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DVD Review
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Slipcue.com, DVD Review >>
Various Artists "FESTIVAL IN THE DESERT"
(World Village, 2004)
This hour-long documentary captures some of the mystery and excitement of the third annual Festival In The Desert, a multicultural music festival held in Essakane, Mali, in the heart of the Sahara Desert. The event partly centers around the ongoing cultural struggle of the nomadic Touareg tribes, whose way of life has been threatened following a prolonged drought and a failed military rebellion in the 1990s... Shots of the tribal members, many mounted on camels and wearing highly stylized clothing, are among the most evocative images in this film -- this is a culture largely beyond the reaches of Western consumer culture, and these are powerful images. Unfortunately, the film doesn't provide a very complete or very comprehensible picture of the plight of the Touareg tribes; the presentation here is cursory and fuzzy around the edges, with more allusions than information, and ultimately it's a bit frustrating. Similarly, the musical performances are a bit on the short side -- brief clips of great artists, intercut with interviews and pictures of the crowds -- and many artists are seen only in tantalizingly brief encounters. One of the most complete sequences features ex-Led Zepper Robert Plant, who's apparently gotten the Sub-Saharan musical bug, and while I guess an old dino-rocker like Plant has more celebrity draw than someone like vocalist Oumou Sangare or Malian superstar Ali Farka Toure, it still seems like the locals are getting shortchanged a little. (I assume the clipped pace of the film was a result of trying to keep it under an hour in length, so that it could be broadcast on televison, but it's still a bit regretable...) Nonetheless, there are some great artists to be seen here, including Sangare, the eclectic French world-beat ensemble, Lo'Jo, and the electrified Touareg jam band, Tinariwen, whose extended family ambience and loose, relaxed stage presence make them seem quite a bit like an African version of the Grateful Dead (and I mean that in a good way!) All in all, this film provides an rich glimpse into a distant culture, as well as tantalizing exposure to some of the greatest musicians in Africa... It's certainly worth checking out! 09/30/04 >> go there
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