Les Filles de Illighadad

A Tuareg band from the village of Illighadad in Niger, built around the guitarist Fatou Seidi Ghali and the singer and tende player Alamnou Akrouni, on Sahel Sounds since 2016.

Illighadad and Sahel Sounds

Les Filles de Illighadad, the daughters of Illighadad, are a Tuareg band from a village in the Sahara in Niger. Wikipedia lists them as active from 2014, while Cyclic Defrost gives 2016. Fatou Seidi Ghali, who taught herself on her brother's guitar, is claimed to be the first Tuareg woman to play guitar professionally; Ghali has said of the instrument that it is not part of their tradition. Her cousin Alamnou Akrouni is the vocalist and principal player of the tende. They grew up in a small village 47 km from Abalak in the Tahoua region, and the other two members are from the Agadez region.

In 2014 the Sahel Sounds label owner Christopher Kirkley visited their village looking for female musicians, and the group formed with his encouragement; Ghali has said that now they could see a future. The label found her through a photograph online and reached her through her cousin, and her career took off after a wedding video spread on social media, by her own account. Their self-titled debut LP appeared on Sahel Sounds in February or March 2016, recorded outdoors under trees in Niger by Kirkley. Their first tour outside Niger was in November 2016, three shows at Le Guess Who? in the Netherlands, and Amaria Hamadalher and Abdoulaye Madassane joined in 2017.

Tende, guitar and the live album

Tende is a women's tradition built around a drum made from a mortar and pestle, and the band's tende songs are led by a goat-skin drum played with bare hands, while the other repertoire is guitar love songs; Afropop says the group performs traditional and old songs rather than their own compositions. Ghali names Takamba melodies and tende rhythms as her models. The calabash is always there, says Hamadalher.

Eghass Malan followed in October 2017. In September and October 2019 they made a first US tour, including a Chicago Music Exchange session on September 25 and two sold-out nights at Pioneer Works in Brooklyn, their first New York appearance. The live album At Pioneer Works, recorded there in October 2019 and released on July 9, 2021, has six tracks: "Surbajo", "Eghass Malan", "Telilit", "Chakalan", "Inssegh Inssegh" and "Irriganan". Pitchfork gave it 8.0, Mojo and musicOMH 4 out of 5, and Uncut 7 out of 10; Bandcamp Daily's Marshall Gu called it desert blues played like a ritual prayer. Amanda Petrusich in The New Yorker called their music heavy, meditative, and tender. Setlist.fm lists 32 setlists, 14 of them in 2018.