Can you tell us about this track?

Czarnagora/Rufio approached me about this in the midst of winter, since they had discovered an absolutely huge tunnel that runs below the two rivers, Limmat and Sihl, part of the underground water system of the city. There was this staircase taking you down below to the construction site, you can see that on the cover art. Acoustically it’s a pretty marvelous space. It was the first time I played the saxophone after taking a break from the instrument; I was questioning a lot of my own personal approaches to solo-playing, and the tunnel—for me—shifted the focus away from myself, and turned more toward the tunnel itself, which was very liberating; just a discovery of the space acoustically and of bodies within bodies. It was a great re-entry for me into playing the saxophone again—so I’m very thankful to everyone at the label for doing that.

What’s your process?

I like to collaborate with people, so it varies a lot depending on who I’m working with. But generally I like to take some time to start building things organically. If I happen to work on solo stuff the whole process is a bit more murky and stretches over longer periods of time. It starts with hearing different things and taking notes and recordings on my phone and starting to compose little bits and moments with things I have access to at the moment. It’s a very collage-y process I guess. And then there’s always that improvisational element in everything I do, whatever it may be, most of the time expressed on the saxophone. But I’m very slow, in general.

Tell us about being a musician in Switzerland.

I have my qualms about living in Zurich, like for example the super high cost of living amongst other things, but there are some wonderful people here. The winters can be kinda harsh, it’s just very grey for long periods of time, but nature is very close too and you can swim in most bodies of water around here, which is a luxury. There’s a thing here my friend calls the “Swiss coma,” it’s a very jarring, maybe cultural thing, a weird state of being you inherit if you stay here for too long I guess, haha. But during the summers here most people are gone for the holidays, so the city is quite empty and falls into a very different rhythm which I enjoy a lot.

Who are your favorite Swiss artists?

Lots and lots! I have sets I heard from lumpex and Xafya stuck in my head right now.

Who would you like to see perform in Switzerland?

Right now I’d love to hear and see Roscoe Mitchell, Ashley Paul, Yearning Kru, Helena Gough, Monofee, earth and Rachel O’Dwyer perform here.

Any shoutouts?

To my friends and family that keep me afloat. To the liberation of all people. May we all do our part in ending these settler-colonialist projects.

You can follow Tapiwa Svosve on Nina and Instagram

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