Bla Bla Bla documents the duo of French double bass legend Joëlle Léandre and young Catalan percussionist virtuoso Núria Andorrà, known as an associate of great Catalan pianist Agustí Fernández (she played in Fernández’ all-star Celebration ensemble with Frances-Marie Uitti, Mats Gustafsson, Nate Wooley, Joe Morris & Ingar Zach, Fundacja Słuchaj, 2017). Andorrà’s description of her art follows the innovative path of Léandre. Both musicians-improvisers are classically trained, well-versed in contemporary music and enjoy interdisciplinarily projects, and as Andorrà articulates it, they offer a universe where images, sound and the body come together to transmit the same emotions and create from an interdisciplinary perspective.

Bla Bla Bla was recorded at Meussa Estudio in Barcelona in October 2021. It features twelve intimate and concise, playful and inventive duets, all highlighting the idiosyncratic languages of Léandre and Andorrà –  Léandre with her extended bowing techniques and Andorrà with her unique set of percussive objects. They play as equals despite the differences in age and approaches to free improvisation. Andorrà knows how to color Léandre’s ideas with intriguing, resonating percussive shades and drive Léandre into challenging rhythmic territories, while Léandre challenges her with spontaneous, immediate compositional ideas. But the dynamics of Léandre and

Andorrà are always emphatic and profound, restless and rebellious. They cover a spectrum of moods, colors and shades, with a poetic command of their instruments, humor and imagination, elegance and sheer beauty. Hope that Bla Bla Bla is only the beginning of many more meetings like this great one.

Eyal Hareuveni

Joëlle Léandre (b), Núria Andorrà (dr, perc)