"Bahr bela ma", ocean without water, was the name by which Arab camel drivers knew the Sahara, the world’s largest desert. They travelled that ocean by camel, the ships of the desert, as we say in English, or, as the French call their caravans, le train de sable. In this way, people, goods and ideas traverse the endless expanses of the desert with its remote and barely accessible places, where conditions are harsh and landscape is reduced to a minimum of forms. Mile after mile of dunes, their outlines as sharp as though they had been carved by a scalpel, their flanks ornamented by strange patterns redolent of abstract painting. The beauty of the desert is slow to reveal itself, but anyone who has ever succumbed to it can never forget. Its silence invokes a sense of existential solitude, but listen carefully, and you will hear its sounds like the lapping of waves, the magical opera of the whispering, piping wind, the calls of animals, the humming of insects, the scraping of hooves, the rhythmic pounding of a pestle. In the midst of this seemingly uninhabitable world, we find civilisation: a tent, a song, a melody, the sound of stringed instruments with gentle percussion, enriched by omissions and off-beats – Desert Blues.

After the huge success of Ambiance du Sahara - Desert Blues, with sales in excess of 100 000, the Frankfurt-based label Network has now released a follow-up album Rêves d'oasis - Desert Blues 2. The enthusiastic press reviews and many awards they won for their first foray into the rich tradition of North African ballads gave the Network team the incentive to take up the challenge once again. For the latest anthology Rêves d'oasis - Desert Blues 2 Christian Scholze and Jean Trouillet took an initial body of some 1000 pieces of music and short-listed them in several rounds until they had a final selection of 26 tracks that cover a broad spectrum from the traditional to the contemporary, featuring encounters between musicians of different cultures. The latest developments are showcased alongside classics that are now available on CD for the first time. This double CD presents the quiet side of Africa’s musical cosmos, with magnificent vocals that entrance the listener, full of sadness and joy: Songs like waves at night, as Bruce Chatwin described them. Music that touches our soul and heals us, as the Tuareg believe. The colours and the atmosphere of the music tell of fantastic landscapes, of desert, oasis and steppe, of ancient cultures and the peoples who live here: Tuareg, Mandinka, Fulani...

Double CD, almost two and a half hours playing time. Lavishly illustrated booklet with informative introductory text.


The artists:

• Egypt: Soliman Gamil
• Algeria: Hasna el Becharia, Kadda Cherif Hadria, Cheb Mami
• Morocco: Majid Bekkas
• West Sahara: Aziza Brahim & Tarba Bibo, Teita Leibid & Luis Delgado
• Mali/Tuareg: Tartit
• Mali: Boubacar Traoré, Rokia Traoré, Djélimady Tounkara, Habib Koité, Lobi Traoré, Nahawa Doumbia
• Guinea: Djeli Moussa Diawara & Bob Brozman, Momo Wandel Soumah, Grand Papa Diabaté & Sona Diabaté
• Senegal: El Hadj N'Diaye, Mansour Seck, Yandé Codou Sène & Youssou N'Dour
• Sudan: Rasha
• Ethiopia: Netsanet Mellessé & Wallias Band
• Lebanon, Algeria, Mali: Abaji
  

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