6:00pm Appetizers (gratis) and cash bar
7:30pm Transcendent Music
$15 in advance / $20 at the door (all net proceeds go to the artists)
Emel Mathlouthi is a Tunisian-American singer-songwriter, composer, performer and producer whose music has crossed time, countries and continents.
Born in Tunis, Emel has built her musical universe inspired by revolutionary artists such as Sheikh Imam, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Jefferson Airplane, The Cranberries, and Tool.
In 2008 she fled Tunis for Paris after her music was banned in Tunisia and she was prevented from performing in the country. With creative freedom in Paris, she pursued writing and perfecting her protest songs, mainly voice, guitar, North African percussions and cello, and later adding electronic textures which made the body of her first studio album, Kelmti Horra (My Word Is Free).
In 2011, her notoriety increased when she was filmed performing her emblematic song, Kelmti Horra, on Bourguiba Avenue, in the middle of the Tunisian revolution, among thousands of fellow protestors. Broadcast on YouTube, and viral on Facebook and Twitter, her spontaneous and impassioned performance echoed throughout the Arab countries, each in the throes of revolt, earning her the moniker “the voice of the Arab Spring” which stayed with her for years. In 2016, she performed Kelmti Horra at the Nobel Peace Prize Ceremony, marking a climax in her journey with this powerful song.
Here’s a video of this extraordinary performance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJ79iEfus8E
https://www.facebook.com/E.Mathlouthi