Ukiyoto (JP, FR)

Tampere Jazz Happening has seen many unique instruments, including most recently a genuine four-metre-long alphorn. And now there is yet another: the daxophone. Japanese guitarist Kazuhisa Uchihashi (b. 1959), performing in Finland for the first time, will apparently be playing one in an ensemble whose music is still largely an enigma. The debut concert of French-based group Ukiyoto was held in Strasbourg in November last year, and the trio has yet to release any recordings.

However, something can still be inferred from the musical histories and interests of the musicians. Uchihashi, French bassist Olivier Lété (b. 1979) and Japanese percussionist Yuko Oshima are first and foremost improvisers. Oshima is a familiar name from the duo Donkey Monkey, which has performed in Finland a couple of times.

But, let’s get back to the daxophone, which is developed by the late German guitarist and luthier Hans Reichel. It is played with a double bass bow by drawing it across a thirty-centimetre-long wooden tongue attached to a piece of wood. Of course, even though the name daxophone sounds very similar to saxophone, its actual namesake is a badger, which is dachs in German. This is because the sound produced by a daxophone is said to be like that of an animal, even badger-like.

Hans Reichel recorded his first daxophone album, The Dawn of Dachsman, in Berlin in 1987, and Kazuhisa Uchihashi soon became a passionate aficionado of this extraordinary instrument. In fact, one of his first recordings is the album Sundown, which he did with Reichel in Tokyo in 1991.

Supported by DRAC Grand Est, La Région Grand Est, L’Eurométropole de Strasbourg
Supported by French ministry of culture for compositions
Co-production : SMAC JAZZDOR and Césaré/CNCM Reims
Partners: Banlieues Bleues