Guardian music journalist Rosie Swash at the 2008 Festival au Desert. This 12-minute video conveys the experience: Dunes -- hot during the day, cold at night -- camels, amazing music. The Guardian's coverage includes photos and free mp3s.

After last week's blog post about the Tuareg band Tinariwen (Big desert blues: Touareg nomads with electric guitars), I went looking for more, and found it at The Official Website of Festival Au Desert | Essakane, Mali | Jan 7-9 2010. This will be the festival's 10th anniversary.

The festival showcases the music of the Touareg nomads, as well as special guests, who have ranged from Navajo punk band Blackfire from Arizona to Robert Plant. The festival begins when the camel-riding Touaregs thunder into camp to the beat of drums, camel hooves pounding.

Sean Barlow of Afropop filed long reports from the 2003 festival, with many photos, some by his colleague Banning Eyre.
Festival in the Desert in Mali: Dispatch 1
Festival in the Desert, 2003: Dispatch 2

Banning Eyre's 2007 Afropop interview with Many Ansar, the principle organizer and driving force behind the Festival.

Before you grab your backpack, this is hardship travel, Burning Man on steroids. You must get yourself first to Bamako, Mali, which requires a passport, visa and yellow-fever vaccination, then to Timbuktu before departing in a carvan of 4x4s for the festival site at Essakane, 40 bumpy miles of beach sand away. There are no roads in the Sahara -- the shifting sands would quickly cover them -- only poles that drivers try to keep in sight. The temperature in the desert can drop 40 degrees from afternoon to the wee hours. There is little electricity, sanitation is minimal.

See it: Festival au Desert photos on Flickr.