OAKLAND, Calif.--Bands often have to go to great lengths to energize an uptight or ambivalent crowd--think hip-hop artists' frequent requests for hand waving without care and rock bands' solicitations for sing-alongs.

Quite the opposite dynamic was in effect at Yoshi's in Oakland Wednesday night, when a revved up crowd almost forced Malian rockers Tinariwen to react to the haunting guitar grooves they themselves were producing.

The band hails from the region north of Timbuktu in Mali (West Africa), a land in which the Saharan desert dominates the landscape as far as the eye can see.

Tinariwen are Tamasheks, a nomadic group of people that fought a lengthy war for independence with the Malian military in the 1980s.

The members of Tinarwen met in a military camp in Libya in the mid-1980s, and even though the military campaign has long since ended, that period informs their music--a deep, almost trance-like form of the delta-blues mixed with Arabic chanting and West African percussion.

Tinariwen emerged onstage in their traditional desert-appropriate garb, with all but the eyes and hands covered. Exceedingly reserved and with little English at their disposal, the band got a slow start, building a slow groove centered around the acoustic guitar of frontman Abdallah Alhousseini.

"Thank you--you are welcome to the desert," Alhousseini said at the end of the song and would repeat several times on the night.

Whether the band's reserved vibe was nerves, culture shock, or fatigue, it began to erode by the third song, as the crowd flocked to the dance floor. By the midway point of the 90-minute set, the dance floor was packed, and the band's four guitarists and lone percussionist were hurtling the groove forward.

Tinariwen claims Bob Dylan, Bob Marley, and Moroccan rock bands among their influences, but elements of psychedelic rock are unmistakable. One could imagine an Acid Test-era Jerry Garcia fitting right into this band's sound.

The face wraps eventually came off, and Alhousseini unveiled some other English phrases he'd learned ("I am very happy tonight"). Tinariwen brought the spirit of the Saharan desert with them, a sound that is vaguely familiar yet shockingly fresh from a faraway land.