All posts by Adam Reifsteck

SoSaLa and Mark C

The SoSaLa 2026 CD Release Countdown has started!!!

Based on three jam sessions with guitarist-bassist-synthe Mark C of Live Skull and drummer and percussionist Andy Weintraub. Yes, they just played and improvised. Two jams in 2024 and one in 2025 at Mark C’s studio. SoSaLa played tenor and soprano saxophones, and in between, I sang or played percussion.

After a while, he listened to all the recorded tracks and was surprised to hear NU NO WAVE music. Music created in the moment and without rules. Without knowing, they all were in sync and played the right notes and scales. SoSaLa’s improvised lyrics became messages nobody can ignore.

By today, SoSaLa has selected 15 tracks. He invited two musicians and spoken-word artists to participate: Isa on congas and percussion; Volker Goetze on electronic trumpet and flugelhorn; and David Belmont and Ed Haas. Except for Isa, all are members of Musicians For Musicians, Inc (MFM).

This CD is a follow-up to SoSaLa’s Nu World Trash, released in 2011. It took him 14 years to record my next album. Why, because life didn’t want me to do that. But when LIFE connected me with Mark C, things started to happen: a fruitful musical collaboration.

SoSaLa intends to submit this album for consideration at the GRAMMYs. This album will be very different from all submitted works.

Wish Mark C and SoSaLa luck that the Recording Academy and its membership have the “big” ears to appreciate our album.
More about the making of the album in the coming posts.

(Photo courtesy of Ed Haas)

CD Review: SoSaLa “1987 – Hajime” – Another Innovative and Iconoclastic Retrospective Album

By Dawoud Kringle

Artist: SoSaLa
Titel: 1987 – Hajime
Format: CD and digital
Label: DooBeeDoo Records
Genre: NU NO WAVE, experimental, avant-garde, jazz, world

Stream here: https://soundcloud.com/sohrab-saadat-ladjevardi/sets/1987-hajime 

Buy here: https://doobeedoobizllc.thrivecart.com/sosala-1987-hajime/ 

Hajime is a Japanese word meaning “beginning” or “start.” It is commonly used as a command in martial arts to begin a match, and as a masculine given name symbolising a new chapter or the start of a month or period.

In 1987, SoSaLa released the LP ALEF “Hajime!” under his old artist name Sadato on his independent label, Kampai Records. “Alef” is the first letter of the Iranian and Arabic alphabets, symbolizing the beginning of SoSaLa’s musical career.

This retrospective album is another fascinating artifact for those interested in SoSaLa’s accomplished and innovative career. ALEF was a short-lived but pioneering multimedia performance group active in the mid-1980s, one that defined and transcended the Japanese free jazz-punk-noise scene of the era. SoSaLa’s recent re-releasing of his 1980s albums is akin to a public service as much as an artistic statement. This innovative and iconoclastic work should not be lost.

In addition to SoSaLa/Sadato (tenor and soprano saxophone, vocals, flute), the album features Tatsuya Ishida (drums & percussion), Hideki Kato (bass), and Dennis Gunn (guitar). Makeup artist Romi contributes a spoken-word performance in the Kyoto dialect on “Bachan No Tea Party,” with Toshiko on synthesizer.

Read more here: https://doobeedoobeedoo.info/cd-review-sosala-1987-hajime-another-innovative-and-iconoclastic-retrospective-album/