WORLD MUSIC/CRASHarts presents the Boston Debut of Emel Mathlouthi

Date: 

Friday, May 5, 2017, 8:00pm

Location: 

Brighton Music Hall, 158 Brighton Ave, Boston 02134

Called one of the top 15 acts of 2015 by PopMatters, Emel Mathlouthi is a unique artist with a powerful message and a voice beyond comparison. A strident songstress whose intensity is cloaked in mellifluous vocals, she is also known for her role as a leading artist in the Arab Spring. Born in Tunisia, she was shunned from her countries official airwaves but rose to prominence through social media, garnering widespread praise for her powerful vocals laid over a unique mix of North African rhythms and modern electronic beats. She is touring in support of her sophomore album, Ensen, just released on February 24, 2017 on Partisan Records.

 

Despite government censorship in Tunisia, Emel Mathlouthi quickly became known in the Tunisian alternative music scene for her protest songs. During the Tunisian Revolution in 2011, her song "Kelmti Horra (My Word Is Free)" reached millions of views on YouTube and eventually became the anthem of the Arab Spring. Her debut album, also called Kelmti Horra, introduced her groundbreaking marriage of sounds steeped in Tunisian rhythms and electronic beats to the world. It prompted critical acclaim from PitchforkThe New York Times, and The Guardian, to name a few, and catapulted Mathlouthi to international fame.

 

On her new recording, Ensen, Mathlouthi has developed a style that's even more uniquely her own, combining organic and electronic sounds. With several producers including Valgeir Sigurðsson (Sigur Ros, Bjork) and Johannes Berglund (The Knife, Shout Out Louds), Mathlouthi shaped an album of expansive soundscapes.

 

Live, Emel Mathlouthi's concerts go far beyond the sounds on the album. "I never perform the same way twice," explains Mathlouthi. "I am more of a theatre person than a studio artist; the songs take on multiple lives once the recording is done. I'm very free with my vocals. I often take unexpected, spontaneous paths with the feel of the moment."

ORGANIZER: WORLD MUSIC/CRASHarts
EVENT WEBSITE: http://worldmusic.org/
EVENT CONTACT: JENNIFER FORTIN