INTERVIEW WITH TUNISIA’S EL GÉNÉRAL – PART 1
While attending the Urban Voices 2014 music festival in Stockholm, Sweden, Freedom Beat interviewed the festival’s performing artists about their music, the political atmosphere in their respective countries, music of nonviolent resistance, and how their own music engages these issues.
June 10, 2015
The Voice Behind The Anthem of The Jasmine Revolution by Tim O’Keefe
In December of 2010, one month before the Tunisian revolution, rapper Hamada Ben Amor, better known by his stage name El Général, released the song ‘Rais Lebled’ on his Facebook page. Voicing the frustrations of the Tunisian people, El Général put himself squarely in the crosshairs of the government’s security apparatus, more humbly known as the Ministry of the Interior.
As a rap artist, El Général wasn’t one to shy away from using the medium of music to voice his criticism of the injustices perpetrated by Tunisia’s dictatorial government. Releasing ‘Rais Lebled’ at the end of 2010, El Général had only begun his foray into rapping two years earlier with first song ‘Malesh?’ (’Why?’), which asked why the Tunisian people were subjected to an environment of corruption and violence.
El Général: “I got well known because of my revolution songs that were for the people. I was the voice of the people. Other artists in Tunisia were afraid, they were scared to talk. Then comes a rapper who speaks out, the voice of the people. Defends them. That’s why people gravitated towards me.” El Général’s passion to speak out about what he saw as wrong with the system, and his bravery to accept the consequences of his actions made him stand out among his fellow artists in Tunisia.
Upon the release of ‘Rais Lebled’, the intensity of the Minister of the Interior’s pressure on him increased, leading to his arrest on January 6th. Luckily with the support of his social media fans and attention brought to his circumstances by traditional media like Al Jazeera, El Général was released three days later on January 9th. Less than one week later, the revolution began on January 14th, and ‘Rais Lebled’ soon became considered the revolution’s anthem.
Not only did El Général amplify the voice of the Tunisian people, but he articulated the frustrations felt by many of the people in the region. ‘Rais Lebled’ became a rallying cry and could be heard in Tahrir Square during the beginnings of the Egyptian Revolution.
El Général’s song ‘Rais Lebled’, and his use of social media (Facebook, Youtube) to disseminate it, runs counter to the detractors of the role social media and the arts can play within nonviolent civil resistance movements. What the detractors often seem to miss is that these are highly effective tools when they have the power of passion behind them. The story of El Général’s ‘Rais Lebled’ clearly shows the potential, and hopefully will serve as a blueprint for musicians working in concert with future movements.
Click here to watch El Général’s ‘Rais Lebled’ with english subtitles