Tripoli rappers encourage Libya revolution

Young rappers from Tripoli tell their story of how music helped inspire the Libyan revolution.

Interview by Asmaa Elourfi and Maryam Alegily for Magharebia in Benghazi – 25/08/11

A Tripoli-based band, the Descendants of Omar Mukhtar Group, supported the revolution with distinctive rap music. Inside the National Theater of Benghazi, Magharebia met with the head of the group, Essam Assalini.

Essam Assalini: The band was founded in 2008 and was named King Hope. It consists of five people: Abdel Salam, Hussein, Mohamed, Ali and I. After the revolution of February 17th, it was been renamed "The Descendants of Omar Mukhtar Group" and all the songs came to support this revolution. I hope that our songs are a source of enthusiasm. We believe that art is a battlefront alongside the military front.

Magharebia: In light of the circumstances experienced by the people of Tripoli, how were the songs prepared?

Essam Assalini: We were modest in preparing and recording the songs, and one way or another the songs leaked out to the people and [were well received]. They were encouraging young people in Tripoli, but Kadhafi's battalions did not leave anyone alone, so we traveled to Tunisia. There we gave a concert for displaced Libyans and helped put a smile on the faces of children and were able to raise their spirits. We co-operated with charities there and then went to the free fortress city of Benghazi to share freedom with our brothers — for everybody knows that the youth of Tripoli has not and will not be silent about the injustice of Kadhafi. They are carrying out substantive operations against the regime and its cronies.

Magharebia: What are your upcoming works?

Assalini: We are now about to hold a set of concerts, and we will visit displaced families from the western region to share in their joys and raise their spirits. We will also visit the city of Ajdabiya and certainly Brega, for we have prepared a special song for [Brega] that we will perform.

Magharebia: Why choose the name "The Descendants of Omar Mukhtar"?

Assalini: We chose this name to prove to Kadhafi his permanent lie, and to tell him that his "Kadhafi" terms have no basis. We are from the western region, but we bear the name of a "mujahid" from the eastern region.

Magharebia: You confirm the presence of mercenaries there?

Assalini: Yes, they came to a site with an armed African person, who stopped me for a full hour on the wall – accompanying me were my mother, my father and my wife – until one of my brothers came. This African was a driver for one of the companies in Tripoli, and he asked my brother, "Is this your brother?" My brother answered yes, and the African replied, "Fine, there's no problem. We are one country."

Furthermore, the psychological situation among the people there is very bad, and they are waiting for the people of the liberated areas to rid them of this tyrant. There are also substantive operations carried out by the rebels of Tripoli on a daily basis, killing at least three soldiers a day from Kadhafi's brigades. The rebels are putting an independence flag on blocks of ice in the evening, and when the sun melts the ice the flag suddenly emerges and provokes the battalions. They also put recorders in garbage bags that, when connected to an electrical source, they loudly play the national anthem.

The disturbing thing there is the battalions from the area where you were born. At each gate you find Kadhafi supporters asking, "Where are you from?" And if your grandparents are from Benghazi, your fate is unknown. I personally encountered this position, for I was born in Benghazi but lived in Tripoli in Souq al-Juma, and every time I try to convince them of that for hours, for the young people of Benghazi and the eastern region meet with an unknown fate in Tripoli.

Magharebia: What do you have to report to us about the march by Kadhafi's supporters in Tripoli?

Assalini: First, most of those who came out for this march are not Libyans. The Libyans who are paid daily are people who sold their conscience for money. I remember when payment was cut off from them for mere days, they went out in a demonstration demanding their wages and saying "Amo Amo Amo, the 500 amo". This is evidence that they stand for money and not Kadhafi. I saw with my own eyes at Bab Al-Aziziya gate non-Libyan women—they were Chadian—selling incense wearing Libyan robes and collecting money [with their goods priced] from 50 to 150 dinars. The bottom line is that life has become intolerable there, and shops that were filled with food have become empty.

Source: Magharebia.
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/features/2011/08/26/feature-04.