Name: EMEL
Start: 2025-03-18T20:00:00-04:00
End: 2025-03-18T23:00:00-04:00
Location: Pioneer Works

"Emel Mathlouthi’s vision of protest music is searingly contemporary... "
About this Event

Pioneer Works is excited to welcome back acclaimed Tunisian-American artist, EMEL to our North Hall on March 18, 2025.

EMEL

She rose to fame in 2012 with her protest song “Kelmti Horra” (My Word Is Free) from the eponymous album “Kelmti Horra” and was subsequently called the voice of the Arab spring. In 2016, she performecd Kelmti Horra at the Nobel Peace Prize Ceremony, marking a climax in her journey with this powerful song.
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.
In constant evolution, Emel pushed the frontiers of her universe even further in 2019 with the release of Everywhere We Looked Was Burning, a prophetic third album in which she embraces her taste for the English language and experimental and cinematic music. Also released on Partisan Records, this concept album and cycle of videos clarifies the purpose of the musician, confirms her talent as a producer and puts her at the forefront of the international scene.
While the following years have been punctuated with a couple releases (in 2020 « The Tunis Diaries », in 2021 « Everywhere we looked was burning (live version) »), Emel has also been working on a new album set for release in April 2024 called « MRA ». Its name stems from the word « woman » in arabic ; entirely produced with women artists from all around the world, « MRA » is the embodiment of sisterhood as well as the musical form of the fight against patriarchy in a men driven world and industry. With sounds more pop and hip hop than ever before, swaying between Arabic, English and even French with her guests, Emel allows both herself and her listeners to step into an even more committed journey towards embracing one’s own authentic life.