Tunisian singer Emel Mathlouthi, known in the Western world as the musical voice of the Arab Spring movements of the past decade, arrived in Barcelona on a hot summer’s night to perform tracks from her latest album, MRA (2024), on Montjuïc, also known as the “magical mountain”.
The concert featured a powerful stage presence based on a carefully crafted aesthetic and drew a large crowd from the modern Arab world. Some of the audience carried flags in solidarity with the Palestinian people. By the time the show opened with ‘Braibtek‘, that introspective electronic track, the audience was already captivated by the Maghrebi artist’s powerful visual presentation.
The almost trip-hop rhythms of ‘Tmannit‘ and ‘Footsteps‘ gave way to more minimalist tracks, on which Mathlouthi’s voice took centre stage. During the middle of the set, it was time to showcase MRA (2024), with songs such as ‘Lose My Mind‘, ‘Nar‘ — which sounds even more like Björk live — and ‘L’amour‘.
Without a doubt, the best part came during the powerful second set, which featured ‘Mazel‘, ‘Holm‘ — which the entire audience sang along to as if it were an anthem — ‘Souty‘, ‘Thamlathon’, and the fast-paced ‘Ma Ikit‘, which was possibly the best song of the night. There was still time for two magnificent encores. First came ‘Idha‘, which served as the perfect prelude to the stunning ‘Kelmti Horra‘ — the same song that he performed at the 2015 Nobel Peace Prize ceremony — bringing the magnificent concert to a close.
Here is the photo gallery created exclusively for Indieófilo by Meritxell Rosell.
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