Formula Indie Sessions _ Interview with Kadjavsi

What is your earliest memory connected to music?

Hmm, I’m not 100% sure, but what immediately comes to mind is when my father introduced me to Carlos Santana. I remember doing my schoolwork while his albums were playing in the background. There were also some Neil Diamond records playing in the house.

How did your passion for creating music begin?

When I was 4 or 5, I was on a vacation with my parents, visiting the seaside. We stayed at a rented house that had two other houses near it, and they were all connected through a little garden. One day, while playing, I started exploring around and noticed one of the other houses had its door open. Curious, I went inside, and right near the door, there was a piano. It was the first one I ever saw. Nobody seemed to be around, but the place didn’t seem abandoned or anything like that. I started randomly pressing some notes, and after a couple of seconds, an elderly man came to investigate the sound. Long story short, that man was Dan Mizrahy, one of Romania’s most prolific pianists, the first one in the country to play Gershwin’s songs. He and his wife became close friends with my parents, and then he became my first piano teacher. After a couple of months of learning the basics, I started “writing” my own songs (you can imagine they were extremely simplistic melodies, but I really enjoyed it nonetheless). It’s kind of funny how this whole thing happened, and that somehow, I still do music to this day. Mr. Mizrahy sadly passed away many years ago, but I will remember him forever as the person who introduced me to playing the piano.

What’s the story behind your current music project?

I started Kadjavsi back in 2016 or something like that. Back then, it was a very experimental project in which I recorded improvised piano soundscapes for exhibitions I used to take part in as a photographer. “Kadjavsi” doesn’t mean anything in Romanian, but when I was a teenager, while texting a girl I liked, I dropped my phone on the floor. I tried catching it and mistakenly wrote “Kadjavsi”. When I saw that, I liked how it sounded and decided then that it would be my stage name, should I ever perform music live. That must’ve happened around 15 years ago, but I’ve stayed loyal to that. So after writing a few of those soundscapes, I decided I wanted to take a step further and actually start producing and writing songs. And so I wrote my first song back in 2021 and released it. One year later, I wrote my first album, Second Sun. And another year later, I’ve assembled my band and started playing live. That’s pretty much the story behind it.

How would you describe your sound to someone who has never heard your music before?

What is one thing you’ve learned that completely changed the way you make music?

That you can’t please everybody, and there will always be different opinions. So the healthiest thing to do is do it your way, always. I think it’s the only way going forward.

What tools, instruments, or software are essential in your creative process?

My piano is an absolute necessity every time I write music. I literally can’t do anything without it. Every melody I wrote comes from me playing the piano, even if it is played by other instruments in the end. And the software I use for production is FL Studio, which is viewed as odd by my peers, as FL Studio is most often used for hip-hop, rap, techno, house, electronic music, that kind of thing. But I’ve learned how to use it when I was a child, it’s really intuitive and simple so I kept using it.

Which indie artist or song are you loving right now?

I’m completely obsessed with Model/Actriz. My friend Luca (the co-producer of my first album and current guitarist of my band) showed them to me, and I’ll forever be grateful because they are one of the most unique bands I’ve ever listened to. I’m really loving “Thank You by Dido” from them, which they’ve recently released.

How have your personal experiences influenced your music and artistic vision?

I don’t really ”throw” myself into my music in that way. I tend to keep my life separate from it and not write about *literal* things that happened to me. That being said, there are some things that happened in my life that inspired me to write some songs, even though I kinda kept it vague. I tend to internalise a lot of my experience, so I often dive into my thoughts for inspiration rather than my factual day-to-day life.

What emotions or messages do you hope listeners take from your work?

I may be naive, but I like to think that when someone listens to my music, they relate to it as if they read their own journals. Is that dumb? I don’t know. I like the idea of someone thinking to themselves, “hah, yeah, I used to think that too. I had that exact same thought but forgot about it. Odd!”.

What’s the most important lesson music has taught you so far?

What is a dream venue or festival you would love to perform at?

What a great question! Sadly, my answer will probably be quite unsatisfactory, because I don’t really have a dream venue or festival in mind. I just love playing, and it doesn’t really matter where. I know it’s odd, but I’d love to play in non-conventional spaces like a skate park, or a 5-a-side football field, that type of thing.

If you could collaborate with any artist, past or present, who would it be and why?

I’d love to collaborate with James Blake, I think his work as an artist is immense, and also his work as a producer for other projects is incredible too. I think we’d work well together. He has a very special, unique style, but also seems adaptable as well.

Where can our listeners follow and support your music? (Website, Spotify, IG, links)

Anyone can stream my music pretty much everywhere: YouTube, Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, etc. It’s all easily accessible through this link: https://linktr.ee/kadjavsi
I’m also one click away on Instagram: @kadjavsi

Looking toward the future, what’s your dream for the next chapter of your musical journey?

I’d love to start touring at some point and become a frequent name in Europe’s festivals. I’m looking forward to that and I hope it happens. I think I have a decent amount of music, and I’m excited to play it live.

What do you hope listeners will discover about you along the way?

I have no expectations regarding that, I just hope my music finds its audience in time

If you want here you can add a representative Youtube video to insert below the interview 🙂

This is a recent live-session I did where me and my band play some songs off of my new album, “Above Albatross”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4j6ABYSLzU&feature=youtu.be
And this is my favorite music video that I did: https://youtu.be/LycTt916BQQ?si=I_llw1I7Z7IE9Gvz