Nine Female Artists From Egypt, Tunisia, And Libya Record 'Sawtuha'
Nine female artists from Egypt, Tunisia, and Libya record the 'Sawtuha' compilation, featuring production from Oddisee and the Knife's Olof Dreijer.
Earlier this month Egyptian songstress Maryam Saleh's Oddisee-produced "Nouh Al Hamam" landed a new Tunisian-based recording effort on our radar: the Sawtuha compilation of female artists from Libya, Tunisia and Egypt exercising their rights to freedom of expression. The full album, which along with Sudanese-American hip-hop scholar Oddisee features the production hand of Olof Dreijer (one half of the Knife) and remixes from french producer Blackjoy and Austrian beatsmith Brenk, takes the listener on a journey through French pop, Arabic infused hip-hop and accordion-heavy production.
On the Oddisee-produced languid ballad "Figurine," Nawel Ben Kraiem's vocals nod towards classical French influences (she sounds like a cross between Edith Piaf and Barbara), and yet they're layered with enrapturing Tunisian melodies. Olof Dreijer's distorted beats and pitched-down vocals provide a backdrop Medusa's flow on the head-nodding "Naheb N3ch Hayati" (a force in the Tunis hip-hop scene, we hear Medusa is a name to look out for). A protest against "corruption, despotism, patronization and narrow-mindedness, Sawtuha is purposeful fresh air. Stream the full compilation below, out now on Jakarta Records.
