Amarrass Desert Music Festival Returns For The Third Year

Bombino

The third annual Amarrass Desert Music Festival will be held on December 1st and 2nd, at Zorba, a resort in New Delhi. Performances by Niger musician Bombino and kamancha maestro Sakar Khan from Hamira, Rajasthan, who is also a Padma Shri awardee, are the highlights of the festival this year. The festival will also feature Sufi musician Baba Zula from Turkey and a group of Manganiyar artists named Barmer Boys. Over 30 musicians from the Thar and Sahara deserts will play over the two days.

“We are trying to create a synergy between musicians from two very diverse areas, but whose music carries the legacy of life in the desert,” says Avirook Sen, founder member of the Amarrass Records, a Delhi-based label that organizes the music festival. Besides putting together the show each year, Amarrass Records is in the business of curating folk music as well. Last year, they released a compilation called Mitha Bol that featured live recordings of sarangi maestro Lakha Khan, Barmer Boys and more. The compilation has been nominated for Best Folk Album category in the GIMA awards 2012. 

Next month, Amarrass will release a live from last year’s festival featuring blues musician Madou Sidiki Diabaté. Last year Diabaté and Afrobeat star musician Vieux Farka Touré performed at the festival.

Watch this short film on the music of Bombino: