Emel & Jehnny Beth Share Message of Empathy with New Duet 'Fall In Light'

Tunisian/American, New York City-based artist, producer, and activist EMEL (Emel Mathlouthi) has shared her new single + video, “Fall In Light” featuring Savages’ Jehnny Beth. Written together while EMEL was gathering material for this year’s 100% Woman-Made LP MRA, “Fall In Light” is an empowering — and urgently needed — rallying anthem for sisterhood and unity in the face of an increasingly violent and intolerant world. The duet’s vocal performances mixing English and Arabic are perfectly matched to the track’s epicness and airy production, eventually crescendoing alongside a swell of cellos scored by EMEL.
 
“I had lyrics in Arabic I had written 10 years prior but I felt their meaning was even stronger for me today,” EMEL shares. “I'm happy to share this song now, especially during these troubled weeks, because it's a song that's ultimately about hope and strength, a song to create beauty from the most painful place, to create light from darkness, to build shelter from chaos, to bring faith in oneself so we can keep following our inner light, that one that's just about truth and empathy. In dark times, we ultimately need each other to keep the fight for freedom and justice through art and poetry.”

On MRA, meaning “woman” in Arabic, EMEL deconstructs to rebuild, boldly pressing forward her vision of a female-driven paradigm shift in a world in desperate need of one. That is why every single collaborator on MRA, from producers, featured artists, musicians, and beyond, is a woman — marginalized in recognition, but outsized in ability. With the help of artists such as Camélia Jordana, Nayomi, and Ami Yerewolo, the result is a multi-genre meld where African trap, batucada, Arabic reggaeton, hip hop, and drum n’ bass rub shoulders seamlessly with vibrant melodies and empowering lyrics sung in 5 different languages & 3 dialects. Standout tracks include the sweeping, mantra-like “Souty,” the anthemic-trap of “Nar,” and the industrial-gospel “Massive Will,” an aperitif of the revolution to come. EMEL seeks a world of resilience and unity on the powerful, salvific, and feminist MRA.
 
EMEL’s career is punctuated with eclectic collaborations with iconic artists like Alaïa and Jean-Paul Gaultier on her stage wardrobe and scoring work with Shirin Neshat, Robert Del Naja, and more recently on Assassin’s Creed: Mirage. In 2010, she was named the voice of the Arab Spring when her folk-hymnal “Kelmti Horra (My Word Is Free),” once banned, was resurrected as a protest anthem. She’d later perform the track at the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony and concert in Oslo. Two years later, amongst touring all over Europe and the US, EMEL furtively played an underground concert in volatile Baghdad, Iraq, and a highly illegal, all-women performance in Iran, as chronicled in the documentary No Land’s Song. And last summer, she performed for Palestinians — the subject of her track “Naci En Palestina (I Was Born in Palestine)”— in East Jerusalem and the West Bank facing backlash. 
 
“I don't create things to be consumed,” she says. “I hope it transcends time, transcends boundaries, transcends cultures. Music can change the world.”

Photo Credit: Amber Grey