SADATO "Yallah!" (Short Film)

"Here is a feast of audio-visual proof that the impossible can be achieved! Here is a beautifully wild record of one man’s fantastic spirit and imagination, here is a document of a legend in the making…HERE IS YALLAH!"

Watch the Iranian-American artistic collaboration that happened in Tokyo 27 years ago!

This short film takes you back again to SoSaLa's past when he lived and performed under the name of "Sadato" in Japan. This is the final concert of his band SADATO at the club SILVER ELEPHANT located in the Kichijoji district of Musashino in the west of Tokyo, Japan in 1996. This was also Sadato’s last short film project with NY’s filmmaker Stephen Black who lived and worked at that time in Tokyo and Hong Kong.

Stephen had lived in Tokyo for many years working as a photographer, film director, videographer, TV producer; and writer. They lived in the same neighborhood and met each other there by chance. Eventually, they became friends. After attending a SADATO concert Stephen fell in love with SADATO and became a hardcore fan of this band. Stephen inspired by Sadato’s personality and his music offered his service as a filmmaker and videographer which resulted in making a couple of Sadato and SADATO short films.

Sadato and Stephen have three things in common: music, being artists, and foreigners in a non-English speaking country. Both of them were trying the impossible, namely to break into the local indie music scene and have some positive impact on it.

This short film is not just about documenting a concert but the documentation of two foreigners collaborating and how they look at music and film cultures.

Stephen does a great job using a bunch of different content forms in a single interactive presentation. This film is a collage of music, colors, and scenes featuring children playing in a playground, Stephen on the subway holding his camera shooting the reflection of himself from the opposite window, featuring the owner and old lady of Sadato’s favorite bar KINZAN, him playing his sax above his bath house and from his apartment’s balcony, and Tokyo street scenes; plus Hong Kong images, such as TV scenes, beach, etc.

Sadato’s role in this multi-media project was to provide the music, do the stage acting, and come up with a general message for the concert. Stephen was in charge of working out a musical-visual story adding all kinds of tools and editing techniques.

This short film proves that SADATO played a special role in the Tokyo indie music scene from 1988 - 1999. It was a group of phenomenal performers creating music that combines jazz, art rock, Middle Eastern rhythm, improvisations; and sometimes danceable tunes. Speaking of the lyrics (Sprechgesang) which was primarily in English switching easily into Japanese, German, French, or Farsi.

Artist: SADATO
Title: YALLAH!
Tracklist:
1. Improv #1
2. Tek Noo! *
3. No Mo’ Reggae +
4. Strangers in the Night +
5. WER WIE WO WAS WARUM #
6. U-Wasa *
7. On Vacation *
8. Improv #2
9. Death +
10. In The World Zoo *
11. Improv #3
12. Sohrabe Yal Va Rostam *
13. Persian Flamenco
From the CD SADATO “Cha Cha”
From the CD SADATO “No More Reggae”
From the CD SADATO “1992”

Tracks composed by:
Sadato aka SoSaLa: #4, #6 and #10
Sadato aka SoSaLa/Shimizu: #1, #3, #5, #7, and #8
Sadato aka SoSaLa, Shimizu, Kato and Watanabe: #2
Sadato aka SoSaLa, but lyrics by Bert Kaempfert with English lyrics by Charles Singleton
and Eddie Snyder: #9

Musicians:
Sadato: vocals & saxes
Masaki Shimizu: fretless bass
Ryo Kato: drums
Tatsuya Watanabe: organ & synthesizer