Atiqullah Amiri & Nicolas Laureau - L’Antenne Des Lilas

Afghan singer Atiqullah Amiri and musician/producer Nicolas Laureau met in Pantin (Paris suburb) in 2022, when Nicolas was working as a volunteer in a solidarity collective (Pantin Solidaire) on the so-called Cheval Noir (Black Horse) cam. in Pantin. Once, during a demonstration organized by the collective, Atiqullah took the microphone, revealing his talents as a singer and arousing strong emotion. A year later, the two artists met again in Nicolas' studio to record the fruit of a collaboration, mixing Afghan classics (in Dari) and cinematographic, electronica and psychedelic music. F/LOR second thinking head of Prohibited Records and electronic/contemplative artist adds a remix of Cheval Noir II as a bonus track.

ATIQULLAH AMIRI

Born in 1995 in the village of Sange Sorakh, Dôchi, Baghlan in Afghanistan, Atiqullah graduated from high school in Kila Gaie in 2014. Passionate about traditional music, he performed at parties or weddings, devoting himself fully to singing. But quickly, with the return of the Taliban, he had to give up music to work with his farmer father. In 2021, he decided to flee his country and found refuge in France. It was in this context that he met Nicolas Laureau, a volunteer in the solidarity collective Pantin Solidaire, in Pantin (Seine-Saint-Denis). After sheltering in the Cheval Noir camp in Pantin, Atiqullah was placed in an emergency accommodation in Nantes where he began to take French lessons and resumed musical activities. It was during a brief visit to Pantin on the occasion of the Norouz celebration (Persian New Year), that Nicolas and Attiqullah made this recording.

NICOLAS LAUREAU

Nicolas Laureau (born in 1973, lives near Paris) has been in the world of independent music since the early 1990s, notably through his label, Prohibited Records (Mendelson, Herman Dune, The Berg Sans Nipple...) founded in 1995. Nicolas’ artistic activity oscillates between personal projects under the name of Don Nino – eight albums of emotional mille-feuilles, including Mentors Menteurs! in 2007, an album of cover versions that reveal his sources, and collaborative adventures as part of Prohibition and NLF3, both with his brother, Fabrice. NLF3 has produced eight albums of instrumental rock including Music for Que Viva Mexico! (2006), a reinvented soundtrack played live around the world for screenings of Eisenstein’s film. Nicolas Laureau regularly creates music for audiovisual, mixed media or choreographic projects, together with video producer Pierrick Sorin and dancer Yves Musard. His last solo album A Beautiful Cloud (Prohibited Records, 2021). In 2022, Nicolas released the oddball Scaring The Mice For Revenge (Prohibited Records) with Shane Aspegren, Jérôme Lorichon and Quentin Rollet, resuscitating the Hindu-infused spiritual jazz of Pharoah Sanders or Alice Coltrane. In 2023, he announces the release of a collaboration album with singer Françoiz Breut, Cover Songs In Inferno. Following his meeting in 2022 with Atiqullah Amiri, singer and Afghan refugee, he recorded and produced the EP L'Anternne Des Lilas.