Fatou Seidi Ghali (Les Filles de Illighadad) - Telilit

Fatou Seidi Ghali performing the track Telilit from the album Les Filles de Illighadad, available on LP and download at https://tinyurl.com/illighadad.

Les Filles de Illighadad is a Tuareg band founded by Fatou Seidi Ghali in Illighadad, a village in the Sahara Desert in Niger. Ghali, it is claimed, is the first Tuareg woman to play guitar professionally.

Footage from: "A Story of Sahel Sounds."

LYRICS:

I prefer death
or embers stuck to my heart
or that my soul will be torn apart
that it will be said in my community
that I committed adultery.
My best friend among women,
She went in the bush one night to meet a man
One day she started to scream at night
She wears her gold and she detaches her jewelry
She is sick with shame.
But I also saw the metamorphosis of the desert,
I saw a beautiful woman married to a broken man.
Her hand is in his hand and she walks through the community
She has a yellow skin that protects her from the wind
The whiteness of her teeth are bright.
I prefer death
or embers stuck to my heart
or that my soul will be torn apart.


++++++++

Nak assofa ibah maday shimakaten
iltaghnen tassanin, imanin tizalaben
adikal dagh orchan
As nak egharaben
Adar n tamiditin dagh tadoden
Afawtadou trigrag adawane
tikan uragh net takass shizabaten
takass shizabaten n tifasu shinitain
Michan nak inaya imatti n ténéré
Inaya akhshoud n tallillite ittaf awunan
titaf afouss net tallil tamatay
tarwak n ellam net adzimila titagaztu dagh adou
timillay n echen net tikna aballizi
Nak assofa ibah maday shimakaten
iltaghnen tassanin, imanin tizalaben

Les Filles de Illighadad on Bandcamp: http://lesfillesdeillighadad.bandcamp.com
Les Filles de Illighadad on Instagram: http://instagram.com/lesfillesdeillighadad
Les Filles de Illighadad website: https://sahelsounds.com/artist....s/les-filles-de-illi