Water Pushes Sand
Nominated for 2017 ARIA Awards Jazz Album of the Year and APRA/AMC Art Music Awards 2016 'Jazz Work of the Year', Water Pushes Sand is a major musical work that sees virtuosic Chinese and Australian musicians reinvigorate the endangered music of China's Sichuan Province to create an entirely new sound world. Traditional Sichuan melodies and rhythms are fused with modern jazz improvisation in a wild intercultural celebration.
Composed by Erik Griswold with video shot on location in Chengdu, Water Pushes Sand evokes the tea-houses, streets and rivers of Sichuan and explores the changing faces of Chinese and Australian culture.
Griswold and the Australian Art Orchestra, led by artistic director Peter Knight, fuse Sichuan melodies and rhythms with modern jazz improvisation, contemporary dance and video projections that evoke the vibrant landscape of the Chengdu Provence.
The most recent tour of the project, saw the AAO perform in Chengdu, Shanghai and Xi’an. The concerts followed the hugely successful presentation of Water Pushes Sand at OzAsia Festival and Melbourne Festival in 2015, as well as a 2017 Australian tour, including a performance at MONA (Museum of Old and New Art) in Hobart, Tasmania.
“Water Pushes Sand was a great success at OzAsia Festival. The audiences loved it, unanimous appraise.” – Joseph Mitchell, Festival Director OZ ASIA FESTIVAL.
Releases
Past Tour Dates
PAST TOUR DATES:
Shaan Xi Grand Theatre, Xi’An (China), 26 October 2019
Shanghai Performing Arts Festival, Shanghai (China), 23 and 24 October 2019
Chengdu Art Centre, Chengdu (China), 22 October 2019
Due West Festival, Braybrook, 24 August 2017
Ainslie Arts Centre, Canberra, 23 August 2017
The Jazzlab, Melbourne, 22 August 2017
Darwin Festival, Darwin, 17 August 2017
MONA, Hobart, 26 August 2017
APRA/AMC Art Music Awards, Sydney, August 15, 2016
Arts Centre Melbourne, Melbourne Festival
9, 10 October, 2015
OzAsia Festival, Adelaide
2, 3 October, 2015
Creative Team
Composition, piano - Erik Griswold
Percussion - Vanessa Tomlinson
Trumpet - Peter Knight
Saxophone - Tim O'Dwyer
Double Bass - Samuel Pankhurst
Suona (Chinese double reed instrument) - Zhou Yu
Sichuan Opera Face Changing Dancer and vocals - Zheng Sheng Li
Chinese Percussion - Zhong Kai Zhi
Guzheng (Chinese string instrument) - Zhou Tao Tao
Dizi (bamboo flute) - Shi Lei
Dramaturg - Tamara Saulwick
Video - Scott Morrison
Video (location) - Christie Stott (location based filming)
Production Manager - Jem Savage
The 2019 tour of Water Pushes sand is supported through the Australia Council for the Arts and the Australia-China Council.
The original development and presentation of this project was developed in partnership with the Sichuan Conservatory of Music, and supported by the Australian Government through the Australia International Cultural Council, an initiative of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, as well as the Australian Council for the Arts (Creative Partnerships with Asia) and Creative Victoria.