Take Two: Ganavya Reimagines ‘les Filles De Illighadad’ at Roulette

For this Take Two, ganavya chose the album ‘Les Filles de Illighadad’, by Les Filles de Illighadad, released on Sahel Sounds in 2016. The album was recorded informally, including village songs but with a guitar and calabash: Fatou Seidi Ghali is the first woman to play Tuareg-style guitar, and there’s a meditative nature to the album without losing the playfulness that the sense of village has. In ganavya’s performance inspired by the album, she takes traditional pilgrimage songs— songs from her desert lands— and performs it alongside guitar and simple percussion, the same way that Ghali does...

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For this Take Two, ganavya chose the album ‘Les Filles de Illighadad’, by Les Filles de Illighadad, released on Sahel Sounds in 2016. The album was recorded informally, including village songs but with a guitar and calabash: Fatou Seidi Ghali is the first woman to play Tuareg-style guitar, and there’s a meditative nature to the album without losing the playfulness that the sense of village has. In ganavya’s performance inspired by the album, she takes traditional pilgrimage songs— songs from her desert lands— and performs it alongside guitar and simple percussion, the same way that Ghali does. How is this jazz? you might ask: if jazz is the sound of freedom, of creating new forms to match the new worlds, the sound of innovation, these two fit the bill.

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