First appearing on his 2011 album, Haiku, with Polish vocalist Anna Maria Jopek, Makoto Ozone’s O’berek is a genre-bending example of cultural synthesis. The 2011 original version of O’berek is scored for jazz combo with an additional world music element: Ozone adds Japanese flute to the standard piano-drums-bass lineup. Haiku went platinum on Polish charts, and O’berek has since become a popular tune in Ozone’s setlist. The collaboration with Jopek blends Polish dance forms, Japanese flute playing, and American jazz in a way that seems impossible to mesh but absolutely works. The goal of their collaboration was to “find a common factor in Japanese and Polish music.” O’berek does exactly that, with the lively dance rhythm bursting from the piano, vocals that echo the percussive groove, and Japanese flute that weaves in and out of the foreground. The percussive backing is perfect for dancing, and Jopek’s Polish vocals sit squarely within the texture to provide a cohesive combo sound. 

In his 2021 album Ozone 60, the composer expands the length of the work while paring down its forces. Now seven minutes long but without the full combo, the original tune jives across the keyboard with the same rhythmic fervor. A syncopated clapped rhythm opens the work but is soon interrupted by a mysterious ostinato which fuels the Slavic-imbued chart. Ozone’s playing exhibits a cool control over the keyboard. Smooth grace notes and melodies come just as easily to Ozone as rumbling, percussive bass lines. In O’berek, Ozone’s left hand blends pesante downbeats, necessary for the dance, with melodic flutters and ornaments that pop effortlessly from his right hand. 

Now scored for a full symphony orchestra, O’berek reaches its largest form. Orchestrated by Garth Edwin Sunderland and premiered in 2024 with the Hangzhao Philharmonic in China, the orchestral version utilizes Ozone’s hallmark textural variance and differences in articulation to achieve a symphonic groove.