“Ayrılıq Olmasaydı” (If Separation Didn’t Exist) is the new single by Ya Tosiba, the Finnish–Azerbaijani–Norwegian duo of vocalist Zuzu Zakaria and producer Tatu Rönkkö, released on New York label Purplish Records as part of Batch #6. Originally an Azerbaijani song from the 1980s, it is reinterpreted through Zakaria’s vocal delivery and electronic production, placing themes of absence, distance, and displacement at the centre.

The track forms part of Ya Tosiba’s 2025 album 40girls, a work rooted in folk music’s storytelling spirit. The record initiates a dialogue between generational memory and forward-looking experimentation, opening with samples of the Şüştər and Rahab makams that intertwine with subtle electronic textures. Across the album, Ya Tosiba shape a sound world where oral tradition and digital construction are in constant conversation.

The single is accompanied by a video in which Zakaria portrays a geologist in an Antarctic research station searching for micrometeorites hidden in grains of sand. Inspired by Bioart Society’s Field Notes programme in Lapland, the imagery echoes the song’s theme of separation by transforming scientific observation into a metaphor for memory and longing.

“Ayrılıq Olmasaydı” demonstrates Ya Tosiba’s continuing project of placing Azerbaijani tradition — particularly meykhana — within contemporary electronic frameworks

Listen to and get your copy of Batch #6 HERE