KahruMusiqa

Description

KahruMusiqa is a musical retrospective by Tunisian singer-songwriter Badiâa Bouhrizi, also known as Neysatu. She is known as the author of the protest songs that became the anthems of the Tunisian revolution. KahruMusiqa means electronic music, but is never used as such in Arabic to name the genre. The record is a collection of sonic experiments that began when she took up music production software in the 2000s. The tracks are based on poems in classical Arabic or Tunisian dialect written by Badiâa herself or by female poets she admires, such as Palestinian authors Fadwa Tuqan or Salma Al Jayusi, or Tunisian poet Noureddine Werghi. Most of the vocal works are improvisations recorded using a computer microphone. The cover of the classic Turkish folk song Muhabbat is almost a modern harmonic reinterpretation, using only classical guitar, vocals, and delays. The themes of KahruMusiqa are in line with Badiâa Bouhrizi's ideological trajectory. She is a queer woman in the shifting sands of Tunisia in the song Transrimel. She also questions the political contract that led to Balfour and the displacement of millions of Palestinians in 1948, describing a journey between London and Nablus in Fil Madinatil harima ("In the Old City"). This "bedroom" album also contains several songs that have become classics of the Arab underground scene, such as Ila Selma, and is the first record Badiâa Bouhrizi has agreed to release.