MANGA, the farewell album by Sarah Mazigh and Ismael Moussali
Through their final project as a duo, Sarah Mazigh and Ismael Moussali transform love, separation, identity and healing into an album entirely sung in Tamazight.
MANGA arrives as both a new release and a closing chapter. The album marks the final project by Sarah Mazigh and Ismael Moussali before they continue their artistic journeys separately, bringing together years of shared experiences into a body of work that is deeply personal while remaining connected to broader questions of identity, belonging and transmission.
Rather than presenting itself as a farewell, MANGA lets its meaning unfold through its songs. For Sarah, the decision to end the duo was never translated into a concept album or a planned goodbye. Instead, the music emerged naturally from the different phases they were living through, both as partners and as collaborators.
"It really happened naturally," she explains. "It translates different feelings and phases we went through, as a couple and as a music duo. The pain from dealing with the divorce, the judgement of society, the self-love journey, these are pieces and clues in the album that speak about what we were going through."
Those emotions became the starting point rather than the destination. Across the album, songs move between grief, healing, migration, identity, division, collective joy and self-discovery. For Sarah, these subjects were never selected to fit a narrative. They appeared because they reflected life as it was being experienced.
"These are all phases in life. We are defined by our experiences. Grief and joy are both necessary in life."
She describes creation as something that begins long before entering the studio.
"We didn't really decide. Creation starts when the feelings are too strong to be endured. Then there's the need to talk about them, to write them, to add melodies, to record them and share them."
That philosophy runs through MANGA, where each song captures a different emotional landscape. Together, they form an album shaped less by chronology than by lived experience, allowing vulnerability and resilience to exist side by side.
Among its most symbolic tracks is Ayelli, a song that connects contemporary Amazigh girls to figures such as Tin Hinan and Dihya. Rather than looking at history as something distant, Sarah sees it as a source of confidence for younger generations.
She hopes listeners, especially young Amazigh girls, leave the album "feeling empowered, capable, reconnecting with the strength of their ancestors, remembering who they are and what they're capable of."
For her, Ayelli carries a message that extends beyond music.
"It is a call to raise empowered daughters who don't wait for permission to take space and to lead."
While rooted in Tamazight, MANGA also reflects Sarah and Ismael's desire to make Amazigh music more accessible without compromising its identity. The album combines soul and jazz with Amazigh arrangements and traditional instruments, creating a dialogue between different musical worlds while remaining entirely sung in Tamazight. Lyrics are also made available so listeners unfamiliar with the language can understand the words and gradually connect with them.
For Sarah, accessibility is not about simplifying Amazigh music. It is about creating more entry points into it.
As MANGA closes the duo's journey, it also leaves behind a record of what they experienced together, not only as musicians but as two people whose lives became inseparable from the songs they created. Their final album does not seek to offer definitive answers. Instead, it documents the emotions, memories and transformations that shaped them, reminding listeners that music can become a place where personal stories continue to exist long after one chapter has ended.
Photo : @shotbyroma 
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