“Dates, Figs and Nuts” forms one of the rhythmic high points of L’Antidote, the collaborative album by Bijan Chemirani, Redi Hasa, and Rami Khalifé, released on 5 September 2025 by Ponderosa Music Records. Recorded in Puglia, the track channels the trio’s shared focus on motion and release — rhythm not as backdrop but as structure.

Bijan Chemirani, the French-Iranian master percussionist, drives the piece with intricate zarb and daf cycles that shift between Mediterranean dance phrasing and Persian rhythmic forms. Redi Hasa, the Albanian cellist known for his collaborations with Ludovico Einaudi and Maria Mazzotta, joins with rapid bowing that mirrors hand percussion in pace and accent. Rami Khalifé, Lebanese pianist and composer, anchors the dialogue with repetitive motifs that edge toward trance, his phrasing alternating between acoustic weight and subtle electronic colour.

While much of L’Antidote reflects introspection, “Dates, Figs and Nuts” turns outward. The tempo builds steadily, pulling rhythmic fragments into collective release. It carries traces of southern Italian dance, Balkan cadence, and modal improvisation, yet remains grounded in a clear ensemble sound — three voices working as one engine.

The album was conceived during sessions in Lecce, where the trio first met before the pandemic and later reconvened to record. “Dates, Figs and Nuts” embodies the project’s core idea: rhythm as antidote, the physical act of playing as a form of renewal.