Festival au Désert - live from Timbuktu 2012

"Indian-born Kiran Ahluwalia possesses a fine, husky voice, and she's proven herself unafraid of using it in unconventional ways ... This time around, Ahluwalia has again teamed up with a range of musicians, among them desert-blues superstars Tinariwen and Terakaft. The result is an innovative, unfamiliar, and thoroughly enjoyable set of tunes that transcend easy labels like "world music" ... Opener "Mustt Mustt" is a subcontinental qawwali tune (...), disorientingly transformed here courtesy of Tuareg guitar nomads Tinariwen, who pump it up - but gently - with guitar licks and bass (plus a few handclaps of their own). The effect is to reinvent the song to such an extent that even listeners familiar with it will be taken by surprise. It's a wonderful rendition, the more so because of Ahluwalia's sultry, smoky voice ... The inventiveness on display throughout this album is impressive. Even more impressive is the way this masala of sounds has been blended into somethinggenuinelytasty and unique. It's one of the finest world music albums released all year".

"The spirit of last year's Saharan music festival in Timbuktu, held just before the violent Islamist rebellion, was complex. Fear and tension balanced uneasily with hopefulness and solidarity in the blues-aligned music of 17 African acts".