Ya Hasra: Jewish​-​Tunisian Jewels, Originals & Reworks

In 1940, over 100,000 Jewish men and women lived in Tunisia. Thirty years later, no more than 10,000 remained. Today, only a few of them have resisted the historical forces that dispersed their families and their neighbours. In spite of this exile, the thousand-year-old presence of Tunisian Jews has left an eternal and delightful imprint on the country’s landscapes and its heritage – cultural, culinary and, of course, musical. Habiba Msika, Louisa Tounsia, Raoul Journo and El Kahlaoui Tounsi, represented here on the record’s side A, are four legendary artists, narrators of a history that they never ceased to sing on both shores of the Mediterranean sea, along with the waves of migration. On side B, DJ and producer Sharouh revisits their songs, plays with their rhythms and sounds in a series of reworks that reclaim this heritage and breathe new life into it.

Through the new release of these four musical gems alongside Sharouh’s unique reworks, the cultural diversity of Tunisia challenges oblivion and reinvents itself. Jasmine in your ears…