The third edition of the Carthage Nights Festival in Montreal kicked off yesterday, Friday, and will continue until tomorrow, Sunday, April 21, 2024.

This festival provides a window into live Tunisian culture and connects modernity with authenticity.

The festival began with an evening featuring the "Erkez Hip Hop" group, which is composed of a collective of multidisciplinary artists established in 2018.

Ahmed Ayssiwi, the festival's founder, stated that its members are "active in the new artistic scene and icons of youth searching for their direction. They celebrate diversity and denounce injustice."

The philosophy of the group expresses "first and foremost the disappointment of the post-revolution youth and the disillusionment of a generation caught between wasted hopes and the confusion of an incapable system."

Ahmed Ayssiwi reminded that the group came to Montreal after achieving tremendous success at the Carthage International Festival in Tunisia last summer.

He added that the group blends the "mezoued," a form of Tunisian folk music, with rap and electronic sounds.

He announced that today's Saturday evening will feature the rhythms of Tunisian folk mezoued music. It is titled "Merjoum Mezoued" and will bring together Tunisian stars to Montreal for the first time.

He added that Habib Chinkawi, one of the pillars of Tunisian folk music, will also be alongside him, as well as "one of the most beautiful voices of traditional music in Tunisia, Mohamed Ali Lasmar, and they will be joined by Iman Cherif, who is one of the most important singers of her generation and the most productive."

The festival will conclude tomorrow, Sunday, with a performance by the Tunisian comedian Hatem Alqarwi.

The comedian has been known for years for his "unconventional, committed, and piercing" art. He will present his new show "Boomerang" tomorrow, Sunday.

For him, this performance is "more than just 'stand-up'; it is a poignant reflection of the social distress that plagues Tunisian society, or at least a large part of it."

With the growing phenomenon of migration, which fuels debate and raises doubts, "the show emerges as a satirical story, revealing the repressed aspirations stirred by the desire to leave Tunisia."

According to the festival organizer, "Boomerang" does not merely seek to elicit laughter but aims to provoke understanding and thought among the audience.