The Znous are a Tunisian band of the hardcore punk and metal genre with a strong political character. They define themselves as feminists and anti-elitists. We talk to Hamma, the band’s singer and guitarist, about the work of the Znous.

Their production began in 2019 with Juna, the single that opens Znousland 1 and traces the history of Tunisia from the Roman invasion to today. Znousland 2 (2020) and Znousland 3 (2021) will follow, focusing on the story of postcolonial Tunisia and the aftermath of the “Jasmine Revolution” of 2011. The band vindicates its Amazigh origins and believes in music as a practice of resistance.

In Znousland 4, the focus shifts from the national to the global, placing Palestine and the condemnation of the ongoing genocide at the centre. Despite censorship on social media and anonymity, due to the hostility to the government of President Kais Saied, the group gets almost 11 thousand plays on Spotify every month.

Why the name of the group?
“Znous” for the average Tunisian is an insult of colonial heritage. The French used the equivalent expression “espèce de…” to say that others were not as human, or civilised, as they were. We wanted to reclaim the “Z word” to affirm that we are “that species” that our society would
like to get rid of.

Amazigh Flag. File swm

You have also reclaimed your Amazigh origins…
We have searched for our identity. As we explain in Sidi Arbi (“My Master, the Arab”), we are trying to reclaim our roots, even though Habib Bourguiba (first president after independence, remembered as the “father of modern Tunisia”, ed.) also tried to consign them to oblivion. Hence the choice of photos of Algerian Amazigh women as the cover of the EPs: taken by photographer Marc Garanger, they were used by the French army to identify the accomplices of the resistance (in the context of the War of Liberation of Algeria, ed.). We deeply admire those women. Their defiant gaze towards the oppressor inspired us.

Where did Znousland 1, 2 and 3 come from?
The first three albums were the fruit of anger. We felt the need to confront the corrupt system left by Ben Ali, the police state, the terrorist attacks, the Islamist wave of the Ennahda party and its leader Ghannouchi. After 2011, the Tunisian people have experienced all the shades of pain possible. Our revolution was aborted.

Finally, Znousland 4 was released, a change of pace…
October 7, 2023, marked the beginning of an apocalyptic phase. The ongoing genocide is the most documented abomination in human history. Our mental health, our creativity, our perception of the world, our faith in humanity… everything has changed.
Znousland 4 was driven by pain and the desire to give voice to the struggles of the Palestinian people.

Rameem (“Ruins”) is the third track on the album. What does it represent?
When I wrote Rameem, I was suffering from major depression. Even today, I struggle to remember when I wrote it and how I managed to pull myself together to record it. Rameem is the moment of collision, October 7, and it is a hymn to Palestine. Perhaps free one day. It is a call to revolution: we believe in violence to resist oppression. The song is about ruins and resurrection. It is about the resurrected.

In 7 Shaltaat (“7 cuts”) you mention the traditional practices you are against, while with the cover Leklem Lemrassaa (“The noble words”), you pay homage to the Moroccan group Jil Jilala. Which customs and traditions do you oppose? What do you mean by “noble words”?
There is a whole list of what we call “bad traditions”. Like the Tasfih (a ritual to protect the virginity of young Tunisian women, ed.) which to a certain extent still persists today. We are against the concept of honour concerning the sexual sphere of women and men. Circumcision is another bad habit. With Leklem Lemrassaa we wanted to celebrate the Maghreb identity. And then it gives voice to how we have been feeling since October 7: not only have beautiful words lost their “light”, but also the ideas behind those words have lost their weight. Today we live in the era of “inhumanism”. (Open Photo: A mural of ‘Znous’ on a street in Tunis. Facebook)

Nadia Addezio