Hi, my name is Cairobi

HI, MY NAME IS ist der einfallslose Titel für eine kontinuierliche Interview-Reihe mit talentierten Fotografen, Musikern, Künstlern und inspirierenden Persönlichkeiten unserer Zeit. Ziemlich einfallsreich dagegen sind die vier experimentierfreudigen Musiker von Cairobi, eine Band der multipler Klangwelten und eklektischer Avantgarde.

Möchte man neue Hemisphären musikalischer Raffinesse erkunden, dann ist man bei diesem charismatischen Sound-Kollektiv an der richtigen Adresse. Bereits vor einigen Wochen, haben wir das Debütalbum Cairobis vorgestellt. Nun trafen wir die vier Jungs höchstpersönlich vor ihrem Konzert im Berliner Auster Club und sprachen mit ihnen über musikalische Abenteuerreisen und einzigartige Erfahrungen. Warum Kraut Rock und Lucio Battisti so lebendig sind, wie selten zuvor und warum man im Leben mindestens einmal zurückkommen sollte, erfahrt ihr hier im Interview.

Cairobi & me

Gruppenfoto: Giorgio, Alessandro, Salvador, Aurelien and me

What’s the Cairobi Style?

Giorgio: I guess, it’s pop music with some very Italian taste. But there is also some Kraut Rock. For example we like Can a lot. Listening to their music and developing some ideas of them, it’s like getting a starting point for several songs of us. And also geographically there is a bit of everything. We are based nowhere in these days but we are constantly travelling to get together.

… so, the band in three words?

Giorgio: Brillant, Fantastic. Awesome. (laughs)

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Cairobi, one name, one meaning?

Giorgio: It’s just a word. I woke up with this word in mind. We were looking for a name and I suggested it. Becfore we used to be called “Vadoinmessico” and we always had to explain the story behind it. After a while it was exhausting. So we decided to go for a name that hasn’t a story. Just a name.

Everything began…

Giorgio: …when Sandro and I met. I was 13 and he was 16. We were playing on a school concert together. Me, in a very rancid cover band. A punk band. And Sandro in a blues band. The first thing he said was: “Punk is dead, man!”
Alessandro: Somehow we started to play music together for four years. Then he moved to London and we didn’t saw each other for two years. After that I joined these guys.
Giorgio: Yes, I met Salvador and then the band was growing. At some point we needed a bass player. And I said: Ok, I’ve just a man.
Alessandro: Exactly. The only bass player you knew! (laughs)

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Listening to your sound, it takes me on a journey through through space and time. Which are the roots of your trip?

Giorgio: There is a lot of Battisti in this record I think. You’ve just recognized it! … And then there are influences of Lucio Dalla, Can, of course, and also the Flaming Lips.
Salvador: On tour we were listening to a lot of Cumbia, too.

Explain me: Between London, Berlin and Italy… who stays where?

Giorgio: Salvador is the only one who didn’t left London. Sandro went back to Rome, Aurelien is 100% in Berlin and I’m kind of switching between Berlin and London and Italy.

So how you are managing all this?

Alessandro: Flights!

And which influence have the cities on your music?

Giorgio: I think it’s an unconscious influence. I’m not able to tell you in which way it influences you, but I’m sure it does. The colours, the sounds on the street,… the conditions of life. London for example is very difficult for a musician to live.
Salvador: And of course even if you are staying far away from your home or not.
Giorgio: Once you leave home, it gets tough.

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Something everybody should experience in life?

Giorgio: Sex at least once!
Aurelien: Smoking a joint.

Salvador:
Leaving your birthplace for a while.

Once in a lifetime everyone should leave the own birthplace … and coming back home afterwards!

Aurelien: That’s true. Everybody should do this! When I came back from the USA after for one and half year, everything changed. The streets were smaller, people different, even the language seemed to be foreign almost… It’s a strange but important experience.

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One album of the moment…

Aurelien: Spirit of Eden, Talk Talk
Alessandro: My Bloody Valentine, MBV
Giorgio: It’s not the one, but one I like: Rock Bottom from Robert Wyatt
Salvador: Me too… Talk Talk from Spirit of Eden … I recently re-listened that record a lot.

Last but not least: Your question…

Aurelien: What… is your quest?
Giorgio: Or …What is a good question to us?

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For more Cairobi, check out there FB + Insta.

Photo credits
all pictures by Helen Hecker