DVD REVIEW: The Festival In the Desert, Various (Wrasse/Shock) (52 minutes) Exempt ****½

Graceful, improvised performances, droning pulses, camels scurrying through the rugged Sahara, basic campfires flickering at night, canvas accommodation, head-dresses and robes symbolising the attire of the Touareg people, still smarting after the uprising in Mali in 1990, all synthesise coherently for Lionel Brouet's The Festival In the Desert. With tribal intellectual Issa Dicko intermittently relating the history of the conflict between the nomadic and sedentary Touaregs, this 2003 festival highlights their dignity through a cultural exchange of poetry and music. And one of many colourful scenes happens as the uplifting Jah Kas Cool Boy (Lo' Jo) comes to a close. Brouet's cameras meander to resting camels under the symmetric sprawl of an acacia resembling the manicured shape of a bonsai tree. In this uncompromising environment, each ensemble takes hold of the audience, from Malian legend Ali Farka Toure to Tinariwen, the Touareg rebel band. Surprisingly, it was American Indian band Blackfire (Common Enemy) who ignited the nomadic crowd. Robert Plant, speaking with Justin Adams - they performed Win My Train Fare Home in Malian blues style - mentions "a great dynamic". It was, and a spellbinding one at that. -- Terry Reilly