"Showtime in the Sahara"
When six fans of West African music, including Jimmy Buffett and
Island Records founder Chris Blackwell, head for Timbuktu, in Mali, anything can happen: an impromptu reunion of the
Super Rail Band; a Buffett duet with top female star Oumou Sangare; a mind-blowing festival in the middle of the Sahara, capped
by the revolutionary band Tinariwen. One of the posse, former MTV Networks chairman and Viacom C.E.O. Tom Freston, offershis
travelogue from a land where the electric guitar helped power a democratic rebellion. Read the full Vanity Fair story.
"In
Mali, SUVs and Camels Deliver The Fans"
The
Festival au Desert, held each January in the remote African city of Essakane, Mali, is a time-shifting experience. This year,
as it began to come to life, Tuareg men in billowing clothes and brightly colored turbans ducked in and out of leather and
canvas tents. Camels strolled into camp by the hundreds and folded their ungainly legs as vendors prepared their wares for
an invasion of foreign travelers.
