TUNISIA: Young African students based in Tunis see music as a passport to the west

Record ID: 452587

  • Title: TUNISIA: Young African students based in Tunis see music as a passport to the west
  • Date: 8th February 2010
  • Summary: YOUNG MEN IN STUDIO YOUNG MAN OPERATING SOUND DESK
  • Embargoed: 23rd February 2010 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Tunisia
  • Country: Tunisia
  • Topics: International Relations,Arts / Culture / Entertainment / Showbiz
  • Reuters ID: LVA35V6GCHUEY1Z0X6MLSIZNQX9V
  • Story Text: Tunisia is temporary home to hundreds of west African students. Some of them use their free time to record original music, which provides an outlet for the students to address the social, political and economic issues they face in their home countries.
    Students from west and sub-saharan African countries in Tunisia see in music a way to address difficult political and economic situations they face back home.
    Young students from countries like Togo, Gabon, Ivory Coast and the Democratic Republic of Congo are using music studios in Tunisia's capital, Tunis, to record original music albums.
    ''Music enables us to inform and pass our messages on in an easier and better way. I don't think my identity stands in the way of my success. It is for my identity that I work," said Desire, a student and singer from Togo.
    Ibrahim, a Tunisian artist who works with some of the students, says music is an effective means to address economic and political issues.
    ''We all know that Africa suffers from several problems such us poverty, hunger and civil wars. My African friends are characterized by hope and we are trying together to pass this suffering in an artistic way, and we hope to achieve our dreams," Ibrahim said.
    For some of the students, Tunisia is a safe distance from their home countries and they can voice political dissent with immunity.
    Others hope that Tunisia's geographical and cultural proximity to Europe will provide them with a launch pad to break into the Western music scene. Indeed, a number of student singers received recording offers from European producers on the back of recording they made in Tunisia.
    But the aspiring musicians also want to be successful at home as well as on foreign turf, and see dreams of stardom in Europe as unrealistic.
    "I can be a star in Africa in my country. We can be famous artists without feeling envious of the Europeans. The media says we should go to the west to achieve our dreams, but we cannot realize these dreams there," said Yann from the Democratic Republic of Congo.
    ''Maybe the colour of my skin or my nationality makes it difficult for stardom. But it will not prevent my will to do or to say what I want to get my message across, even though the media is not with us," said Alex from Gabon.
    Some of the music studios are in universities, which charges a small fee for the use of the recording facilities. Many of the albums are sold on the internet. If album sales prove promising, some of the artists go on to hold concerts in Tunisia and other north African countries like Morocco, as well as in their home countries when possible. Profits from many of the events have been given to charities in the students' countries of origin.
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