Essakane
Encyclopedia
Essakane is a rural commune
Communes of Mali
A Commune is the third level administrative unit in Mali. Mali is divided into eight regions and one capital district . These subdivisions bear the name of their principal city. The regions are divided into 49 Cercles...

 and village of the Cercle of Goundam
Goundam Cercle
Goundam Cercle is a second level administrative subdivision of the Tombouctou Region in north-eastern Mali. Its administrative center is the town of Goundam. In the 2009 census, the cercle had a population of 150,150....

 in the Tombouctou Region of Mali
Mali
Mali , officially the Republic of Mali , is a landlocked country in Western Africa. Mali borders Algeria on the north, Niger on the east, Burkina Faso and the Côte d'Ivoire on the south, Guinea on the south-west, and Senegal and Mauritania on the west. Its size is just over 1,240,000 km² with...

. The commune includes around 16 small settlements. The small village of Essakane is around 70 kilometers west of the town of Timbuktu
Timbuktu
Timbuktu , formerly also spelled Timbuctoo, is a town in the West African nation of Mali situated north of the River Niger on the southern edge of the Sahara Desert. The town is the capital of the Timbuktu Region, one of the eight administrative regions of Mali...

. The commune includes Lake Faguibine
Lake Faguibine
Lake Faguibine is a lake in Mali on the southern edge of the Sahara Desert situated 80 km west of Timbuktu and 75 km north of the Niger River to which it is connected by a system of smaller lakes and channels. In years when the height of the annual flood of the river is sufficient, water...

 and two depression, Lake Kamango and Lake Gouber, which sometime fill with water when the Niger River
Niger River
The Niger River is the principal river of western Africa, extending about . Its drainage basin is in area. Its source is in the Guinea Highlands in southeastern Guinea...

 floods.

Essakane is the site of an annual music festival called Festival au Désert (Festival in the Desert
Desert Music Festival
The Festival au Désert is an annual concert in Essakane, Mali, showcasing traditional Tuareg music as well as music from around the world. The Tuareg band Tinariwen first garnered international attention with their performance at the 2001 Festival.A French language documentary entitled Le...

), which has been held each January since 2001. The festival showcases the music of the local Tuareg people, as well as musicians from other nearby nations such as Mauritania
Mauritania
Mauritania is a country in the Maghreb and West Africa. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean in the west, by Western Sahara in the north, by Algeria in the northeast, by Mali in the east and southeast, and by Senegal in the southwest...

 and Niger
Niger
Niger , officially named the Republic of Niger, is a landlocked country in Western Africa, named after the Niger River. It borders Nigeria and Benin to the south, Burkina Faso and Mali to the west, Algeria and Libya to the north and Chad to the east...

.
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