A favourite place in Cologne? Olivia Sawano can name quite a few but one in particular is a club that’s a real classic. “Gloria is my favourite concert venue,” she tells us. “I like being there as a performer and as a member of the audience. The atmosphere is always special. I played there with The Slow Show recently and I also went to a wonderful gig by Erlend Øye & La Comitiva.”
Performing on stage is Olivia’s job and her calling in life. She’s been a permanent member of Rundfunk-Tanzorchester Ehrenfeld (RTO) on comedian Jan Böhmermann’s “ZDF Magazin Royale” TV show since 2020. They’re the house band and a key part of the show. “Livi”, as she’s known, is mainly to be found on the keys. “I play piano and synthesiser,” she says, “and every now and again I sing or they hand me some instrument like a sitar or percussion instrument. I also assist the musical director, Lorenz Rhode, write the music for the band and occasionally arrange songs. Just recently, I arranged One and Only for our American musical guest, Oliver Tree.”
Olivia Sawano aka Koe Komoy
It’s a dream job for Olivia, particularly because it’s so varied and she gets to tour Germany, Austria and Switzerland a lot. In fact, the next tour, which will be making a stop at Cologne’s Lanxess Arena, is scheduled for January 2025. The summer and winter breaks mean she can work on her own project too. Under the name of Koe Komoy, she composes, plays and sings poetically perky songs in German, English and Japanese. Her latest single, Geschenkte Zeit (“wasted time”), which she produced with fellow RTO member Matze Krämer, deals with death and mourning and still manages to be a cheerful folk pop earworm despite what might seem a serious topic. The name “Koe Komoy” was inspired by Japanese. “‘Koe’ is Japanese for ‘voice’,” she explains. “For the ‘surname’, I played around with some of my favourite letters, a bit like Scrabble – I really like the ‘o’ sound, for instance – until I had a name I liked.” ‘Komoy’ is also a reference to the word ‘kamuy’ in the language of Japan’s indigenous Ainu people and describes a spiritual power in their mythology.
Music is very much Olivia’s life and Olivia’s life is very much in Cologne. She grew up in Düsseldorf but moved to Cologne in 2005 – initially to study geography and languages. While studying jazz across the border in Maastricht, she continued to live in Cologne – not without reason. “I’d fallen so in love with the city that I didn’t want to move. So I commuted between Cologne and Maastricht and between Cologne and Düsseldorf for my part-time job in a record store there.” And she’s still smitten. “Cologne’s just lovely,” she says. “And it’s multi-faceted and compact, not too big and not too small. Each district has its own vibe and the cultural landscape is fantastic. There’s the philharmonic hall, fascinating museums and, apart from that, when international acts come to Germany, there are usually three stops on the itinerary: Berlin, Hamburg and Cologne. So there are loads of great concerts here!”
I particularly like Beethovenpark and Blücherpark but I also like Fühlinger See lake
Olivia Sawano on Cologne’s green spaces
And on the rare occasions when she’s not doing something related to music, Olivia likes spending time in the city, especially its green areas. “There are a few really nice parks, like Beethovenpark and Blücherpark but I also like Fühlinger See lake, which is a lovely place for a dip,” she tells us. Decksteiner Weiher lake is one of her favourites too. “That’s where I used to go jogging when I was training for the Cologne half-marathon.” The musician is also a keen racing cyclist and loves to join the Cyclits Cycling Collective rides from Lenauplatz square out into the surrounding area.
Being half-Japanese, Olivia enjoys good food too. “People always say Düsseldorf’s got the best Japanese restaurants but Cologne has some good ones too. I really like Momotaro, which is close to Gloria, and Akira. But I’m also a fan of Café Goldmund and the Red Fox Bar, where you can play Skee-Ball over a beer.”
There’s one day of the week when Olivia never goes out though and that’s Thursday. That’s because she spends the whole day in rehearsals, which are followed by the recording of the ZDF Magazin Royale show. “Afterwards,” she tells us, “we usually sit in the music room until late at night mixing the sound. Often, it turns into a nice get-together with the musicians, writers and editors. Nobody goes to a pub after but luckily we do have a little bar with a big fridge in the lobby.”
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