Paris, 7 October 2023. On the legendary stage of L’Olympia Paris, Tunisian music took over one of France’s most emblematic concert halls for One Night in Tunisia, a major celebration of Tunisian musical culture and contemporary creation.
Among the artists invited for this second edition was Erkez HipHop, the Tunisian collective born from the DEBO artistic movement in Tunis. Their presence brought something distinctly different to an evening otherwise built around the richness of Tunisian musical heritage: the raw energy of hip-hop, the language of the street and the hypnotic rhythms of the mezoued.
From the streets of Tunis to Boulevard des Capucines
Erkez HipHop emerged from the streets of Tunis with an approach that refuses to separate contemporary hip-hop from Tunisian identity. The project brings together rap, traditional rhythms and the sound of the mezoued, creating a musical language that is simultaneously deeply local and immediately contemporary.
The group has its roots in DEBO, the multidisciplinary Tunisian collective and artistic association that has worked for years around hip-hop, street culture, music, graffiti and independent creation.
By the time Erkez HipHop arrived at L’Olympia, the group had already established itself as one of the distinctive voices of Tunisia’s new musical generation. Their music draws from the realities of everyday life, the frustrations and contradictions of post-revolution Tunisia, and the vocabulary of the streets.
As Souffle inédit described the group ahead of the concert, Erkez draws its inspiration from the medina of Tunis, cafés and the popular culture of Tunisian cities, mixing the intensity of mezoued with rap’s sharpness and humour.
A different energy at One Night in Tunisia
One Night in Tunisia was conceived as a large-scale celebration of Tunisian music, bringing together established voices, traditional repertoires and contemporary artists.
The 2023 edition was the second edition of the event, following the success of the first edition in 2019. The programme brought together artists from different generations and musical worlds, including Nabiha Karaouli, Yasmine Azaiez, Sabry Mosbah, Fahmi Riahi, Lobna Noomène, Dali Chebil, Abir Nasraoui and others, with Erkez HipHop representing the contemporary urban scene.
The evening was orchestrated by Maestro Kais Melliti, under the patronage of Nabiha Karaouli. Rather than presenting Tunisian music as a single genre, the concert showcased its diversity, moving between traditional music, malouf, mezoued, stambeli, contemporary pop and urban music.
Erkez HipHop occupied an important place within that picture.
Their appearance demonstrated that Tunisian musical heritage does not have to remain confined to traditional formats. The mezoued can live inside hip-hop. Tunisian Arabic can become the language of a modern urban flow. Traditional rhythms can coexist with electronic production and contemporary stage performance.
That is precisely the space Erkez has been exploring since its creation.
A Tunisian sound with no borders
For Erkez, performing in Paris was more than another international date.
The group was taking a sound born in Tunis and placing it in front of an audience thousands of kilometres away, in one of the most famous concert venues in France.
This movement—from the streets and neighbourhoods of Tunis to major international stages—has become central to the Erkez HipHop story.
The group’s music is not designed to reproduce an image of Tunisia for an outside audience. It starts from within: Tunisian slang, local rhythms, social realities, humour, anger and the contradictions of contemporary life.
That authenticity is what makes the project travel.
Erkez had already developed a growing international presence, including performances in France, Germany and Canada. Its Paris appearance at L’Olympia therefore formed part of a broader trajectory: taking Tunisian hip-hop beyond the borders of Tunisia while keeping its identity firmly rooted in its original culture.
A meeting between generations
There was also a symbolic dimension to the evening.
On the same stage, artists representing different generations and traditions of Tunisian music were brought together. Erkez HipHop represented a younger, urban and alternative expression of Tunisian culture, standing alongside artists whose careers are deeply connected to the country’s established musical traditions.
This made One Night in Tunisia more than a showcase of individual performers.
It became a snapshot of a musical culture in motion.
A culture where the old and the new can share the same stage without one having to disappear for the other to exist.
For Erkez, this is particularly significant. The group’s identity has always been based on the idea that Tunisian heritage is not something frozen in the past. It can be sampled, transformed, shouted, rapped, distorted and rebuilt.
Music with a purpose
The concert also carried a social dimension.
Part of the proceeds from the 2023 edition was intended to support Darna, an organisation working to improve the lives of children without family support in Tunisia. The initiative continued the charitable dimension of the One Night concept, which had already raised funds during its 2019 edition.
For an independent collective such as DEBO and a project such as Erkez HipHop, this connection between music, community and social responsibility is particularly meaningful.
The stage becomes not only a place to perform, but also a place to represent.
L’Olympia as a milestone
L’Olympia has hosted generations of major international artists and remains one of the most recognisable venues in the French music landscape.
For Erkez HipHop, appearing there marked an important step in the group’s international journey.
But perhaps the most important aspect of the night was not simply where Erkez performed.
It was what they brought with them.
They brought Tunis.
They brought the sound of the mezoued into a contemporary hip-hop context. They brought Tunisian Arabic, street culture and the uncompromising energy of DEBO. And they showed that a musical language born far from the traditional centres of the international music industry could stand on one of Paris’s most prestigious stages.
One Night in Tunisia was therefore more than a night celebrating Tunisia in Paris.
For Erkez HipHop, it was another step in proving that Tunisian hip-hop belongs on international stages—and that it does not need to abandon its roots to get there.
Erkez HipHop — from the streets of Tunis to L’Olympia Paris.
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