Emel Mathlouthi

Tunisian singer, songwriter and guitarist Emel Mathlouthi has been hailed as The Fairuz of this Generation and the The Joan Baez of Tunisia. Her track My Voice is Free went viral in the early months of 2011 gaining her yet another title as The Voice of the Tunisian Revolution. Inspired by Marcel Khalife, influenced by Bjork, recording with Tricky and performing with Dead Can Dance, her style is eclectic and vocals penetrating. Mixing elements of rock, folk and trip-hop, her sound fuses electronic synthesizers with acoustic guitar and violins.

Motivated by the Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish, Mathlouthi started writing lyrics at the age of 15. She won a number of music competitions in her early days as a performer and quickly gained acclaim and recognition from the public. Her political message and direct aim against the then-president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali lead her to being banned by the Tunisian government. After moving to France in 2008 for more artistic freedom, she continued to be a sensation in her home country through a wide distribution of bootleg recordings.

Dreaming and singing of revolution since her schooldays, after the 2011 protests across the Arab world, her music began to address the people's demands for change. Sampling sounds of protest and including sound bites of deposed presidents Ben Ali and Mubarak's speeches, her songs became directly in tuned with the zeitgeist. But it was her presence at demonstrations, singing into journalists microphones that strengthened her credibility. Her music, new and old, being shared across social media, created a soundtrack to the Arab Spring. Mathlouthi continues to sing about hope and the fall of tyrants, commenting about the long life of art and its message.