Bern-based composer, accordionist and multi-instrumentalist Mario Batkovic announces I I, his new solo album due December 4 via Invada Records. More than a decade after his first record, Batkovic pushes the accordion into a stripped-back and highly physical territory, treating its bellows, keys and mechanics as a complete musical system.
Lead single “MENDICOR” offers the first glimpse of this more direct approach, with Batkovic building tension through tightly controlled movement. About the track, Mario comments;
“With ‘MENDICOR‘, it is not simply about a playing technique or about creating a techno-like effect. I strike the instrument with my fist – more as an expression of frustration, almost like beating my own chest. For me, the accordion becomes something physical, almost like a second lung.
Mendicor roughly means “I beg.” The original idea came from the Christian phrase “pray and work,” which at some point transformed for me into “pray for work.” As a musician, I have often felt that I had to ask for permission to do my work: Am I allowed to play? Am I allowed to perform? Am I allowed to be a musician? These constant attempts to explain myself, and the feeling of having to justify my very existence as a musician again and again, have accompanied me for many years. I think this is something many musicians can relate to.
At the same time, over the years I have observed how quickly your perspective can change once you have achieved something yourself. Suddenly there is a danger of looking down on those who are still standing where you once stood. This cycle is what interests me: how closely the good and the bad can exist alongside each other, and how important it is to keep holding up a mirror to ourselves.
The video carries a great deal of what I have observed through my music, my instrument, and my life as a musician.
The film was created together with the wonderful Ugandan artist Maria Byoma. Although we come from very different geographical and cultural worlds, we found a shared language across that distance. Maria created all the images by hand and brought this world of ‘MENDICOR‘ to life. For me, this collaboration was something very special.”
