COLLIS BROWNE: I'm honored to be having this conversation with you for our new column, Music is Political. Welcome! Who you are and how do you like to describe yourself.
EMEL MATHLOUTHI: My name is Emel, which means hope. It's a name my parents gave me because they were trying to catch some hope from life and the new beginning. I think that name really defines me, because I've always been a very euphorically hopeful person, despite myself. I like to define myself through this concept of hope. And then I like to define myself as an Arab African, maybe a Berber or Tunisian woman. I don't feel a sense of belonging only to where I come from and where I was born.