Various Artists

Festival in the Desert

(World Village)

One reason many rock fans will want to hear Festival in the Desert is Robert Plant’s “Win My Train Home,” an almost trancy blues number steeped in the shimmering tonalities of Saharan Africa.  Recorded at an ambitious international music festival near Timbuktu (in Mali), Plant’s low-burn blues rocker is not, however, the disc’s sole selling point.  The broad selection of live recordings also includes a rousing Near Eastern-tinged collaboration between French group Lo’Jo and Malian singer Django; a wirey rocking tune (with almost psychedelic overtones) by the “King of Malian blues guitar,” Ali Farka Toure; and a similar groove cut by the Malian group Tinariewen.  What’s also remarkable is the context of this festival, which occurred in a region torn until recently by a civil war most of the world knew nothing about.  Maybe music can help heal deep wounds.