Welcome to the stream which she is famous for capturing the sound and the spirit of a 27000. 00 is a revolution now singersongwriter emmel matthew fi is looking to the future with a brand new album i femi ok. I mean joins us live in the studio to talk about her music and poetry and perform 2 of her latest songs and we want to hear from you as youre watching from mr questions in your comments for him or through twitter or you tube. And all my philosophies of musical journey has seen her saying to fans around the world one of her biggest critics was at the Nobel Peace Prize concert in 2015 a performance that was watched by millions now living in new york the experimental singer songwriter is on the road touring her 1st album recorded largely in english the songs on everywhere we looked was burning combine the sound of north african instruments with electronica but its her voice and lyrics that are the focal point of her art i will listen. And. He told. Analyst so good to have you in the stream. I am going to take you back to when you were young and you were growing up in tunisia the idea of being a singer songwriter writing your music writing your lyrics how much support did you get for that much. A little bit. Well of course i wouldnt be here if i wasnt supported i was really supported by my friends and my classmates throughout my. Years in school. But its true i mean i didnt i wasnt really encouraged by my parents to like to become a singer so that wasnt like what they say what they suggest as a profession its just forget it oh ok. Theres no way youre going to become a singer why. Well just like because i mean like many other parents its the probably the financial part of it and the uncertainty part of it when they might be they might actually. Find it but i think what you said financial a study. But also like for a woman you know my mom was really concerned for a woman its not the right place to be. In shows and you know its a mask masculine you know universe yeah so so yeah i was. Encouraged to follow that path but there was nothing to do because it was in me i think since i was born or something so i think your fans many of them are very happy that you stuck with it didnt listen to that advice this is why this is the one twitter who writes. Music really gets me high and her Musical Development is fascinating starting from arabic acoustic and simple covers to electronic music and then mixing all. Although john rose in the last step which is clear in her latest album her lyrics are liberal anti dictatorship and social suffering im guessing he means that they reference all of those topics talk to us about your early music especially this part about being anti dictatorship liberal. Again social suffering. I like entire dictatorship because the size the political side of it i really wanted to fight against any kind of dictatorship the social dictatorship the traditions the the way that im supposed to behave as a young arab woman. So i really try to fight against all of this you know not have rules push all the boundaries and just dont have any limit but the sky. So i think i also was lucky because my father likes music and he plays a lot of vinyls at home since i was a child and he wakes up every sunday morning with 4 seasons from vivaldis so my ear disorder. So my ears have had a very good education and also encouraged us a lot to read so i came out to be like somebody with. A good mind you know i want you to your honest reaction thing if i say 2 words to you can t. Hawr. What do you think will be honest well your word is free. So thats the literal translation yes. Thats so its a magical song i was just talking about it in another interview this morning the way just came to the world the way i compose the music for the lyrics of my friend i mean. And honestly every time i sing that song i just feel the same emotions in the seam you know even when i watch to that to this day when i watch the video at the novella. But at the same time i feel like what if that song didnt come and what if that moment didnt happen what if i wasnt i havent been known for that wouldnt my path maybe my artistic path to be easier maybe i wouldve you know be the person i am today but easier because i feel now theres a lot of rejection for what im trying to bring in the Music Industry side because of the things because the public silliness a very specific way let me take them back to that moment which they have reminisced about often and so this was back in 2011 this was during the jasmine revolution in tunisia and m. L. Found herself in the crowds she was there as the revolution was happening and her contribution well she went and sat on you and then that song took to the Nobel Peace Prize concert from the streets to the concert and its huge have a look. Was. 7 7 7 it was. Was. So. Its extraordinary and now youre trying to get away from that and move on now to our part that back oh there it is and now bring us out to the present. So in a moment it will perform medal which is one of the songs in the present from her new album but 1st i want you to have a listen to a video comment from fake he is a super fan. My name is carlos from cushman i believe that theres always been a melancholy dawn to the males music singing continues to give it as a stones on your diction a new Domain Knowledge e. For me personally i have become a huge fan of ever since a heard of for the 1st time in austin all before and for the 2015 will be space so me the songs that she sang that have a meaning extra memory. Because the because the spores in exact impression are for political and social solutions back home in kashmir. Love love. Love. The subject. Love. Love ready. 110. Do not adjust your screens this is out is there this is the stream that was. On keyboards we have justin and we have the m. L. Come and join us back hey on the sex. People love that in our youtube chat a lot of symbols of fire there and this is a tweet we got from salvador who says what i love about this new album is how it beautifully merges lyrically sonically and vocally its a trifecta that feels like it travels to the core and invokes the spirit its personal yet outwardly great and a way that music playing the radio was that there from salvador but i want to pivot just a little bit to this and talking about your latest album this is tasso twitter who says im still curious about the red sea designed for her tour and the overall a static shift to the color red that ive noticed from her recently does it is there a symbol behind it and of course while youre performing the studio were surrounded by flames here playing off of your album color talk to us about the inspiration for that all thank you for that. Well the red is definitely a color that was. Very symbolic for me throughout my career and its a color that has always been present in my. Repertoire or in my wardrobe. I just feel like my if i would give a color to my music in general i would give that red color you know for its you know in depth for. The crew sheltie we can say that its for the ringback. The the warmth. The feelings. I feel like all of that is connected in this specially this album because of course theres a hint to revolution you know there has been a revolution but this isnt like a feelings revolution where im trying to revive the. Our humanity our empathy and revive our attention in our sensitivity to our values and our senses im going to carry on with the theme of read im looking at your Instagram Account which is very striking and theres a picture of you in a red dress and the commentary from you says that quote i used to play guitar and sing best foot with a red rose in my head but youll musical jenny from then until now how would you describe it well you might now. I think i am where im trying to catch up with myself with my true self i think were not a when were born were not exactly ourselves and we try to reach to the most honest expression of ourselves and ive been trying to find that throughout my musical experimentations and i feel with this album im really im really there i mean im probably still going to search deeper and deeper but. I of course like that was back when i used to live in tunisia there was a different environment political and social excess and after that i lived a few years and friends i travelled i toured and i composed made different albums so i feel a little bit less of a. Rebel but now i feel like i matured into a warrior and. I think part of coming into the person youre supposed to be for you based on what people are telling us online is the languages that you use for your songs of course you know at least trilingual right Arabic English friends who wore the 5555 were going to so our audience picked up on that i want to play a video comment from someone who talks about that this is a lecturer in the air but program at Stanford University here in the u. S. And heres what he asked i would like to congratulate. Chasse tracks both. Arabic my question is does it feel different where youre required to your own day to talk arabic that it does what you recorded or fred which if so. So when i started to sing in my 1st. Passion started by covering other artists and it was mostly in english so english actually is my musical mother to mother mother language and then i found like my persona with writing about tunisia. Lyrics except her and i have always been a little bit nostalgic to the period where i was in the middle bin i feel like rock music and metal has always been a little bit present and ive been looking forward to make an album in english but i didnt want to do it until i really feel like its me in that im not copying anybody else and that im creating a new sound just not not just sing in english like sing in english but with the same passion and the same depth that i do know arabic exactly so when you compose the lyrics composing is it when you write the lyrics are you writing them in our bit. What language comes out when you put a poem put a lyric down so it used to be i used to write in arabic for the last many years and for this album i really felt like i was ready to write in english so i actually started by writing 2 songs in arabic and then i switched to writing in english so this time around i really surrounded myself with my favorite. Poets i had 3 different poets i got inspiration from. And at the same time i started writing my own but i started writing in english not not like translate yet because i really didnt want to sound like somebody who doesnt speak english or somebody who i just use english easiness you know yes some very easy vocabulary i wanted to be also different intellectually. So i met you tweet at this not too long ago and ill share it with our audience of course you know what you tweeted its hard to be. And a musician from an arab country who transcends john runs in the west because most of the times were forced to choose between stereotypes this representation or utter invisibility that is why your support is crucial for me to be keep being who i am so keeping that in mind weve got a lot of responses underneath that tweet or someone on you to cross the question thats slightly related this is a lizabeth raney whos watching live right now elizabeth says what it vice do you have for other people who want to push their passion despite others warning them not to and ill add to that despite others wanting to put them in a box and categorize them. I think the most important thing is to truly believe in yourself because thats the 1st step to impose your your arent and your passion and yourself to the world because especially for us arabs or even arabs but anybody who was not born in europe or north america the path is necessarily harder because were always expected to be carrying the flag of our country of our ethnicity or of our politics in. Were always offering this very exotic you know politic very boiling so as sight from that were not expected to be carrying. Guard to be pioneers to be innovating and i find it like super frustrating in super unfair so the. 2 fight that you just have to be yourself and keep pushing and keep breaking in the definitions that are there for you i try to not be discouraged even though like every time especially since i moved to the u. S. And im getting bookings and i go and perform and im very happy to go perform anywhere any time except that most of the time is like the theme of this year is muslim women voice the aim of this year is islamic art which is im very proud of and its part of my cultural identity but sometimes i just want to be invited because i have a beautiful voice for example. You are. Probably one of the most famous Musical Artists in tunisia how comfortable. Knowing that. So comfortable and not comfortable because well comfortable of course because tunisia is where i was born in ri. Its the country that i love that made me who i am but. Im comfortable is because also i am somebody who is because i am an artist and a humanist i feel like i dont want to belong to one place and one place only i will i dont want to be defined by one single identity and i mean i love communities but at the same time i want to break away you know i want to be friends from people who have nothing to do with tunisia or with you know sometimes its just like humans to humans you know and especially thats why i do music because i want to speak to anybody. I think youre doing just that here thank you so much thats all the time we have for this part of the interview it really washington d. C. You can see i mean live in concert tonight she then played several dates in europe over the next 3 weeks now as she gets ready to play footsteps from her new album heres a video comment from. A fan from yemen in new york. And it was that i am a political consultant to new york city. I organize the evan yemeni vowel i do not watch a season and the 1st time that i was introduced to. Was doing her performance in 2015 at the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony and i was just blown away she performed calamity harrar and for someone that has been organizing an try to you know advocate for the ever Muslim Community in the United States ever since i could remember that song really hit home shes brilliant shes amazing. A. Chance to. Wrong. In years. A year he. See. Violence is powerful. Force is the political wildcard that altimetry shapes world order the structure that is defended at all cost. Each with the support of the people fall through the crushing of their will. People in power exposes the use and abuse of power around the world. On aljazeera. Now all jews or. What ever you. Think stories generate fountains of headlines these protests are saying down with the system and down with all of the part with different angles from different perspectives just because we came to prison doesnt mean the right stopped at the gate separate the spin from the facts to western media jumps on stories without taking down the misinformation from the journalism its about telling the stories of those human beings on the ground with the listening post on aljazeera. To. A. Certain. A retreat with conditions iraqi protesters withdraw from the u. S. Embassy compound in baghdad but demand foreign troops pull out of iraq. Hello im Adrian Finnegan this is al jazeera live from doha also coming up rescuers in australia search for 17 people reported missing after bushfires in the gulf homes and phone line. Israels Prime Minister seeks immunity from prosecution in 3 can