Caravan World Rhythms presents Emel Mathlouthi
“Its the astonishing range and sensuousness of Mathlouthis voice that is most compelling. There are swoops and growls reminiscent of Bjork and even traces of her goth past as she picks out minimal, reverberant lines on electric guitar.” (The Guardian)
“Enthralling!” (The New York Times)
“She is mesmerizing, from mellifluous sweetness to full-throated power.” (The F.T.)
Caravan World Rhythms presents Tunisia’s prominent Singer/Songwriter Emel Mathlouthi. Emel launches her second album “Ensen” produced by her own record label Little Human Records and released on Partisan Records on 24 February 2017. Emel’s first album, Kelmti Horra (My Word is Free), introduced her groundbreaking marriage of sounds steeped in Tunisia and electronic beats. On Ensen, shes merged to a style thats even more uniquely her own, combining organic and electronic sounds to produce a record that will appeal to any lover of innovative and heartfelt music.
Mathlouthi‘s first album since her debut, Kelmti Horra (My Word Is Free), was released in 2012. But by the time that the first album was released, Mathlouthi was already an icon: Her song “Kelmti Horra” was an anthem for a generation of Tunisians and other across north Africa.
“I am the voice those who would not give in,” she sang on “Kelmti Horra.” “I am free and my word is free.” She took those lines from the streets of Tunis, during the revolution that led to the ousting of the dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in 2011, all the way to the Nobel Peace Prize Concert in 2015.
In the ensuing years since that potent debut, Mathlouthi has moved to New York and is releasing Ensen later this month on the American indie label Partisan a signal of her bigger ambitions, which spanned working with several producers, including Valgeir Sigurðsson of Sigur Ros and her mainstay collaborator, the French-Tunisian producer Amine Metani, and recording Ensen across seven different countries.
“You hear a person refusing to compromise, a searing vision founded on real risks and the necessity of truth.” (Pitchfork)
Caravan and Ticketing link link: http://caravanbc.com/2017/02/emel-mathlouthi-tunisias-voice-of-a-generation/