All images and text © Kevin Moloney

Photographed and written on assignment for The New York Times

Click for Story Text


Some 300 Tuareg riders arrive by camel at the Festival au Desert music and culture festival in Essakane, Mali. The riders surrounded the stage area shortly before the start of the festival and silently awaited the music. Only the camels expressed their impatience.



Performer Tapaatsiaq, of the Inuit acrobatic and musical group Artcirq, practices in a tent at the Festival au Desert. Artcirq traveled from Igloolik in the Canadian province of Nunavut, taking seven planes to arrive at the festival on the edge of the Sahara near Timbuktu.



A festival goer gets a hair trim in the dunes during the hot daylight hours between performances at the Festival au Desert. A small city springs up in the dunes to support the thousands of local and international travelers who arrive for the three-day music and performance festival.



Workers nap in the sand while on break from stage construction at the Festival au Desert.



Traditionally-dressed Malian women crowd around the stage for the start of the festival.


All images and text © Kevin Moloney

Previous Page || Next Page