Les Filles de Illighadad at ArtPower

ArtPower at UC San Diego presents performing arts that engage, energize, and transform the diverse cultural life of the university and San Diego.

Through vibrant, challenging, multi-disciplinary performances, ArtPower seeks to develop more empathetic students and community members who are better prepared to engage in the world around them through their participation in highquality artistic, educational, and engagement programs that broaden thinking and awareness, deepen understanding, and encourage new dialogues across UC San Diego and the community.

OUR IMPACT • ArtPower brings artists from around the world into UC San Diego classrooms • ArtPower provides students with free artist master classes • ArtPower integrates artist-led discussions into on-campus curricula.

Global Music /Niger ArtPower presents

LES FILLES DE ILLIGHADAD April 20, 2022 at 8 pm The Loft Fatou Seidi Ghali, guitar & vocals Alamnou Akrouni, percussion & vocals Amaria Hamadalher guitar & percussion Abdoulaye Madassane guitar & vocals

About the Artist Les Filles de Illighadad comes from the village of Illighadad in a remote region of central Niger.

Like many of the villages in the area, its borders are loosely defined, owing to the largely pastoral population. It rests on the shore of a seasonal pond that swells during the rainy season. The center of town has a well, some small houses, and a school. But most of Illighadad’s people live in the surrounding scrub land desert, in tiny patched roof houses or temporary nomadic tents, hidden among the trees.

Les Filles de Illighadad (“daughters of Illighadad”) was founded in 2016 by solo guitarist Fatou Seidi Ghali and renowned vocalist Alamnou Akrouni. In 2017 they were joined by Amaria Hamadalher, a force on the Agadez guitar scene and Abdoulaye Madassane, rhythm guitarist and a son of 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.

To emerge from this small village to perform on stages around the world is no small feat, and is a testament to the band’s unique sound. But their home is more than their narrative. Illighadad is central to everything about the band, from their repertoire, the way they perform, the poetry they recite, even the way they sing. Music has always traveled in the Sahel, from poetry recited by nomads, scratchy AM radio broadcasts, to cell phone recordings sent over WhatsApp. Yet even today each village has its own style. When Les Filles perform, they play the music of Illighadad.

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 Global Music

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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.

It’s precisely this collectivism which makes the recording At Pioneer Works seem so natural and timeless. Recorded in fall of 2019, At Pioneer Work finds the band at the height of their touring career. Over two sold out shows, the band brought Illighadad to New York, their first performance in the city. Speaking of the night, 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.”

There’s something bittersweet that it’s the sound of Illighadad that has propelled Les Filles’ to travel so far and so often. Playing on a stage 5000 miles from home, their performance evokes the village with a heavy ever present nostalgia. In singing the songs of Illighadad, Les Filles’ invite the audience to share in the remembrance, to hear the poetry and driving tende, to stumble out into a night lit by a faint moon, joining in chants that carry over the nomad camps, in a call to come together and sing under the stars.

- Christopher Kirkley

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ARTPOWER DONORS 2021–22 CATALYST ($20,000+)

Judith Bachner and Eric Lasley Bobbie and Jon Gilbert Joan and Irwin Jacobs Fund of the Jewish Community Foundation Patricia and Christopher Weil of The Weil Family Foundation

CREATOR ($10,000–19,999)

Bjorn Bjerede and Josephine Kiernan Phyllis and Daniel Epstein George Clement Perkins Endowment Marilyn and Charles Perrin

ADVOCATE ($2,500–9,999)

Joan J. Bernstein ArtPower Student Engagement Endowment Fund Maureen and C. Peter Brown Anne Marie Pleska and Luc Cayet In Memory of Jennifer A. Dennis Martha and Edward Dennis Ronald and Wynonna Goldman Hamburger Chamber Music Series Endowment Fund Jack Lampl Eva and Doug Richman Ruth S. Stern ArtPower Student Engagement Fund

GUARDIAN ($1,000–2,499)

Marilyn J. Colby Renita Greenberg and Jim Allison Edward and Arlene Pelavin Sharon Perkowski Robert and Lauren Resnik Edith and Paul Sanchez Kim Signoret-Paar Barbara and Sam Takahashi

CONTRIBUTOR ($500–999) Janice P. Alper Constance Beardsley Teresa and Sam Buss Janice and Nelson Byrne Natalee C. Ellars Turea Erwin Nora Jaffe Harry M. Mattheny Phyllis and Edward Mirsky Marilies Schoepflin

SPARK ($250–499)

Linda C. Allen K. Andrew Achterkirchen Mary L. Beebe Paulyne Becerra Jennifer and Barry Greenberg Barbara and Rodney Orth Carol Plantamura James and Kathleen Stiven

YORK SOCIETY

Donors who make provisions for ArtPower in their estate Joyce Axelrod and Joseph Fisch Judith Bachner and Eric Lasley Ruth Stern Kathryn Sturch

FOUNDATION/CORPORATE SPONSORS CORPORATE SPONSORS

The Parker Foundation National Performance Network New England Foundation for the Arts

ARTPOWER STAFF DONORS Carolena Deutsch-Garcia Jordan Peimer Kathryn Sturch

POWERPLAYERS

PowerPlayers are an exceptional group of donors that have made a three year commitment to support ArtPower.

Joyce Axelrod and Joseph Fisch Joan Bernstein Marilyn Colby Martha and Ed Dennis Phyllis and Daniel Epstein Elaine Galinson Bobbie and Jon Gilbert Renita Greenberg and Jim Alison Eric Lasley and Judith Bachner Sharon Perkowski Kim Signoret-Paar Paul and Edith H. Sanchez Pat Weil and Christopher Weil A portion of funding for ArtPower is provided by the UC San Diego Student Services Fee Committee.

Donor list and PowerPlayer list reflecting gifts and pledges allocated for February 1, 2021 through March 27, 2022.

Global Music

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ARTPOWER STAFF

Joanna Christian, Associate Director of Marketing & Communications Carolena Deutsch-Garcia, Associate Director of Development Jennifer Mancano, Events & Performing Arts Business Manager Jordan Peimer, Executive Director Kathryn Sturch, Production Manager

STUDENT STAFF

Ashley Asadi '23, Junior Arts Org Assistant Karen Avila '24, Usher Olivia Bryan '22, Senior Marketing & Graphic Design Assistant Valen Chang '22, Usher Cameron Chen '22, Junior Arts Org Assistant Caleb Foley '23, Usher Katrina Graziano '25, Usher Julie Han '22, Junior Arts Org Assistant Avery Hom '22, Senior Marketing & Graphic Design Assistant Issac Ing '24, Usher Madison Kim '23, Junior Arts Org Assistant Mandy Lai '25, Junior Arts Org Assistant Kaitlin Lee '24, Usher Julie Li '25, Junior Arts Org Assistant Emmalias '24, Production Assistant Jocelyn Obregon-Padilla '23, Usher Ashley Moon '22, Junior Marketing & Graphic Design Assistant Calvin Naraghi '22, Production Assistant Tracy Nguyen '23, Junior Arts Org Assistant Rachel Paner '24, Junior Arts Org Assistant Sierra Plys '23, Usher Yeji Shin '22, Junior Marketing & Graphic Design Assistant Musa Turner '24, Usher Hasmineh Sinani '22, Production Assistant Hao Wang '24, Junior Arts Org Assistant Xiaoxuan (Andrina) Zhang '24, Usher

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