• Music

    Deena Abdelwahed – Jbal Rrsas (جبل الرصاص)

    Deena Abdelwahed is an artist and DJ who hails from Tunisia and cut her chops in the music in the capital of Tunis before relocating to Paris, France.  Her sound is brutal, slow, mixing a nearly tribal Industrial sound with authentic music from her homeland.  Brutiful, if I can beg your pardon and borrow this portmanteau to describe such heavy music.

  • Music

    Jawhar – Tasweerah

    Some very mellow chamber rock can be found here by Tunisian singer Jawhar.  If you are a fan of groups like the Tindersticks, but are looking for something more exotic in sound, I can happily recommend this.

  • Music

    Emel – The Tunis Diaries

    NPR does a great disservice comparing Tunisian singer Emel’s voice to Björk.  There’s absolutely no comparison, and I say this as someone who likes Björk’s work a lot.  Emel is simply a better singer. Her album, The Tunis Diaries, is something closer to the Portuguese band Madredeus, whose singer, Teresa Salgueiro, Emel bares some vocal resemblance to. The production is sparse, and it works perfectly for this album.  She also does a great rendition of David Bowie’s, The Man Who Sold The World, which you can hear below.  Remarkable.