
Satoyama meets the art of Lavia
Cross-cultural friendship and creative collaboration since 2017
Satoyama meets the art of Lavia Lin : Cross-cultural Dialogues between music and painting
Satoyama, the Italian band from Turin, with a Japanese name,
Lavia Lin the Berlin-based artist from Shanghai, with an Italian name, (La via in Italian means the way) along her way, somehow they met, they bonded, they made music and paintings together. This project is that of an international, cross-cultural friendship and an intimate cross-media collaboration.
LAVIA LIN came to Berlin in 2014, she studied art and philosophy at Bard College Berlin. She started painting at the age of 7, her artistic style is identifiable by her atmospheric abstract (often blue) paintings. She paints to remind people of the beauty in the surrounding, she gets inspired from nature, her surroundings and her personal stories. She loves to paint to jazz, the music she grew up listening to. Music speaks to her emotions, and she responds with paints. When she listens, she allows the movement of her arms to flow with the melody and her heart dances to the rhythm.
SATOYAMA brought four young musicians different in styles together to create broader music. They use melody to get in contact with the soul of the people, they believe that language of music is a platform to connect musicians, artists, and listeners from different cultures. They love traveling and bringing their music to people. Their music reflects on their traveling experiences, and they use music as a narrative of storytelling, as a common language to be understood by the public.
Satoyama is a non-conventional, polyhedric jazz ensemble composed by young musicians. “Spicy Green Cube” is their first record.
Satoyama, a quartet composed by musicians from Ivrea in their early twenties, was created in 2013: Luca Benedetto, Christian Russano, Gabriele Luttino and Marco Bellafiore brought their musical experimentations in the project in order to reach a new sound that would set them apart. Rock-progressive rhythmic, African suggestions and echoes from the North of Europe blend with an expressive freedom typical of jazz.
Satoyama in Japanese stands for the borderline between plains and mountains; it is also the title of a track recorded by pianist Iro Haarla with Norwegian trumpet player Mathias Eick. The name was chosen by the band for their curiosity in faraway places, travels and discovery of new musical cultures, not to speak of their love for Northern European jazz that is synonymous with many musicians operating under the ECM brand, Jan Garbarek above all. The result is thus a “borderline” music.
In the summer of 2017, Satoyama, with their musical instruments along with Lavia, her paints and brushes, they did a tour and performed together in Ljubljana and at the Jazzit Fest in Feltre, Italy, where Lavia painted to Satoyama’s music live. It marked the beginning of this beautiful collaboration, where art meets music, where creative minds connect and together, they wish to promote the importance of intercultural understanding, as well as, through the power of art, important issues can be addressed.



Satoyama x Lavia Lin Tour
08/11/2022-19/11/2022
Save The Dates!
"Sinking Islands" Europe Tour
With the release of the newest album, "Sinking Islands", after a long pause, the collaboration continues-this time two weeks, four countries! Don't miss the chance to see our performances.
About"Sinking Islands"
"Sinking Islands, is about the rising ocean and the fate that will unite distant and little-known places together with cities and large metropolises.
Each song on the album has the name of a reality that will sink if changes will not be applied: Tuvalu, Palau, Kiribati but also the more familiar Venice.
It is the spirit of dreamers that speaks straight to the soul.
It is the soul’s gaze who doesn’t surrender to the apathetic and immobile current of society that wants us to look away from climate change.
It is a fairytale that invokes a romantic encounter between nature and man in its best and highest expression: beauty"

Tour dates:
08/11/22 Vekks @Vienna, AU
09/11/22 Komunitní prostor Smíchov@Prague, CZ
10/11/22 Recompose Studio @Prague, CZ
11/11/22 Kulturcafè @Berlin, DE
13/11/22 C*SPACE @Berlin, DE
14/11/22 Hamburg tbc
16/11/22 Brønshøj Water Tower@Copenhagen, DK
18/11/22 Die Zentrale @Landshut, DE
19/11/22 Oberstübchen @Regen, DE


Report
Our unforgettable tour in 2022 came to an End!
Two weeks of traveling, touring, making music and painting were full of adventure, laughters and inspirations and memories. I wanted to take time to unpack the journey and make a blog about it. Stay tune!
Our Journey so far -Ljubljana-Jazzit Fest in Feltre-Berlin
In the summer of 2017, we performed in Ljubljana, at the Jazzit Festival in the beautiful Feltre, Italz.
winter of 2017, Satoyama visited Lavia in Berlin and they performed at Artist Homes, Galatea Wine & Music, Kulturcáfe Neukölln and at a private resident.
Have a look at the photos of our past performanes.