A DEBO Collective Production · Tunis
Mezoued meets hip-hop. Wedding music from the medina, dragged into the middle of a rap set.
Three MCs and a full live band playing the two sounds that shaped the same streets — the protest music of Tunisia, built for dancing.
The Project
Far more than a rap group
Erkez Hip-Hop is a full-scale live experience built by a collective of young, politically engaged artists who take their material from every corner of Tunisian life — and who refuse to choose between the two sounds that shaped them.
The group crosses musical borders on purpose, folding rap into mezoued — and into jazz, rock, bendir and derbouka rhythms — to build something loud, local and unmistakably its own.
It began on 21 June 2017, on Avenue Habib Bourguiba in downtown Tunis, when DEBO and the Institut français de Tunisie put rappers and mezoued players on the same stage for World Music Day. It was the first time the two traditions were deliberately set against each other in Tunisia.
What was meant to be a one-off has since become one of the country's most touring underground acts.
What It Says
The voice of a country that will not keep quiet
Erkez Hip-Hop is the sour, funny, unfiltered voice of a public that has had enough of mediocre elites and powerless institutions. The lyrics are bitter and comic at the same time: they name the contradictions of the country and of the people running it, in street Tunisian that every audience recognises instantly.
On stage the group portrays a Tunisia whose revolution was taken hostage — and, in the same breath, the full diversity of the country, from the coastal cities to the interior. It is protest music that people dance to.
The Sound
Two traditions, one stage
Mezoued is the music of weddings, of neighbourhood celebrations, of the working-class quarter. Hip-hop is the music of the same streets, forty years younger. Erkez Hip-Hop puts them in the same arrangement and lets them fight it out.
The inspiration is deliberately unglamorous: the popular districts of Tunis, the smoky suburban cafés, the souks of small inland towns, the endless queues outside public administrations.
Played on mezoued, bendir, derbouka, tabla, drums, bass, guitar and keyboards over hip-hop production, that material becomes something captivating — daily life in Tunisia, amplified.
The music is a dance on the edge of the abyss. It converts frustration into celebration and keeps anger and joy boiling in the same pot. It carries a generation that dreams of a Europe it cannot reach, while documenting the realities of the country it is standing in.
The Line-Up
Who is on stage
The band
Mezoued, bendir, derbouka, tabla, drums, bass, guitar and keyboards — the mezoued tradition played live, not sampled.
Production & composition
Producer / Manager — Mohamed Seddik Kekli
Main Composer — Makrem Radhouani
Arrangement — Jihed Khemiri & Makrem Radhouani
A DEBO Collective production, Tunis.
Listen
Essential tracks
- 01La3riba العريبةThe anthem · 13M+ views
- 023akes Ness عكس الناسMassi × Tiga Black'na
- 03Mezwed Fsa3 المزود فصعSingle · 2021
- 04Hwita حويتةSingle · 2021
- 05Sba9ni Wechka سبقني و اشكىSingle · 2021
- 065amsa li La7gou bel Jorra الخمسة الي لحقو بالجرةStudio + live
- 07Wedhnek MizenekDEBO live session
- 08Ya Latif يا لطيفStudio session
Available on YouTube, Apple Music, Spotify and all major streaming platforms.
Watch
See it live
Live
From the avenue to the amphitheatre
No Fancy Fence World Tour — 2024
Five dates across three countries, taking the mezoued to the diaspora.
- 19 APRMontreal, CanadaLes Nuits de Carthage à Montréal
- 20 APRQuebec City, CanadaUniversité Laval — CCSQ · first ever date in Quebec
- 17 MAYMunich, GermanyCafi Chanta
- 18 MAYBerlin, GermanyStrandbad Plötzensee — saHHara Hip-Hop Party
- 25 MAYParis, FranceLa Bellevilloise
Khalli Trace — National Tour
A tour of concerts and graffiti performances across Tunisia, co-organised with the Institut français de Tunisie.
- TUNISIASousse · Sfax · Gafsa · Kasserine · Bizerte · Kairouan · Le Kef · TabarkaEight cities, coast to interior
Selected dates
- 2023Carthage International Festival Sold out12 August · specially rearranged with Jihed Khemiri & Makrem Radhouani
- 2023El Jem International Festival28 August · with Jloud
- 2023L'Olympia, ParisOctober 2023
- 2023Dream City FestivalYüka, Gammarth · 5 October
- 2021Festival International de Hammamet Sold outHammamet open-air theatre
- 2020Sahriyet HammametDar Sébastian open-air theatre · 19 August
- 2020Dougga FestivalRoman theatre of Dougga
- 2019Avenue Habib BourguibaFree street concert, downtown Tunis · 16 October
- MOREInstitut français de Tunisie · Kelibia · La Goulette · Djerba · Le Rio · Wax Bar · Taher HaddadSelected club, festival and cultural-centre dates
Gallery
Previous shows
Full archive of 40+ show photos available in the press kit.
Booking & Press
Take it to your stage
Erkez Hip-Hop is available for festivals, theatres and club dates across Tunisia, the MENA region and Europe. The show scales from a five-piece club set to a full amphitheatre production with band, scenography, lighting design and live visuals.
Technical rider, press kit, high-resolution photos and full live video available on request.
- BookingDebo.studio@gmail.com
- Erkez Hip-Hop
- Facebook/erkezhiphop
- Instagram@erkez.hiphop
- DEBO Collective
- Facebook/deboworld
- Instagram@debotunis
- YouTube@DEBOTUNIS
- Based inTunis, Tunisia
Credits
Made by DEBO
DEBO · Spreading knowledge thru hip-hop
