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The one who brings Jamaica and Tunisia closer to each other in style and rhythm. Kafon’s voice tells stories and brings smiles, combining his experience with music in a rhythm between “new Arab music” and reggae.
Kafon
Born in 1983 near Tunis, he made his debut in the world of music in 2013, managing to get noticed right away for his rhythm and his very recognizable style. The first success will come the following year with the song Houmani, sung together with his friend Hamzaoui Med Amine. “Houmani” is a neologism created to define kids who would like to escape from the neighborhood but don’t have the money to do so.
The song recounts the daily life of these young people, forced to extreme situations yet with a smile. In fact, in the entire video we do not see people in tears or desperation, but many smiles; a hope of Kafon himself for his land and his country. We invite you to read the translation of the piece on Tunisiamo, it really enlightened us (we don’t know if the site is still active because the last article is from 2017); we leave you only the first sentence: “Love is a gift from the Lord, hatred a creation of the people“
Success and problems
The Tunisian artist’s career will continue in great style, dueling with the likes of Artmasta, Balti and In-S and gaining ever greater fame. In 2017, however, he has a serious health accident that will mark him for a long time. In fact, he is struck by Buerger’s disease which, fueled by the singer’s great passion for tobacco, leads his foot to gangrene. This will force him to amputate his left heel, but nothing can stop him and the following year he will come back stronger than before.
The success will come in fact in 2018 when he publishes Mahboula and Nheb Ngualaa, both able to exceed 50 million views. Compared to Akram Mag the reference to reggae is decidedly stronger and this not only for the look but also and above all for the melodies. Neither carries the “pure” genre and both undergo very strong contamination with local music and hip hop but this makes them much more real. Kafon, in particular, tends to have shades that are less close to pop, keeping the spirit of the first great hits largely intact.
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