The Tunisian music (الموسيقى التونسية) is highly marked by a crossbreeding population, dominated by its Arab origin, descending from the Berbers and influenced by the various waves of invaders or immigrants (Punics, Vandals, Romans, Turks, Andalousians, French, Italians, Russinas etc…), who have all been occupiers of Tunisia in one way or another.

Historical developments

Prior to 1900 and from 1900 to 1950
in the beginning of the XXth century, the musical movement in Tunisia was dominated by the lithurgical repertoire, related to the various religious brotherhoods spread all over the country and the layman repertoire made of instrumental music and cantos performed in forms and styles reminiscent of Andalusian genres and dominated by a local musical language. Beside these two major musical genres, the urban and rural popular cantos, quite different from another by the language and the instruments employed, play a major role. In this context, Ahmed el-Wafi could be considered as the pioneer for the revival of Tunisian music. His traditional musical work encapsulates the major Tunisian and Oriental musical trends. The impact of the Oriental music on the Tunisian one, at that time, was ascribed to the long and frequent stays, of musical bands coming from Egypt, Syria or Lebanon, and who did all have a significant contribution to the dissemination, in Tunisia, of the muwashshahs, dawrs and other forms of traditional and popular music taking their origin in the Middle East.

The foundation of the Rachidia musical association, in 1934, came as a response to meet the demands of the cultural and social revival claimed by the Tunisian elite at that time. This move also came as an endeavour, by these pioneers, to save the Tunisian cultural musical heritage, considered as one of the major pillars of national identity, from the risks of desecration and annihilation.  Likewise, the Rachidia was launched in line with the recommendations issued by the first Arab musical congress, held in 1932, in the Egyptian capital of Cairo, to urge Arab countries protect their national musical heritage. Hence, the Rachidia was quick in rallying  a plethora of competent poet and musicians. Khemaïs Tarnane and Mohamed Triki, who are the master-minders of the musical revival, advocated at the Rachidia, set forth to compose music around the poetry of Jalaleddine Naccache or de Mahmoud Bourguiba. Saliha, with her angelic voice and divine interpretation, was one of the greatest revelations of this national institutions.

The launching of Radio Tunis, in 1938, allowed the musicians to better disseminate their work. The most recurrent names, at that time, were those of  Sayed Chatta, a composer of Egyptian origin, who put his skill and know-how at the service of the contemporary, i.e. Fethia Khaïri and Hassiba Rochdi. Mohamed Triki, Hédi Jouini, Mohamed Jamoussi, Sadok Thraya and Ali Riahi gave fresh impetus to the Tunisian music with the adoption of the qasid and the cantos inspired from the traditional Tunisian or Oriental music, or even the Occidental one.

From 1960 to 1980

the period1960 – 1970 witnessed the birth of a new generation of composers and interpreters most of whom were working for the orchestra of the Tunisian RTT. This wave of artists, entertainment enjoyed a vantage point.  on assiste à l'émergence de compositeurs et d'interprètes travaillant pour la plupart au sein de l'orchestre de la radio-télévision tunisienne. Ridha Kalaï, Salah El Mahdi (considered as the disciple of Tarnane), Kaddour Srarfi, Ali Chalgham, Chedly Anouar, Abdelhamid Sassi and many others contribute to the emergence of many men and women singers like Naâma, Oulaya, Zouheïra Salem, Soulef, Safia Chamia, Youssef Temimi, Mustapha Charfi, Hana Rached, Choubeila Rached, Ezzeddine Idir and many others. Tahar Gharsa (another disciple of Tarnane) made huge efforts to highlight the modal and rhythmic characteristics of traditional music. The repertoire of Raoul Journo followed the same pattern. This Jewish-Tunisian singer acquired an outstanding reputation by signing the taâlila (traditional song linked to birth, circumcision, marriage and many other ceremonies).
Meanwhile, the canto of the popular melodies and rhythms, has risen to fame; notably with Ahmed Hamza, and later on Kacem Kefi. Coming both from the city of Sfax, they took the cue from Mohamed Ennouri, undisputable master of popular music in region lying in the south of the country. The 80s also witnessed the emergence of a new generation of musicians, composers and interpreters, who shared altogether an Arab and a western taste for music and were persuaded that it was in need of new writing techniques. Their approach was based on a coherent and  contrapuntal as well on orchestration where the variety of instrumental pitches would be considered as a major requisite. It was in 1960 that Mohamed Saada proposed this new musical genre, before being followed, a decade later, by by the founders of the Tunisia symphonic orchestra. This modern ‘trend’ is still being adopted by many other composers like Ahmed Achour, Mohamed Garfi, Ouanès Khligène or Kamel Ferjani.

In another respect, many other artists have made themselves famous as solo instrumentalists like 'Ali Sriti, Salah El Mahdi, Ahmed Kalaï, Mohamed Saâda, Anouar Brahem, Yousra Dhahbi, Mohamed Zinelabidine, Mourad Sakli or Fawzi Chekili.

From  1990 to 2010

The launching of the national music band, in 1983, by its maestro and composer Ezzedine Ayachi, gave significant impulse to the musical performance. Among the current composers, one can refer to Ezzedine Ayachi, Adnen Chaouachi, Fethi Zghonda, Abdelkrim Shabou, Mohamed Majri, Abderrahmane Ayadi, Mohamed Salah Harakati, Naceur Sammoud, Mohamed Driss, Abdelhakim Belgaïd, Rachid Yeddes, Samir Agrebi and Lotfi Bouchnak. Among the interpreters, we can also refer to Latifa Arfaoui, Lotfi Bouchnak, Amina Fakhet, Dhikra Mohamed, Soufia Sadok, Sonia M'Barek, Saber Rebaï, Slah Mosbah, Noureddine El Béji, Chedly Hajji and Nawal Ghacham.
The emergence of new crossbreeding trends and improvised music, since the 90s, has led to the improvement of the Tunisian musical landscape. The advocates of this new phenomenon militate for improvisation. By means of illustration, we can refer to several composers-interpreters like Dhafer Youssef, Anouar Brahem, Fawzi Chekili, Jasser Haj Youssef, Riadh Fehri, Hichem Hemrit and Wajdi Cherif.
Tunisia has also made considerable progress in the field of musical education, since 1990, thanks to the initiatives taken by some Tunisian musicologists educated in France like Mourad Sakli and Mohamed Zinelabidine. The establishment of five music colleges, spread out all over the country, and the launching of some twenty international festivals, along with the opening of a post-graduate research unit in musicology, all bear witness to the considerable progress registered in this field.  

Styles

From a musical point of view, Tunisia has risen to fame thanks to its Arabo-Andalousian classical repertoire, the malouf, imported from the Islamic Andalousia, after the escape of Jewish and Muslim musicians following the Spanish conquest (mainly after the fall of Grenada in the XVth century). The malouf, a traditional orally-canted music and a mixture of Berber, Turkish and Persan ingredients, had almost faded away for ever, in the beginning of the XXth century, had it not been for the initiative of the scholars, musicians and and patrons of the arts to found a famous institution in the Arab World: La Rachidia. It is in this very context that the bold decisions were taken to transcribe and record the greatest noubas: kind of exhaustive repertoire based on mode or maqâms, and used as a frame, coded in an accurate manner with strings of maqâms, rythms and poetic genres, learnt and known by music-lovers, and allowing the singer to express himself.

As  a matter of fact, the singer is the most important character and the composer-poet-singer trio remains, most of the time, anonymous. These singers, who are also composers, are gathered at the Rachidia, thanks to a huge archiving work underlying the many trends of the classical Tunisian music. Most of them ensure the continuum of their work by modernizing it, introducing a coherent mixture of western ingredients, such as the piano or the electric guitare, or other rhythms like the tango or rumba.
Among the other genres of Tunisian music, we can refer to the mezoued, the stambali and the salhi which combine mysticism, poetry and  the party and trance atmosphere. Among the great names of this musical genre we can refer to Ouled Jouini, Belgacem Bouguenna, Fatma Boussaha, Hedi Habbouba, Faouzi Ben Gamra or Salah El Farzit.