Overture deserto was composed for "Festival au Desert Presenza dAfrica" in 2012 and the composer aimed to describe the sounds of the desert and its people, discovering different styles which he took as inspiration.

The piece is divided into three distinct parts: the introduction describes the sounds of the desert, sand and the wind (double bass 1), the sounds of the camels (double bass 4) and the sounds of early stringed instruments. The second part is a meeting of drums. Women are responsible for playing the drums while they sing and the magic of drums with voices is quite hypnotic. The composer wrote an improvised drum solo with rhythmic patterns which emulate the characteristic sound of the "tongue singers". The third part is a modern composition of the desert,called the "Blues of the Desert" and is a repetitive composition that sounds like an archaic blues.

Overtura Deserto was premiered in Florence at the "Festival au Desert, Presenza dAfrica" in July 2012 by Alberto Bocini, Anita Mazzantini, Marco Marteli and Simon Garcia.

Bassist and composer Simon Garcia was born in Mugardos (Spain) in 1977 and graduated in double bass from the Conservatorio Superior of Salamanca. He has worked as a double bassist in the Royal Orchestra of Galicia, having also performed in many orchestras throughout Spain, and is the bassist in the Symphony Wind Orchestra of A. Coruna. He has collaborated with many musicians and ensembles, particularly in the field of contemporary music, and has recorded and performed on many commercial recordings and for television and radio broadcasts.

Simon Garcia has composed more than twenty works for double bass, ranging from two to six players, alongside transcriptions of these pieces for various chamber ensembles. His music has been performed in Mexico, Venezuela, Uruguay, Denmark, Spain, Japan, Italy, Austria, Germany, Canada, USA and UK by The Bass Gang, Bass Instinct and Il Quint-etto amongst others, and some of his music was used as teaching material in the 2011 ISB Year of Collaborative Music.

Simon Garcia's music is lively, jazzy and rhythmic with great forward momentum and drive. Accessible for players and audiences alike, he writes colourful music of distinction and energy, employing the entire range of the double bass.

Overture deserto received its UK premiere at the Silk Mill (Frome, Somerset) on Monday 5 August 2013 by David Heyes, Dan Styffe, Ben Groenevelt and Simon Garcia. It was performed as part of 'Spanish Sounds', an all-Garcia concert at Bass-Fest 2013 which included the premiere of 'Time Capsule' for double bass octet.