Reves D'Oasis- Desert Blues 2 (Network 22.762, 2002)
The first volume of this series, 1996's Ambiances du Sahara, was a sprawling treasure chest of music from the vast regions covered by the world's largest desert. The critical praise it received was considerable, and the recently released second volume takes another bountiful trip around the same countries to come up with a further load of riches. Africa's Saharan countries create music as enjoyable as it is subject to analysis- the likelihood of it being the basis of American blues, its Arabic roots, etc.

Desert Blues 2 starts off with strong selections from Majid Bekkas and Boubacar Traore, featuring melancholy guitars and vocals winding around nervously tapping percussion. Gradually, over the set's two-disc length, the songs run a gorgeous course between bright and celebratory and solitary and very bluesy indeed. The same multiple facets as volume one are in evidence, along with the same balance of familiar and lesser-known names. Plenty of calabashes and n'goni lutes are heard, but there's also bottleneck guitar spacing out alongside kora, Tuareg and Gnawa sounds that keep the journey a spiritual one, music that could've come from the Mississippi Delta if not for the growly non-English lyrics, ancient pentatonic scale riffs serviced by modern dance grooves and loads more of the same kind of diversity you'd expect to come from and area roughly the size of the U.S. A fair number of the songs are by women, and the set is also reflective of their artistic emergence from certain countries and cultures where their role has been secondary. There's a lot going on here, and anyone who bought the first volume with the thought that there must be much more will find out how right they were. Reves D'Oasis will refresh and rejuvenate you like bountiful flowing water found in the midst of barren desolation. (Available from Harmonia Mundi.)