Les Filles de Illighadad are Niger’s only women-led band showcasing the haunting, minimalist desert blues of Tuareg guitar folk, traditionally played by men.

Hailing from a remote rural village near the edge of the Sahara, the trio take the women’s music of the region, tende – characterised by vocal harmonies, ululations and goat skin drum percussion – and reinterpret it as western-rock influenced Tuareg blues: hypnotic guitar lines, divine multi-part harmonies, handclaps and simple, driving rhythms.

Band members Fatou Seidi Ghali, Alamnou Akrouni and Madassane Ahmoudou have journeyed a long way from their origins tending livestock in the remote Nigerian village of Illighadad. These days they’re recording albums and touring the world to share the sublime sounds of the Sahara.

“Fantastic stuff, sturdy, gorgeous and indelible” – Dusted Magazine