Even more so when you live in Le Kram, in the suburbs of
Tunis, Tunisia and that you play hard rock music as well as gnawi, jazz or reggae. Slim Abida is
the founding member of Jazz Oil, a band with which he has toured Europe. He 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 a number of artists like Emel Mathlouthi.
Today, he releases 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. A talent to be reckoned with.
Slim Abida is a major Tunisian bass player and composer. He founded several influential
bands from the Tunisian pre- and postrevolution alternative music scene such as Melmoth,
Barbaroots or Jazz Oil. He has supported and collaborated with renowned artists from the
Tunisian alternative music scene such as Sabry Mosbah, Haydar Hamdi, Badiaa Bouhrizi or
Halim Yousfi and took part in the creation of Gultrah Sound System. With Nidhal Jaoua, he
composed and released Lamma, the first album of the band Jazz Oil. He is currently coworking
on the composition of Wasl, Jazz Oil's second album, with his fellow musicians.