swirling flutes, belted out through megaphones. Against this raw, distorted background of noise the dancing is remarkably gracious.

The festival coincides with traditional Touareg celebrations but has a political side too. Since the advent of French colonial rule more than a century ago, the Touareg and their cousins in neighbouring countries have been restricted in their movement and made to feel marginal. They first rebelled against the French in 1894 but were bloodily suppressed. Mali's independence in 1960 changed little.

Another rebellion, in the 1990s, extracted partially fulfilled promises from the Malian government that the Touareg would be better represented in the government and the army. To mark this reconciliation, thousands of weapons were incinerated in Timbuktu in 1996, in a ceremony called “the Flame of Peace”; the music festival is an offshoot of it.

Its chief organiser is Habib Koité, an indefatigable singer and guitarist from western Mali. He closed this year's festival, after local heroes Tinariwen and others from around the world had paid homage to the late mayor of nearby Nyafunké, better known as bluesman Ali Farka Touré, who died last year.

It may be in the middle of the desert, but the festival has pulled in sponsors such as the French-owned mobile-phone firm Orange. Touareg traders badger everyone in sight with endless offers of camel rides, swords and jewellery: a once-a-year chance to get some cash before returning to their harsh, nomadic existence for the rest of the year.