The Cultural Connection: Ya Tosiba

Photo by Zuzu Zakaria & Design by Tyhran Sohoian

For this week’s Cultural Connection interview, KALTBLUT has caught up with Ya Tosiba. Ya Tosiba is made up of Finnish producer Tatu Metsätähti and Azerbaijani musician/vocalist Zuzu Zakaria who are fusing electronics, live instruments, and Caucasian Folkloric poetry into an energetic, groovy style. While rooted in electronic music, their heritage plays a significant role – Tatu’s Skweee background adds Scandinavian Funk vibes, and Zuzu’s vast knowledge encompasses Turkish psychedelic, Caucasus Disco, Finnish Tango, and more. With curiosity, humour, and a DIY ethos, they blend raw analogue synths with academia, drawing from Zuzu’s ethnomusicological studies.

Having just released their latest album “ASAP inşallah”, we caught up with the duo to chat about the album and how culture intersects with their work.

KALTBLUT: Tell me about your latest release.

Ya Tosiba: Creating this album was a very long and rewarding process. It was hard to let go, and some songs were reworked multiple times. But at some point, you have to say stop and let go.
In the years making this album a lot happened: pandemic, war, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine among others. It is an album made in a state of helplessness and hope, exploring the tension of living in a world of contradictions.

KALTBLUT: What kind of cultural and/ or musical influences were you inspired by when recording/ writing this release?

Ya Tosiba: I am a sucker for sad music, especially if they are performed by Eastern females such as Sezen Aksu, Fairouz, Oum Kalthoum, and Googosh. I am also very drawn to dub music in general. Mesak, our electronic wizard, is a walking studio in himself. It is hard to say what inspires us. I would say good music inspires us.

Photo by Zuzu Zakaria

KALTBLUT: How would you describe your sound?

Ya Tosiba: As with all our previous releases, we wanted to have different producers and artists featured. We were lucky to work with Ukrainian experimentalist Zavoloka, multi-instrumentalist Center of the Universe from Norway, Mustique Poborsk from Marseille, Skweee artists Pavan and Daniel Savio from Sweden and Azerbaijani guitar legend Rahman Memmedli for this album. Working with different people is very inspiring in itself.

The input that you get from someone can be surprising and editing it gives you absolutely new insights, which can liberate you from your own habits and style. Therefore, the sound is very multifaceted. Our music is often described as fusion. But I would not say we fuse anything – we just don’t know any different.

Letting the music speak for itself is an amazing value separated from the artist.

KALTBLUT: How does culture/ your surroundings/ society intersect with your creative work?

Ya Tosiba: Both cultures, our surroundings and society, are all indistinguishably intertwined. I can not imagine the one without the other. And naturally, all affect me as a person and as an artist.
I can not put it in concrete words as it is a process to both be aware of, but also the state is not always available for introspection, which is a good thing. Letting the music speak for itself is an amazing value separated from the artist.

Follow @yatosiba on Instagram to keep up with upcoming releases and stream their album ASAP inşallah here.

You can revisit all Cultural Connection interviews at #TheCulturalConnection here.