Metal, Rap, and Electro in Post-Revolutionary Tunisia: A Fragile Underground

Metal, Rap, and Electro in Tunisia is a trip into the music scenes of Tunisia after the Arab Springs. Based on extensive field research, the book explores the social life of heavy metal, rap, and electronic music in a North African country whose mass revolution of 2010/2011 led the way to a troubled and yet unique democracy. What is it like to be part of a music scene in a place affected by poverty and inequality? How do the many conflicted souls of Tunisian Islam shape local metal, rap, and electro? What are the social and cultural stakes for music in a nation constantly represented as a bridge between Europe and the Middle East? How do music scenes articulate the complex political scenario that followed the Tunisian revolution of 2011? Barone answers these questions by offering new theoretical reflections on youth cultures and popular music in a global perspective, and thus pushing the debate on ＂post-subcultures＂ and scenes forward. At the same time, the book offers a dense sociological analysis of youth and music in reality - the Tunisian one - whose society, culture, religion, and politics are at stake in a historical transformation.

Stefano Barone obtained his PhD from Griffith University, Australia in 2016. His publications include: ’Feeling so Hood. Rap, Lifestyles, and the Neighbourhood Imaginary in Tunisia’. British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, forthcoming; (with Elham Golpushnezad) ＂On n’est pas à vendre. L’économie politique du rap dans la Tunisie postrévolution＂ [＂We are not for sale. The political economy of rap in post-revolutionary Tunisia＂], Politique Africaine, 2016/1 (141): 27-51 and ＂Fragile scenes, fractured communities: Tunisian Metal and Sceneness＂. Journal of Youth Studies, 19.1:20-35.