[Cover photo credit to Amber Grey]

New York City-based musician Emel Mathlouthi, aka Emel, has released new single “Souty.” Translating as “My Voice,” the song was written during the first COVID lockdown, a period in which she was both isolated and had vocal cord trouble.

She says:

The song is a tribute to my voice, this instrument that defines all of me.

Combining classical orchestration and Arabic motifs with Hip-Hop inspired drums, the track is an “anthem for empowerment, resistance and sisterhood.”

Growing up in Tunisia, Emel listened to everything from classical music to Celine Dion. After performing in a Metal band as a teen, she discovered Joan Baez and protest songs.

Emel, who grew up under a dictatorship that persecuted activists, explains:

I was never drawn in the beginning to Arabic music, because I thought it was too rigid. Music was liberating. It had to be revolutionary.

Emel has collaborated with artists like Alaïa and Jean-Paul Gaultier on her stage wardrobe, and scoring work with Shirin Neshat, Robert Del Naja, and more recently on Assassin’s Creed: Mirage.