EMEL: Everywhere We Looked Was Burning
EMEL: Everywhere We Looked Was Burning is a new theatrical concert by Tunisian-born, Brooklyn-based composer and performer, EMEL.
On the fifteenth anniversary of her breakthrough song “Kelmti Horra” (“My Word Is Free”), hailed as the anthem of the Tunisian Revolution, EMEL revisits her story on her own terms: EMEL–the public symbol, the uncompromising woman–at the core, an artist navigating the tensions between freedom and sacrifice, resistance and disillusionment, feminism and motherhood.
Blending original music, movement, video, and personal storytelling, the piece is inspired by Emel’s memories and North African cultural roots, and the legacies of women artists who have paid the price of challenging the boundaries imposed on them. Drawing on African trap, batucada, Arabic reggaeton, hip-hop, drum ’n’ bass, and North African musical traditions, EMEL: Everywhere We Looked Was Burning unfolds as an expansive and urgent portrait of identity, resilience, and transformation, illuminating the interconnected histories and futures of women across the global diaspora.
At its heart, EMEL: Everywhere We Looked Was Burning asks, who is EMEL, the woman behind the revolutionary voice, and what does freedom mean to her after all these years?
RUN TIME: 60 MINUTES, NO INTERMISSION
Co-Produced by Beth Morrison Projects and KiWi Productions
Co-Presented by PROTOTYPE Festival and BRIC Arts Media
Creative Producer: Kim Whitener
Executive Producer: Stephen Hendel
Originally commissioned and developed with the support of Joe’s Pub at The Public Theater
CREATIVE TEAM
EMEL MATHLOUTHI
COMPOSER, CO-CREATIVE DIRECTOR & LEAD PERFORMER
JESSICA GRINDSTAFF
CO-CREATIVE DIRECTOR & STAGE DIRECTOR
SUPPORT
Co-Produced by Beth Morrison Projects and KiWi Productions
Co-Presented by PROTOTYPE Festival and BRIC Arts Media
Originally commissioned and developed with the support of Joe’s Pub at The Public Theater