World Music Institute Presents Les Filles De Illighadad

One of the most exciting new acts coming out of the Tuareg "desert blues" tradition, Les Filles de Illighadad ("Daughters of Illighadad"), returns to NYC for the first time after taking the city by storm in 2019. The groundbreaking ensemble was founded in 2016 by solo guitarist Fatou Seidi Ghali and renowned vocalist Alamnou Akrouni, both hailing from Illighadad, a village in a remote region of central Niger, hard pressed by the encroaching Sahara desert. Ghali, it is claimed, is the first Tuareg woman to play guitar professionally.

The female-forward group is made up of three women and one man (Ghali's brother), and juxtaposes modern electric guitars with tende - a traditional Tuareg musical form typically performed by women, featuring drumming and chanting. The result is a timeless sound that The New Yorker magazine's Amanda Petrusich called "mesmeric, almost prayer-like" and Pitchfork calls "hypnotic".

Les Filles de Illighadad:

Fatou Seidi Ghali - guitar | vocals
Alamnou Akrouni - percussion | vocals
Amaria Hamadalher - guitar | percussion
Abdoulaye Madassane - guitar | vocals

Photo: Alvaro Lopez, Courtesy Les Filles de Illighadad