On the occasion of H&M’s exclusive event to celebrate its latest collection with ROTATE.
Gathered at the luxurious Four Seasons Madrid, specifically at the Isa Cocktail Bar, we were able to enjoy a hilarious evening in the company of some of the most prominent personalities in fashion, music and art, such as Paula Cendejas, María Escarmiento, Blanca Martínez and Mery Lozano, who did not hesitate to wear their favourite looks from this festive collection.
And what is an event without good music? In addition to DJ’s Sweet Tamarindo and Donna Leake, who made everyone there dance, Zazo managed to elevate the atmosphere of the meeting with his magical sounds on the piano. We took the opportunity to talk to him about his career, his motivations and his special participation in the event.
HIGHXTAR (H) – For those who don’t know you yet… Who is Zazo?
ZAZO (Z) – Zazo is the pianist of the pianobars at night in Madrid. Wherever there’s a piano and it’s dark, you’ll find me being the piano dj, playing tunes and setting up impromptu boilers in the crowd.
(H) – What does music mean to you?
(Z) – Music is the soundtrack of my life. Today, luckily, it is also my job. Thanks to music I have been able to establish my spaces of trust wherever I have lived, both in Valencia when I was a child when I went to choir and conservatory and now in Madrid where I am surrounded by people who live music as I do.
(H) – How did your relationship with music begin?
(Z) – I started studying clarinet at the conservatory when I was 8 years old, but after a year I changed instruments to play the viola. Later I was given my first keyboard, a Casio with little lights, with which I began to learn songs that were played on the radio. I remember that the first one I learned, apart from the classical music we studied at the conservatory, was a song by the Jonas Brothers, which I wanted to surprise my sister with on her birthday.
(H) – Is there a recurring theme or concept that inspires you when composing?
(Z) – Composing still scares me, the creative process is something I have a lot of respect for, a little bit because I’m afraid of putting ideas through a filter and a little bit because I think about the permanence of ideas. That’s why I enjoy playing much more and keep it in the ephemeral and transient. I’m inspired by classical music, but also by current trends. I enjoy experimental pop, techno, urban music… and above all I’m inspired by my friends, not only those who are dedicated to music but also those who join me in singing and shouting every time I play as if it were a concert in a stadium.
(H) – Can you play the piano, the guitar, the viola… Is there any instrument you can’t play?
(Z) – My big thorn in my side is the drums, I would have loved to learn percussion when I was a kid but the neighbours would have collapsed, it was enough to put up with a small child trying to play a viola. Nowadays I try to learn as much as possible about synthesizers and keyboards.
(H) – You accompany Marina Reche and Aron Piper in their projects. What do you enjoy most about a band?
(Z) – I love the social side of a band, everything you share before you go on stage that makes that day’s gig unique. At the end of the day, as a musician, the gigs themselves are 10% of the experience of being part of a musical project: we rehearse, travel, eat, hang out, chat and almost confess to each other the other 90% of the time, and that makes the overall experience of a tour very special.
(H) – What about being a soloist?
(Z) – When I play alone I like to feel that I can manage the tempo to my liking. I feel that I am the dj who sets the mood while I play, and moulds it to how the rest of the audience receives it. I like to lengthen and repeat a song when people live it, comment on it or sing it, choose the next one depending on the reactions I see around me or let a song pass if I see that people are not feeling it at that moment.
(H) – Artistic professions are very precarious, what do you think it takes to launch a career and get into the industry?
(Z) – Unfortunately, to depend at least at the beginning on another job. I am lucky (or unlucky) to have studied architecture, so the first two years of my life in Madrid, when I was looking for a job as a musician, were spent combining it with a job in an architecture studio. It’s a pity that the necessary opportunities don’t exist to be able to make a firm commitment from the very beginning to an ambitious musical project. In the end, only those who are not concerned about supporting themselves financially are able to do so.
(H) – How did this collaboration with H&M come about and what does it mean to you?
(Z) – I was asked to play at the presentation of their new collection after seeing what happens around me when I sit down with a piano. People become animated and uninhibited, they join in and sing without any kind of embarrassment. The truth is that I think I’m lucky enough to feel like the generator of very cool moments when someone gets excited because I’m playing their favourite song, or I’m playing the song that reminds them of X person, or that unites a group of friends and they all feel it in unison.
(H) – Where can we see you next?
(Z) – Last week we started the ‘LO HE HE INTENTADO’ Tour with Marina Reche and with it we will be travelling to many cities in Spain. Next month we also start the ‘TANTO POR HACER’ Tour with Cariño, so until March we will also be travelling all over Spain presenting her new album.
(H) – Any secret projects you are working on that you can tell us about?
(Z) – If I told it, it wouldn’t be a secret anymore! For now I am enjoying a lot of what is happening to me this year, but for now I will say that it is only the harvest of what is to come in 2025.
(H) – Do you have any specific long-term career goals or dreams, such as playing on a major stage or collaborating with a particular artist?
(Z) – In 2021 I wrote a tweet that said ‘I only have one dream and that is to play with: Oklou, Sevdaliza and Samantha Hudson’. So far I’m 1/3 of the way there, so for now I’ll stick to playing with the other 2.
Scroll through the gallery below and discover a brief summary of what we experienced yesterday together with H&M and ROTATE:
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