Tunisia.. Musician Mohamed Al-Qarfi Passes Away at the Age of 78

- The Tunisian musician Mohamed Al-Qarfi passed away on Sunday at the age of 78. The Tunisian Ministry of Cultural Affairs mourned him through its official accounts on social media in a statement describing him as one of the "most prominent innovative musicians." It added that he chose from the beginning a "path of research and innovation." The late musician began his career in the late 1960s as a player in the Tunisian Symphony Orchestra, and later founded the group "71," eventually taking on the leadership of the Tunis City Music Band.

The late musician collaborated with many Tunisian and Arab artists, composing music for the poems of the late Mahmoud Darwish, Abu Al-Qasim Al-Shabi, Mansour Rahbani, and others. Al-Qarfi composed music and conducted orchestras for several theatrical, cinematic, and television works, enriching the Arab cultural library with numerous musical compositions and studies, such as "Instrumental Forms in Classical Music in Tunisia" (1996) and "Arab Musical Theater" (2009).

The late musician had opened the 59th edition of the "Carthage International Festival" in 2025 with a musical performance titled "From the Depths of the Storage," which highlighted significant chapters and milestones from the Tunisian creative memory in the 20th century.