Emel Mathlouthi is a Tunisian-American singer-songwriter, composer, performer and producer whose music has crossed time, countries and continents.

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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, 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, also
called 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 Sping” 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.

Determined to build a sound universe as revolutionary as the texts she has written, Emel
continues her exploration and develops a sound that is unique to her. An electronic music loaded
with North African references, with complex rhythms and light-dark atmospheres, which is
revealed in 2017 with the release of Ensen (Human), her sophomore album signed on the
American label Partisan Records.

Based now in New York, Emel surrounds herself with producer Valgeir Sigurðson (Sigur Ros, Feist, Björk) to develop a music that sounds like her: sensitive and non-conformist, away from stereotypes and simple ideas.