“There will be no restrictions on creative freedom. It is not possible as long as I am a minister of culture,” said Mehdi Mabrouk, Tunisia’s culture minister, after he had been under fire for saying he would exclude sexy Lebanese pop stars from an annual music festival. Mehdi Mabrouk, …

Tunisia’s culture minister, under fire for saying he would exclude sexy Lebanese pop stars from an annual music festival, has promised to protect artistic freedoms which are on the front line of a standoff between secularists and Islamists. By Tarek Amara Tunisia, whose uprising against secular strongman Zine al-Abidine Ben …

  On 25 January 2012, four-six security agents handcuffed and arrested the Tunisian rapper Vôlcànis, allegedly after having asked him if he was the composer of the song ‘Matbadal Sheia’ (‘Nothing Has Changed’). On youtube.com, ‘Elwazirlibre’ wrote on 26 January 2012 that the police ransacked the rapper’s home and searched …

Musician and rapper El Général comments on music censorship in Tunisia.   This interview with El Général was recorded by Freemuse Programme Manager Ole Reitov in Stockholm, Sweden, in September 2011. Hamada Ben-Amor – known by his fans as ‘El Général’ (‘The General’) – was arrested in January 2011 after posting a song on …

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“This was a very artistic revolution,” Noor Ayman Nour, son of a famous dissident Egyptian politician and founder of the Egyptian metal band Bliss, told Andy Morgan — a writer, journalist, researcher and event programmer with a background in the music industry who has written an interesting article about the …

Hamada Ben-Amor, the artist who gave voice to the anger that spilled into protests that toppled Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, is now courted by music houses and making videos in plain sight. Hamada Ben-Amor, who shot to Internet fame with his rap song “President”, a dig at President Ben …

Freemuse has sent a letter to the Tunisian Ministry of Culture requesting information about the reported arrest of the Tunisian rapper Hamada Ben-Amor, also known as El General. According to several news media the 21-year-old rapper was arrested on Thursday 6 January 2011 in Sfax for releasing a song critical …

Tunisia:  The International Music Council (IMC) has awarded Freemuse the IMC Inaugural Musical Rights Award for its “courageous global programme advocating freedom of musical expression for creators and performers of music.”   The award was presented during the ‘3rd IMC World Forum on Music’ which is currently taking place in Tunisia. …

  The International Music Council (IMC) has awarded Freemuse the IMC Inaugural Musical Rights Award for its “courageous global programme advocating freedom of musical expression for creators and performers of music.”   The award was presented during the ‘3rd IMC World Forum on Music’ which is currently taking place in …