ELSUSI - Concert & talk

Music about identity, freedom and everyday life

Elsusi is a Palestinian rapper and musician. After surviving the massive bombardments, destruction and humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza and making it out of the area, he was evacuated from Egypt to Norway through ICORN – International Cities of Refuge Network.

In Stavanger, he has rebuilt his life and his artistic practice. His new songs draw on years of ideas, lyrics and emotions that had been kept inside, moving between tenderness, grief, defiance and joy. His music ranges from the intimate to the explosive and explores themes including love, fatherhood, everyday life, displacement, identity and artistic freedom.

Talk and concert

The evening begins with a conversation between Elsusi and Ole Reitov, Chair of Freemuse and a member of Danish PEN. They will discuss creating art when artistic freedom is under pressure, and how rap and music can tell stories that risk being censored, overlooked or reduced to political narratives.

Elsusi will then take the stage with his unique blend of Arabic hip-hop, melodic songwriting and electronic rhythms.

The event is presented in collaboration between Copenhagen’s City of Refuge programme, Union and Rapolitics and is part of Danish PEN’s Forbidden Books campaign, which focuses on censorship, freedom of expression and the right to create