NOTE: This post went live on the Dutty Artz site 2 weeks ago, a few hours before a deep glitch sent the site offline, so although the Hong Kong trip has already happened, nobody got to read this preview writeup. Check back in a few days for the recap.
I’m about to hop on a 16-hour nonstop flight to Hong Kong (via the Arctic Circle?), where, timeslipped 13 hours ahead into my sleep-deprived Eastern future I’ll step off the plane and head straight to lead a workshop with a half-dozen traditional musicians from HK and my man Chief Boima. What’s going on?!
Last winter a curator from the FreeSpace Festival dropped me a line. Over the next few months we brainstormed ideas–they were open to different configurations beyond the usual fly in, play some tunes, fly out DJ gig (and this will be my first time there).
Results: there will be a club night where we bring the Dutty Artz vibes– but, excitingly, we are also able slow down and engage with some of the the thought/processes behind my Sufi Plug Ins project & Beyond Digital: Morocco — How do ideas of “traditional” musical cultures interact with our immersive digital realities? Can music software double as a performance archive? What happens when ancient rhythms get translated into the drum machine, or when German synthesizers bend to jam with non-Western scales? Rapidfire African-Chinese globalization sidesteps US/Europe– how does that dynamic impact music-making and technology-use?
To explore these questions, we’re staging a weeklong residency called Beyond Digital 852 (852 = HK’s country code). Boima and I will lab up with an incredible selection of acoustic musicians to orchestrate a collaborative performance that debuts on Sunday November 23. Along the way, us residency participants will discuss related issues, from themes of friction, translation, memory, and more that arise throughout the creation process, to the always-complicated economics of life as a musician. Will the results be danceable? Let’s just say that a special circuit is completed when the audience joins the conversation…
On Saturday November 22, I’m doing a special daytime DJ set accompanied by Lee Kai Ho on live visuals. Both of these performances might happen inside a giant inflatable igloo. Stay tuned on that. These Freespace events are FREE, all-ages afternoon jammies.
On Saturday night Chief Boima and I team up with local talent to throw a DA party at the XXX Gallery (“Hong Kong’s truest underground art space”). Shout out to DJ Shelf Index for making this trip a reality.
I love exploring and engaging with new cities, especially with folks like the mighty Chief Boima. I’m insisting on only eating delicious food, and I think we’re trying to film a video for an upcoming project, too. HONG KONG! Catch us next weekend. My Instagram feed will snapshot the crazy.