Emel
Since her debut in 2011 with ‘Kelmti Horra’ (‘My Word is Free’) – a track which became a hymn to freedom in the middle of the Arab Spring, Emel has not stopped to release revolutionary albums – where Emel collaborated with the composer behind Björk and Sigur Rós.
Her fourth album, ‘MRA’ – which means ‘woman’ in Arabic – is a pop/world/electro manifesto for female emancipation. That’s why every single collaborator on MRA, from producers, featured artists, musicians, and beyond, is a woman — marginalized in recognition, but outsized in ability. The result is a multi-genre meld where African trap, batucada, Arabic reggaeton, hip hop, and drum n’ bass rub shoulders seamlessly with vibrant melodies and empowering lyrics.
But Emel has come a long way, this American-Tunisian singer has established herself as an avant-garde artist on the international scene, doing ground-breaking performing – as the invitation to sing at the Nobel Prize ceremony- and collaborating with artists such as Valgeir Sigurdsson, Tricky, Barbara Pravi, Bachar Mar-Khalifé and Vitalic, and most recently with Acid Arab on the song Lose My Mind, from her latest album, “MRA”.