Les Filles de Illighadad

Illighadad is a remote village in the centre of Niger, on the edges of desert brush, at the doors to the Sahara. A village with rudimentary infrastructure, accessible only after traversing vast stretches of desert, but where the absence of all modern comforts is compensated by strong and deep identity and tradition. The "tendé", which gets its name from a type of drum, is one of these traditions : it is a kind of music that reflects this region, testifying to the incredible richness born of the most extreme austerity, and marked by the sobriety of compositions based on but a few elements – voice, handclaps, percussion – from which spring an entire world. With these songs that speak of their village, evoke love and pay homage to ancestors, the musicians of Les Filles d’Illighadad provide new breath and add electric guitars to the instruments of traditional rural folklore.