SoSaLa

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.

Reviews

“Ever the trailblazer, SoSaLa – or Sadato, as he was known in those days – transformed ALEF from a music ensemble to the first real multi-media performance group in Japan. It used butoh and modern dancers, actors, a stripper, and a pantomime artist. In 1987, SoSaLa released ALEF’s only recording, Hajime, on his indie label Kampai Rec. In addition to the musical contributions by Ishida, Kato, and Gunn, SoSaLa played Tenor Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone, Synthesizer, Flute, and Vocals.” – Read more here: Single and LP Reviews: SADATO GROUP/ALEF – A Deeper Legacy – by Dawoud Kringle (DooBeeDooBeeDoo NY, 5/12/2025)

“Another nutty curio from the ’80s Japanese underground. Moments of suave delicacy slam face-first into punch-drunk idiocy in a manner the Japanese ought to just take a patent out on. Flutes flutter, plinky plonky guitars wiggle around pitter-patter percussion and zany japanese people do funny things to their voices with effects (which I suppose qualifies this as “zolo”), only to yield to slick jazz funk, then, disjointed synthesizer splats and blats, then dumbo hard rock with free jazz sax…Yup…it’s a good one!” – Posted by vdoandsound (MUTANT SOUNDS), May 22, 2007

“Progressive composer, performance artist Sadato, an Iranian raised in Europe who has lived here for over ten years, has also managed to finance an album of his group AIef. “Several record producers told me to make more commercial music, and they’d be
willing to talk. But I just can’t do it,” he admitted. With records in Tower and a few other record stores around Tokyo, Sadato is now on a self-promotion tour of the U.S. and Europe.” – TOKYO JOURNAL, December, 1988

“Hajime sounds much like an ALEF performance, full of provocative chords, riffs, and just plain weird noises accompanying lyric passages suggesting dream-like states, non-shared reality, and stop-action flashes of insight. Most elections have Japanese lyrics, including the haunting ‘Ningen,” the mysteriously dramatic ‘Bachan No Tea Time,’ and ‘Sarariman Shine,’ a portrait of fear and dread in the white-collar workforce.” – Bryan Harrell (Japan Times), June 7, 1988

T. Soejima ALEF LP review

During SoSaLa’s stay in Japan, only one critic and writer, Teruto Soejima, believed in him, appreciated his music, and wrote about him. He wrote a review of “HAJIME” in the journal ENSEMBLE in January of 1988. This review was featured translated into English here: https://www.allaboutjazz.com/free-jazz-in-japan-a… on pages 311 to 313. “I’m proud that ALEF was mentioned in that book, because at that time, foreign musicians residing in Japan were never acknowledged as part of the Japanese jazz scene.” (Sadato)

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