Slim Abida

"Music can be an act of resistance"
​Even more so when as a bass player and a composer you live in Le Kram, in the suburbs of Tunis, Tunisia and that you fancy hard rock music as well as gnawi, jazz or reggae. Slim Abida comes from a family of union representatives and feminists and knows too well what political commitment is about. From the early days of the Jasmine Revolution, he rallied against Ben Ali’s dictatorial regime along with other artists. He founded several influential bands from the Tunisian pre- and post revolutionalternative music scene such as the mythical metal band Melmoth, the gnawi-dub-reggae bands Barbaroots and Goultrah Sound System and the jazz-world band Jazz Oil. He has supported and collaborated with renowned artists like Naïssam Jalal, Amine Bouhafa, Sabry Mosbah, Haydar Hamdi and Badiaa Bouhrizi. In 2016, he composed and released Lamma, Jazz Oil’s debut album, a vibrant fusion between the East and the West with the bass guitar and the kanun at the core of the project. He is currently coworking on the composition of Wasl, Jazz Oil's second album, with his fellow musicians. In 2020 he released Fréquences Basses, his first solo album, inspired by his roots as well as his peregrinations, profoundly jazzy yet spiced up by Northern African music and rhythms, in the manner of Richard Bona or Ibrahim Maalouf. Today, he is composing a second solo album entitled Asymétrie, in which he questions the directions our lives are taking in an increasingly virtual world. This album is a fusion of modern jazz and personal roots as well as world influences.
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