orrupt and repressive regimes. Music serves as a vehicle and creates space for subcultures to become countercultures; marginalised groups tend to be drawn together by common cultural tastes in arts such as music and performances that gradually articulate a powerful oppositional political vision and identity that challenges authoritarian state power. The music of El General powered by the self-immolation of Mohammed Bouazizi, a vegetable vendor, the lone breadwinner of his family of seven, ignited nationwide protests where people took their political views and identities out onto the streets to fight for what they believed in, which was the removal of Ben Ali and his regime.

The mobilising capacity and political weight of music can be determined by the reactions of authority figures. In Tunisia they considered music that wasn’t rallying for the president as a threat to their stability and to the established order in which the voice of the people is not heard or listened to. The regime contested by ‘deviants’ and protesters took musical criticism and anti-conformist artists very seriously. It isn’t hard to overstate the power of “Raid Lebled,” as his powerful lyrics got him imprisoned and targeted as a threat. El General captured the essence of the Arab Uprisings as he admonished about the loss of fear of the people, who would “rather die” on their “feet than live” on their knees. His song was easy to learn and chant as he rhymed slowly and in an easy to understand manner, becoming the anthem of the ‘Jasmine Revolution’, (Wright, 2011). His arrest brought Tunisia far more international attention then it had witnessed since the start of the uprising and essentially caused the revolution to become a world-wide phenomenon. Time Magazine tell us how Rais Leblad was taken up in Bahrain, as a female shouted the first line of ‘Rais Labled’ and then others joined knowing lyrics/

The Jasmine revolution in Tunisia is evidence of the important and unique role music has in forming political action, as people united through the shared experience of music. Due its massive impact, El General’s song had become politicised and not just seen as a safety valve for him to vent his emotions but became a form of resistance both large and small. While one small act of resistance isn’t enough to collapse a dictatorship, the repeated acts of resistance through music began to build up until the ‘eruption’ happened and there was a revolution. Music played a crucial role in getting people passionate about resistance because of deep semiotic effects it has on the listeners. Therefore, music and politics play a reciprocal role w