Souad Asla grew up with the music, dance and songs of the Béchar region in the Algerian Sahara, in the heart of the Saoura. For centuries, the women there have held hadra (informal meetings) every Friday, in which they sing, play music, help one another out and discuss a wide variety of subjects. It’s a free space, in which music is enlisted in a social, cultural and educational battle.
To preserve this heritage, 11 women aged between 20 and 70 have left the intimacy of their circle to appear on stage with Souad Asla. They perform traditional repertoires that have previously been reserved strictly for men (Ferda, Djebaraiate, Hadraa and Gnawa).
From the sweetness of a spiritual song accompanied by traditional instruments to a prodigiously fast-paced trance, Lemma is both a concert and a tribute to the cultural heritage so proudly embodied by these women.

Performed during the Détours de Babel festival, on March 2018.