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Sample Track 1:
"Robert Plant & Justin Adams - Win My Train Fare Back Home" from Festival in the Desert
Sample Track 2:
"Takamba Super Onze - Super 11" from Festival in the Desert
Sample Track 3:
"Ali Farka Toure - Karaw" from Festival in the Desert
Sample Track 4:
"Oumou Sangare - Wayena" from Festival in the Desert
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Festival in the Desert
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Whole Lotta Sand

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Rolling Stone, Whole Lotta Sand >>

Led Zeppelin singer Robert Plant rocks the African desert

By Austin Scaggs

"It is one of the few honest things I have been a part of in a long, long time," says Led Zeppelin's Robert Plant, who, joined by his son, Logan, trekked to Mali's third-annual Festival in the Desert. Plant joined a cast of musicians for the three-day fest - a gathering of nomadic Tamashek (or Touareg) people - in the southern Sahara, fifty miles northeast of Timbuktu. "Mainly, it's a meeting point to exchange information and news," says Plant, who jammed with African musicians including guitarist Ali Farka Toure, slept in a goatskin tent and dined on "camel and rice" during his weeklong stay. "It's amazing to play out into the sand. There are no doors, no gates and no money. It reminded me of why I sang in the first place. It's not commercialized." Plant performed a four song set with guitarist Justin Adams, who tours and records with Plant's current band, as well as members of the French world music group Lo'Jo. For the finale, Plant pulled out a mellow rendition of "Whole Lotta Love," but many of the thousands in attendance had never even heard of Led Zeppelin - except of course, the small contingent of European tourists. Says Plant, "They were like, 'What the fuck is he doing here?'" 03/06/03

 03/06/03
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