When the singer Robert Plant visited Mali to perform at the Festival In Ihe Desert, in 2003, he brought a video camera and documented Malian life, both in towns and in the desert, as well as the festival itself.
Plant was the cameraman; on occasion, Logan, his son, took over. Also with Robert on the trip, and seen in the footage, were Justin Adams and Skin Tyson, who both played bass and guitars in Plant’s band the Strange Sensation.
Now, a decade later, and with Mali in the news as a dangerous flashpoint, Plant has edited the video and assembled “Zirka,” a documentary series about the trip, with a soundtrack devoted largely to Malian music.
The footage is broken it into eight segments, to be posted on his YouTube page. The first episode (which was given a premiere by Rolling Stone) is already up; Part 2 will be posted on November 18th, with installments following every Monday until December 30th.
In a statement Robert called the Malian trip: “a journey that could only reinforce the power and the great gift of music across and between cultures. Sharing outside of language. A world where, for awhile at least, borders, boundaries and barriers once again fell away…as it was long ago.”