Artist: L’Antidote
Album: L’Antidote
Label: Ponderosa Music Records
Link: https://lantidote.eu/
Style: Contemporary Jazz
A student in Tirana and then in Italy, Albanian cellist Redi Hasa offers a style ranging from traditional Albanian and Italian music to modern jazz. Influenced by the traditional music inherited from his family, Lebanese pianist Rami Khalifé trained classically and has been involved in contemporary projects close to electronic music. As for Iranian percussionist Bijan Chemirani, he comes from a long line of musicians and has mastered his country’s traditional repertoire, although he is mainly involved in numerous international projects.
Abandoned in 2020 due to the pandemic, the L’Antidote project developed naturally in the following years and stems from a genuine encounter, a place full of gentleness where listening and sharing reign supreme. Each musician brings their artistic background to a joint creation. The structure of the compositions is strongly marked by improvisation and inspiration, while being dominated by contemporary jazz, exuding a Mediterranean heritage that is particularly present on the track ‘Rosée’. The melodic lines take their time to develop and the timbres of the instruments to blend together, with only the tracks ‘Dates, Figs And Nuts’ and “Na Na Na ” take on a livelier rhythm.
An acoustic universe, L’Antidote is adorned with a sound marked by clarity and definition. Fortunately, this highlighting of the instruments is not accompanied by any coldness. The soft vibration of the notes and the particular grain of the percussion, while restrained, are a flavor to be savored when listening to the album. Struck and bowed strings are perfectly differentiated and evolve in the same movement, each musical line complementing the other naturally. The track ‘Desert Plant’ immerses us in a sonic invitation to contemplation, where we are carried away by this enchanting flow.