“My Word Is Free” is the name of a song by Emel Mathlouthi, which she sang at a street protest in Tunisia. Under Tunisia’s dictator Ben Ali, radio quickly banned the song, but not before it became an anthem for the Tunisian revolution during the Arab Spring.
One of the many faces of resistance, Mathlouthi refused to play the ‘nice girl’. She didn’t want to be another ‘world music’ chic on a Putamayo record, or to get sucked into the Western pop genre. Instead, the fiery metalhead took the traditions of Tunisian music and made them her own.
“We can be vulnerable and be the force of the world at the same time.”
She took her art to the US where she continues to explore questions of identity and freedom – from mentoring music programs at Giant Steps in SF to touring in Babylon and beyond.
Mathlouthi’s song of anger, distrust, and the realization of personal power resonates with Black Lives Matter, LGBTQ, and countless other communities fighting for their right to simply be who they are.
For her, personally, she told The Guardian, “It’s important [for me] to be out there as a creative, Tunisian, Arab woman from a Muslim culture, but completely free.”
Mathlouthi’s art is medicine – healing hearts and freeing minds. Keep spreading that fire, magic woman.
Read our piece on Giant Steps.
