BY STEPHANIE ESLAKE
Settle yourself on a wicker chair and tuck into a slice of cake, because Zahatorte is coming to Australia.
We’re serious, though. Zahatorte takes its name from the Sachatorte: a kind of cake you’d find in a cafe on the streets of Europe. It’s fitting for this Japanese trio, which creates original music in the style of Europe’s old-fashioned cafe jazz; accordion and all.
The Kyoto-based group is celebrating its debut Australia tour, and we settled in for a chat with Uecco-san, who was described to me as “the band’s bespeckled, bowtied guitarist”.
How did your trio get started? How did you find you have a love of this music in common?
It was all very straightforward, actually. We were all members of Kyoto University Ritsumeikan’s multinational music club; in Japanese, we call it a music circle. At first, we bonded over our passion for accordion-centred music, like French musettes and Irish music. From jamming and experimenting, we crafted our original sound and songs.
How has your trio evolved in the years since? Have you been based in Kyoto the entire time you’ve been together?
We began in early 2002. From the start, we were very active in Kyoto’s local live music cafes scene. We called ourselves ‘Zahatorte’ after the Austrian cake Sachertorte, which our accordion player used to eat three times a day. It’s a common European cafe food, and we always wanted to be in cafes, so it made sense.
A few years later, we went abroad for the first time and performed at the largest accordion festival in France, the Grand Soufflet Festival. After that, we played a major Japanese rock festival in Osaka known as Summer Sonic and collaborated with NHK (the Japanese version of ABC), making soundtracks for some TV shows.
We’ve always been based in Kyoto, but we love to try different things, which is why we’re coming to Australia!
A listener might find your music in an old-fashioned European cafe. What do you love about the aesthetic?
We love the cosy European cafe feel. We love the accordion and old-world French atmosphere. The Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe, and the Champs-Elysées: these icons of France and the world in which they exist were always very interesting to us.
The French aesthetic and music inspired us enormously. Because we don’t have any vocals in our music, we’re not bound by language; we love the idea that you can listen to us, say, in Japan, but be transported to a whole different world.
Is your music original or do you perform arrangements of traditional pieces? And, either way, how do you select the perfect music to fit in with your Zahatorte sound?
Almost all of what we play these days are original songs. Our method is very open and fluid: each of us is really free to compose anyway he feels. We often compose playing live on stage.
In terms of a ‘Zahatorte sound’, we don’t have a specific method. Maybe our freedom is the method. We’re not tied to nationalities or genres. As a group, we believe that we are three people, simply representing three instruments.
Have you had any training in Japanese music, or a style of music education exclusive to Japan, that you have applied to your performance of European music?
Our cello player Yusuke learned classical cello in early childhood, but apart from that we are not formally educated in the traditional sense. We didn’t go to a specific music university either. We think though that may work for our sound because there is no stereotype; we love the freedom of jamming and playing the way we do, without strict rules, because we’ve always done it this way.
Tell us more about when you performed at Le Grand Soufflet Festival in France. How did you find the experience of performing in the country at the source of some of this music?
It was a life-changing and exciting experience, partly because it was the first experience in Europe. We were also so surprised at the level of the other musicians on the bill. Their performance techniques were amazing, but I was also surprised by the attitude and energy of the international audiences and how actively they enjoy music.
They whistled, stomped, chanted for encores so many times and also started dancing. We were shocked but so happy; it’s a response we don’t see so much in Japan.
So what are your expectations when it comes to your first Australian tour?
We’re imagining that Australia is a country where a wide variety of cultures are mixed, at least compared to Japan. We can’t wait to experience summer in Australian nature, while it’s the middle of winter in Japan. We want to see and experience all we can. We’ve been practising our English banter; we like to talk when we play, but our English isn’t so good. Nonetheless, we’re so excited and overjoyed to be visiting.
What do you hope audiences will take away from your performances?
We hope they feel free. Even though we wrote and titled our songs, we don’t own how they impact people. We don’t want to control how people feel about our music. We think freedom is a large part of our charm. Because we have no lyrics, we want audiences to interpret them any way they please. We do hope though that people have fun, feel comfortable, but get excited and enjoy watching us play live.
Outside music, what are you most looking forward to seeing in Australia?
Nature, meeting new people, experiencing a lifestyle different from Japan, and really enjoying the warm summer. We also want to eat kangaroo!
Is there anything else you’d like to add?
Our music is so hard to explain in words, so please feel free to come and see our live performances, come and say hello!
Thank you!
ありがとうございます！
Vaughan presents Zahatorte’s debut Australian tour. Catch the band in Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne, and Hobart.
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