First desert festival opens in Senegal

Some of West Africa's most popular artists gathered to play their music in the dunes of Loumpoul, as music lovers from around the world gathered at Senegal's first desert festival.

Here in the small desert of Loumpoul, singer and guitarist Baaba Maal, feels right at home. It's not too far from his birthplace of Podor, by the river Senegal.

Maal is just one of the big names in West African music invited to Senegal's first desert festival, with other artists coming from Niger, Mali, and Mauritania.

Nestled in the sand dunes 170 kilometers from Dakar, the Festival of the Desert only attracted about 200 people, but Maal, who kicked off the event, remained upbeat saying that events like these were important for his country's development.

Baaba Maal, singer and guitarist, said, "It's not the quantity that matters, it's the quality. I wish this festival a long life because we need to have these types of gatherings firstly to express our culture, and also to get to know our region."

The event was privately organized, and at 250 US dollars a ticket for the entire weekend, it was aimed at tourists and music lovers from around the world, being less affordable for people living in the neighboring villages.

Malian musician Habib Koite, one of West Africa's biggest music stars, said a desert location for an event like this can help pass on more important messages.

Habib Koite, Malian musician, said, "When we see the desert we think about desertification. If we see the river we think about our river, which is drying up. We must think, we must look after it and save water, so the festival speaks for itself, particularly for development in Africa."

Rafael Rodroguez, the festival's director said for the first edition it would have been impossible to open up the festival to the masses, but instead they organized a free open air concert in the neighboring town of St. Louis.

As the Loumpoul dunes resonated with the sounds of the music of the Sahel, the organizers hoped the idea would prove a big success and that eventually the festival will grow to become the biggest music event of its kind in West Africa.