Les Filles de Illighadad

Les Filles' music draws from two distinct styles of regional sound, ancient village choral chants and desert guitar. The result is a groundbreaking new direction for Tuareg folk music and a sound that resonates far outside of their village in Niger.

At the heart of Les Filles' music is the percussion and poetry of tende—a term used for both the instrument and the type of music— whereby a mortar and pestle are transformed into a drum, and women join together in a circle, in a chorus of singing, chanting, and clapping. Sometimes it's music for celebration, sometimes it's music to heal the sick, sometimes it's poetry of love. But it's always music of people, where the line between performer and spectator breaks down. To be a witness is to be a participant, to listen is to join in the collective song.

The New Yorker's music critic Amanda Petrusich writes: "The crowd in Brooklyn was entranced, nearly reverent. Les Filles' music is mesmeric, almost prayer-like, which can leave an audience agog... whatever rhythm does to a human body—it was happening."