Returning to Abbotsford Convent this November, Open Spaces is a two-day festival spanning arts, design, markets, tours, food, well-being and live music. At the centre of this celebration of cultural and creative diversity is the Open Sounds Music Program, programmed by musician Joel Ma.
Ma has participated in stacks of festivals around Australia and overseas both as a member of hip hop group TZU and via his solo outlet, Joelistics. Having forged a career through artistic and cultural subversion, he was suitably placed to put together the Open Sounds program.
“I had a few key rules when programming Open Sounds,” says Ma. “Pay people for their time, be culturally diverse and gender equal, nurture new talent, take chances and give the audience music they might not usually hear.”
A number of Ma’s selections will be a revelation to audience members, including Sudanese songwriter Gordon Koang, indie duo BenFugee and Aleesha Jasmine, Chinese-Australian composer Mindy Meng Wang and global experimentalists Indolombia.
“An artist like Gordon Koang is a big deal back in South Sudan and all over Africa,” says Ma. “He’s a verified legend over there and yet he’s living in Dandenong as a refugee waiting for his visa and not many people know about him in Australia.
“Mindy Meng Wang is a master of the guzheng [Chinese zither] and comes from the world of Chinese classical music, but in Melbourne she plays with experimental electronic artists and jazz bands. She’s really stretching the limits and boundaries of her instrument and updating it to exist in a contemporary world.”
The lineup includes bigger names like Cool Out Sun – the Afro-funk super group featuring N’fa Jones and Sensible J – and the Senegambian Jazz Band. Japanese hip hop duo Aaron Choulai and Daichi Yamamoto will make an exclusive appearance.
“Aaron is a world-class jazz pianist who also makes hip hop beats and he’s teamed up with a half-Jamaican, half-Japanese MC and they’re flying over from Tokyo for the gig,” Ma says.
The breadth of the program is indicative of Ma’s thirst for making new discoveries and gathering inspiration from unconventional genres and creative endeavours. Ideally, the Open Sounds program will deliver this sort of stimulation to those who come along over the weekend.
“I’m naturally curious about music, life and travel,” Ma says. “Whatever I think I know about anything, I’m aware there is always more to learn. And in the world of music, even more so. I have just been in Spain, in Seville, and heard some really exciting flamenco music mixed with Japanese instrumentation and throat singing. I love that, when disparate elements are brought together and interact in completely new ways.
“I would love to see that happen more in the local music scene: an indie-rock band playing with a South Sudanese thom player, a hip hop band jamming with a Indian classical orchestra. Just creative people freaking the program.”
Ma’s program reflects the Abbotsford Convent’s vision for Open Spaces by being impressively diverse not just in terms of the ethnicities represented, but also the genres of music and identities of the individual performers. This is in sharp contrast to a large chunk of the local festival market, which tends to be quite limited in scope.
“I used to work at Multicultural Arts Victoria and came face to face with the limited awareness that lots of festival promoters have in regards to music,” Ma says. “So many of the major Melbourne music festivals are so predictably safe, predominantly Western, triple j driven and inevitably linked to drinking culture. Why? Probably because the bottom line is money and festival directors feel they can’t take chances.
“But there is so much incredible music from around the world and so much of it represented in Melbourne, much of it cutting edge and hip. I programmed a diverse lineup not because it’s the woke thing to do, but because the music is outrageously good.”
Ma is originally a Sydneysider, but his music career only kicked off once he made the move south. The city’s ongoing embrace of forward-thinking music and other creative activities has kept him here for the better part of two decades.
“I always thought living in Sydney was great. The beaches are some of the best in the world, but that’s what makes it a difficult city to make art in. Why sit in a dark studio mulling over your song or painting or latest experimental video art when you can go to the beach?
“At a festival like Open Spaces where food, music, art, conversation and good people come together, regardless of Melbourne’s turbulent weather, people can enjoy an outdoor/indoor event set in beautiful surroundings.”
