Recording another history: Songs, martyrs, and the cultural memory of the Tunisian Left

This article investigates the role of songs in recording and transmitting the history and memory of the Tunisian Left. Since its appearance in the mid-1970s, the Tunisian “committed song” has been functioning as an instrument of resistance, struggle, and popular education. Also, these songs have served as archives of a contentious history of the nation, and vehicles of shared memories through times. As such, they have significantly contributed to the construction and re-construction of a leftist cultural memory and identity. Tunisian committed songs record and celebrate popular struggles, commemorate martyrs, speak for political prisoners. By doing so, they mark the events of an alternative calendar, one denied by the historiography of the nation-state. Up to the present days, these songs continue to be performed during days of commemoration and political events, thus contributing to generating solidarity and a common path for different generations of activists. Based on lyrics and oral testimonies collected during fieldwork as well as on participant observation, this article argues that the committed song in Tunisia functions as a partisan and emotional archive of a political community, and as such it creates a space of active and collective memory and imagination.