A couple of years ago we were totally blown away by a performance at Womadelaide by the Australian Art Orchestra, an experimental ensemble made up of trumpeter/composer Peter Knight, David Yipininy Wilfred on yidaki (didgeridoo) Aviva Endean on clarinet, Yolngu songman Daniel Wilfred and Korean jazz vocalist Sunny Kim. It was an incredible collision of cultures, filled with these awe inspiring moments of experimentation, merging Daniel and David’s songlines from the Yolgnu Manikay tradition with strange and beautiful amalgamations of sound. They’re now going under the name of that performance Hand To Earth and they’ve returned with a new album Mokuy, produced and mixed by Lawrence English, who also adds atmospheres and treatments, field recordings, electronics. ‘Watu’ is our first taste of their new work.
After the impact of their Womadelaide performance we reached out to Peter Knight who told us that their process was closer to a garage band than anything else. You can read that interview here.
This is what they have to say about it:
“The process of making music together in Hand to Earth is unlike any other we have experienced. It is not free improvisation but it is not composed either. It is somewhere in between, and it feels like ‘weaving.’ Through Hand to Earth, we weave the threads of our different histories, different lives, and different perspectives together, and become family.”
Mokuy will be released on the 24th of November 23 via Room40. You can find it here.
TOUR DATES
21-23 September
Jeonju Sori Festival, Korea
24 September
Banjul Stage, Seoul
28 September
Melbourne International Jazz Festival with Amalia Umeda (violin)
16 November
Luxembourg Philharmonie for Rainy Days Festival
18-19 November
Jazztopad Festival Wroclaw, Poland with Amalia Umeda
21 November
Brebl, Nijmegen, Netherlands
22 November
ArtEZ University, Arnhem, Netherlands, Workshop/performance
23 November
Bimhuis, Amsterdam
