9 minute read
OzAsia Festival 2021, Adelaide
By: Daljeet Bakshi
Due to covid 19 pandemic major events got cancelled or postponed. World renowned OzAsia Festival hosted by Adelaide Festival Centre in Adelaide every year features and celebrates cultural diversity and Asian Australian talent. The festival returns to Adelaide Festival Centre following last year’s online offering.
This year it will mark the first full-scale OzAsia Festival to be delivered under the leadership of its new Artistic Director, An-
nette Shun Wah:
“OzAsia Festival 2021 takes place at a critical moment for Australia’s engagement with Asia, and there’s no better time to ensure the people who best embody that connection – Australians of Asian background – lead the conversation. This year’s distinctive and forward-looking program presents a wealth of exceptional talent and exciting new voices. I invite audiences to enjoy exploring the many treats we have in store, and I can’t wait to see you all in October.”
OzAsia 2021 will feature more than 300 artists in what is expected to be the world’s most significant showcase of Asian Australian talent, with tickets now on sale for an exciting range of contemporary works.
His Excellency the Honourable Hieu Van Le AC, Governor of South Australia and OzAsia Festival Patron: “OzAsia Festival brings together artists with many different voices and perspectives. The wide range of events highlighted in the program for this year are more than just arts experiences – they are opportunities to celebrate, and enjoy, the rich cultural diversity of the Asian region. The festival truly has it all – from free community events right through to ground-breaking stage productions and a stunning film program. I am also looking forward to the Moon Lantern Trail, a reimagining of the ever-popular Moon Lantern Parade. I am proud to be Patron of this fantastic festival and to see how much OzAsia Festival has grown since its inception. It is heartening to see how it has been enthusiastically embraced by the community for 14 years.”
The Honourable Steven Marshall MP, Premier of South Australia: “I am delighted to see the return of this unique festival which has, over the years, been embraced by so many Australians and friends in the Asia Pacific region.
“By showcasing the best of contemporary art experiences from Asia and fostering positive relationships between Australia and its neighbouring countries, OzAsia Festival provides major opportunities for artists to play their part in connecting people and communities. The Government of South Australia is proud to support OzAsia Festival 2021, and I congratulate Adelaide Festival Centre, Annette Shun Wah, and everyone involved in making it possible.”
Adelaide Festival Centre Artistic Director & CEO Douglas Gautier AM: “As Australia’s leading contemporary arts festival fostering cultural engagement between
OzAsia Festival 2021, Adelaide
Australia and Asia, OzAsia Festival is an important celebration of diversity within Australia and artistic excellence. Artistic Director Annette Shun Wah is our country’s most prominent and respected advocate for Asian Australian artists and their work, and this certainly shines through in the exciting program she has delivered. I look forward to welcoming you all to Adelaide Festival Centre for this spectacular showcase of contemporary Asian Australian performance at its finest.”
The extensive program of this year:
This includes World premiere performances include The Demon by award-winning novelist Michael Mohammed Ahmad, who will debut his talents as a playwright at OzAsia Festival 2021.
Adelaide audiences will also be the first to enjoy When by seasoned OzAsia Festival performer Mindy Meng Wang, who will combine film and live music to share emotional stories of life during lockdown.
Internationally renowned martial arts performer Maria Tran will present her new theatre work Action Star, and choreographer/dancer Alison Currie and award-winning Japanese soloist Yui Kawaguchi will perform in their first collaboration together for Somewhere, Everywhere, Nowhere.
Indonesian-Australian artist Jumaadi is reinvigorating the ancient art of shadow play for Perahu-Perahu, while The Long Walk will see boundary-pushing choreographer/ filmmaker Sue Healey combine dance and drone footage for a livestream from the rugged yet beautiful coastline of Robe, South Australia.
Storytellers will be the focus of two unique experiences at this year’s festival. Double Delicious will see a stellar cast including renowned author Benjamin Law and celebrity chef Elizabeth Chong reveal the secrets of dishes significant to their lives, while Open Homes immerses audiences in the personal and moving accounts of everyday people who have chosen to call Adelaide home.
Major events at Her Majesty’s Theatre include Ahimsa: Meditations on Gandhi, a heartfelt tribute celebrating the 150th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi’s birth, and Hand to Earth with Yolngu songman Daniel Wilfred, Korean jazz vocalist Sunny Kim and the Australian Art Orchestra. Acclaimed pianist Belle Chen will present the Australian premiere of Destinations, while The Special Comedy Comedy Special features some of this country’s leading Asian Australian comedians.
Nexus Arts will host Pinoy St Party, a night of street food and entertainment led by Filipino musician Kuya James, along with Playlist by progressive independent acts Rainbow Chan, Corin, (Mindy Meng Wang and Sui Zhen.
Dance theatre work two will explore the interdisciplinary relationship between contemporary dancer Raghav Handa and maestro tabla musician Maharshi Raval, while Sydney Theatre Company and Riverside’s National Theatre of Parramatta present Anchuli Felicia King’s White Pearl – a blisteringly funny satire about a skincare company whose new TV commercial goes viral for all the wrong reasons.
Foodies favourite Lucky Dumpling Market will return to Elder Park, and the ever-popular Moon Lantern Parade is evolving from a one-night event to span four days of free family experiences across the festival’s opening weekend. Starting at Adelaide Festival Centre and taking audiences over the Oval footbridge to Pinky Flat, the newly named Moon Lantern Trail will boast roving performances, interactive workshops and live music – along with plenty of giant lanterns on display.
New writing and ideas program In Other Words is on its way to the Adelaide Riverbank Lawns for OzAsia Festival’s closing weekend (November 5-7). Program Curator Laura Kroetsch, a long-time curator and producer of literary and ideas events, will be joined by writer/broadcaster Benjamin Law and award-winning Indian Australian author
Roanna Gonsalves as guest curators.
In Other Words will bring together some of Asia and Australia’s most inspiring contemporary writers as they engage in vital conversations about our past, present and future. The program – to be revealed in full in September – includes ticketed event Lunch on the Riverbank with Parwana, which will invite patrons to enjoy a special lunch, conversation and book signing with local writer and restaurateur Durkhanai
Ayubi.
Other speakers confirmed so far include broadcast journalist Marc Fennell, filmmaker Tony Ayres, Indigenous rights advocate Larissa Behrendt, finance expert Satyajit Das, newsreader Mimi Kwa, barrister Lyma Nguyen, foreign correspondent James Oaten, economist Geoff Raby AO, University of Cambridge Professor Sujit Sivasundaram, food writer Hetty McKinnon and women’s health and safety advocate Amani Haydar.
Performance art piece AEON†: TITAN ARUM is among OzAsia Festival’s visual art highlights, with an installation at Nexus Arts including live appearances merging dance with uncanny puppetry by Justin
Talplacido Shoulder.
Japanese Australian artist Mayu Kanamori is using her exhibition Untitled. Showa to try to reunite a collection of more than 300 family photographs with their owners. The new Ian & Pamela Wall Gallery at Her Majesty’s Theatre will host On View: In Translation featuring video portraits of dancers from Hong Kong and Japan, while the Dunstan Playhouse’s Station Foyer will display daily screenings of The Strangers by Taiwanese artist Yuan
Goang-Ming.
The Art Gallery of South Australia will host exhibitions True Self and A Vast Emporium. Over at Mercury CX, the film program includes a celebration of Shanghai-born director Wong Kar Wai.
The full OzAsia Festival program can be viewed online at www.ozasiafestival.com.
au.
Hope this year this festival spirit will bring smiles and enjoyment . Lets hope everything goes well with covid situation and people enjoy the display of exquisite arts, performances and Asian food.
Desi Media, South Asian Media group,
wishes all the best to the organisers, participants. Follow the guidelines of SA Gov-
ernment, SA Health, SA Police , Adelaide
Festival Centre and relevant authorities managing the safe plan during covid 19. Think Safe, Act Safe, Be Safe and enjoy the great festival!
(Thanks Media & pubicity team Adelaide Festival Centre, pic cour- tesy Hele )
Prema- Vinny Lunar’s Single
Vinny Lunar is an artist reborn.
The Indian-Australian musician writes, records and produces music that seamlessly fuses RnB, electronica, and South-Asian melodies. His music tips it hat to an eclectic range of influences ranging from Motown soul and modern R&B, to the iconic film scores of AR Rahman that characterised Bollywood’s 90s musical renaissance.
Vinny’s culturally fluidity and versatile ear allows his music to shatter stereotypes and mainstream narratives about what it means to be South Asian. As a musician who was born in Hyderabad, India and who has lived in Australia, Germany and Sweden, Vinny’s new sound displays the strength of a culturally diverse identity and an adventurous artist willing to take risks to define himself on his own terms. Vinny’s natural status as an outsider with a chameleonic taste in music makes him equally comfortable at a Tame Impala, James Blake or Erykah Badu concert. Embracing his third culture identity, he effortlessly switches in and out of different languages in his releases, cleverly dancing between his native tongue Telugu, Hindi and English in his new releases. Switching up from dulcet R&B melodies to hard-hitting hip hop flows, Vinny Lunar’s latest songs evoke his Indian heritage with a tasty modern twist.
His recent release, “Prema,” represents a pivotal and natural shift both in sound and creating an affinity towards his motherland. Prema, which means love in the South-Indian language of Telugu is an ode to South-Asian beauty and iconic Bollywood stars of the 90s. With references spanning Chakha Khan to Shah Rukh Khan, the song cleverly documents Vinny’s rediscovered love for his own culture and heritage after years away from Australia. “It took me going to the other side of the world to finally realise the beauty in my own culture, heritage and complexion” said Vinny
The track was created with Sydney-based producer Moody, from three-piece party-starters True Vibenation. The bass heavy Afrobeat trap production hits hard as Vinny croons through his reflections of a glowing South-Asian woman. The two musicians connected during their time in Berlin, navigating the city’s kaleidoscope of eclectic sounds. The song felt a perfect fit for Vinny as it does justice to the endless nights spent in jazz open mics and Afrobeat parties.
Adapting. Evolving. Assuming form. Vinny Lunar is more confident and evolved than ever before.
FOLLOW ON: www.facebook.com/vinnylunarmusic; www. instagram.com/vinnylunarmusic; www.soundcloud.com/vinnylunarmusic
