ZO ZO ZO ZO ZOFFY!!
/ ZOFFY
(Synesthetic [Norway]/ LP/ June.2002)
side-A
- Bésamé La Mucho
- Space Oddity
- “mmm… Seigner!…” So. M Dis La Vilana
- Immigrant Song
- Goodrone Morning
side-B
- Mustapha Pôle
- Light My Fire
- Platitude
- Fire Ball
- Barom Cross
ZOFFY :
- Tsuyama Atsushi : vocal, electric sitar, acoustic guitar, alto recorder
- Kawabata Makoto : violin, bouzouki, kemençe, lyra, sruthibox, synthesizer, organ
Words by Tsuyama Atsushi
Produced and Engineered by Kawabata Makoto
Recorded at Acid Mothers Temple 4th and 5th. Nov. 1998
Art work by Sachiko@ELF design
The Original CD was released from Acid Mothers Temple label on Nov.1998
Special thanks to Alan Cummings
ZOFFY
Psychedelic trad duo infused with B-grade humor, formed in 1997. The group consists of Acid Mothers Temple guitarist Kawabata Makoto who is obsessed with troubadours and the music of their birthplace Occitan, and Acid Mothers Temple bassist Tsuyama Atsushi who is frighteningly knowledgeable about European trad and the good old rock of the 60’s and 70’s.
Tsuyama, on the one hand, played in a duo with Yoshida Fumio (Si-Folk), Japan’s most respected player of Irish traditional music, while on the other developing his own unique fake European trad world through his solo performances and the AYA trio (with Aki from Koenji Hyakkei and Katsui Yuji from Rovo). His cover of his solo album, “Henry the Human Horse!”, took his concept of fake European trad to its highest completion.
Kawabata Makoto showcased his multi-instrumental skills in Toho Sara and Inui, and has also performed solo on various ethnic instruments.
Kawabata and Tsuyama’s fateful meeting finally occurred, and the two first began to improvise covers of classic rock tracks on traditional instruments. In their own words this “revitalized the original power of the songs by returning them to their original versions”. The concept of the group has since altered, and they now aim to improvise fake versions of troubadour and traditional music from various regions. Again in their own words, “giving birth to troubadour and trad music that could not have been born at the time. Just like the troubadours in the Middle Ages, our performances are entirely improvised, our communication, sympathetic, vibration and resonance are based on inspiration. We are contemporary troubadours.”
