{"id":317,"date":"2019-02-13T14:07:07","date_gmt":"2019-02-13T13:07:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fr-nt.nl\/?p=317"},"modified":"2022-06-07T22:52:50","modified_gmt":"2022-06-07T21:52:50","slug":"alle-onvrijheid-in-tunesie-het-muzikaal-activisme-van-deena-abdelwahed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fr-nt.nl\/en\/2019\/02\/13\/alle-onvrijheid-in-tunesie-het-muzikaal-activisme-van-deena-abdelwahed\/","title":{"rendered":"(Un)freedom abound in Tunisia: Deena Abdelwahed's musical activism"},"content":{"rendered":"

Deena Abdelwahed is a whiner. At least, that's what she says herself. She is aware of inequalities in Tunisia, the country where she studied and where her roots are. As a member of the Tunisian LGBTQ+ community, she wants to address the inequalities that still exist there, such as the fact that homosexuality is still illegal there in 2019. Her weapon? The avant-garde dub\/drum-and-bass of her live performances and latest record Khonnar<\/em>, in which she extensively musically, uh, 'whines' about those inequalities.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Written by:<\/strong> Loulou Kuster
Photos:<\/strong> Jasmin Reif

Abdelwahed is at the airport to fly from her hometown of Toulouse to the coastal town of Brest, where she has a set at the Astropolis festival scheduled if her flight is cancelled. After a few hours of waiting and arranging administrative matters, she manages to get a new flight and we manage to get her on the line. \u201cThe festival is 23 years old and it has a great history in the techno scene in the 1990s. I was very stressed that I wouldn't be able to play there. I'd rather walk there than miss this set.\"<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The DJ and producer is not originally from Toulouse, but was born in Doha, the capital of Qatar, as the daughter of two Tunisian parents. \u201cI never felt completely Qatari. I learned the norms and values \u200b\u200bof my parents and every time we went on holiday to Tunis, the capital of Tunisia, I thought: \"I will live here later.\u201d And that happens when she turns 18 and starts studying Fine Arts in Tunis. \u201cI felt reborn, life came to meet me and I was discovering everything a young person discovers in a new city. There was nightlife, but I also became active in the political field. It was a turbulent time with all kinds of things happening and I was young, had an opinion and, like everyone else around me, I joined the protests that were going on.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Deena Abdelwahed, captured by Jasmin Reif.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

These are not just turbulent times that Abdelwahed refers to. The immediate cause of the Arab Spring is in Tunisia. When 26-year-old Mohammed Bouazizi sets himself on fire in December 2010<\/a>, because he was unable to find work due to all the corruption and economic malaise in the country, mass protests arose among the population. What follows are weeks of unrest that lead to dictator Ben Ali fleeing the country and the dictatorial regime falling. \u201cThat was immediately noticeable, because when the regime fell, the blockade on the internet also fell, for example. That was great for me, because it made it even easier for me to find music and create playlists.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because that was what she was mainly doing besides her studies: scouring the internet in her small bedroom in search of interesting music. \u201cI first did that for myself, until I once met a boy on the train that I started talking to. He asked what kind of music I had on my MP3 player, so I showed him some. His jaw literally dropped. Apparently it was completely new to him and he asked if I thought it would be fun to become a DJ. According to him, the music I showed him belonged in clubs. He showed me Traktor, a computer program for mixing tracks, and that's how I started making my own music.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"I have no ideology. I only see things happen that are not right and I address that in my music.\"<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

After making endless mixes, she decides to send some things to people in the Tunis music scene. Her mix ends up at A World Full of Bass, a collective of DJs who play just about anything. \u201cThey organized parties in clubs and raves. Those raves weren't like you know here in Europe, where it's super well organized, everyone goes there after work and then walks home. No, they were raves in villages outside the capital, which attracted about 150 people. Usually it happened in a large detached house in the countryside and people danced until about nine o'clock in the morning, when the sun had already risen long and wide. We slept in cars and only drove back to the capital the next day. It felt a bit like raves in England in the 1990s, very raw and above all very illegal. It was fantastic to play there, because everyone was sweating and dancing and going crazy. We took a big risk by organizing those raves, because at that time the dictatorial regime still reigned and those parties were of course forbidden, but actually we were too young to really realize that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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