Festival in the Desert - Highlighting Tuareg Culture, Tartit & Tinariwen

The Festival in the Desert
A tribute site to the Festival Au Desert by Joe Conte
The Festival Au Desert is held every year in the North of Mali, usually in Essakane, two hours from Timbuktu; sometimes directly at Timbuktu. It is organized by AITMA and EFES Associations together with Essakane Production. This festival seeks its origin in the big traditional Touareg festivities, as Takoubelt in Kidal and Temakannit in Timbuktu, which represented for a long time a place for decision making and exchange of information among the different communities. At the beginning, there were songs and touareg dances, poetries, camel rides and games.