Australian Art Orchestra and Section 8 are a match made in heaven, yet proof that god works in mysterious ways...
When I ask Cheryl Durongpisitkul what kind of music the acclaimed saxophonist and composer will be bringing to Section 8 for when the Australian Art Orchestra takes over the stage on March 29, she responds simply with, “Bangers!”
Whilst a club setting isn’t a new environment for Durongpisitkul to be playing music in, it is one she’s tremendously excited for. “This music is more about feeling good for me,” she says of the upcoming event. For one special night, the Australian Art Orchestra will be presenting their new concert series Straight Up and Down (SUAD) to the outdoor dance floors of Naarm’s iconic container bar in the CBD, Section 8, equipped with three new commissioned works, a range of boundary-pushing compositions, and, of course, bangers.
Australian Art Orchestra at Section 8
- Friday March 29, 6pm to late
- Free entry
- 27-29 Tattersalls Lane
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Although not an unfamiliar kind of event for Durongpisitkul, the club night at Section 8 will be a little different to the kind of performances she’s been giving all over the country in the past couple of years. The musician has played everywhere from MONA FOMA to the Melbourne International Jazz Festival, at the Melbourne Recital Centre and the prestigious Hamer Hall. Admittedly, dance floors normally overseen by DJs are a change of pace.
“I have played in clubs before, in various configurations, but I have never written music to be played in these settings! It’s definitely a challenge, but one I’m totally up for!” Durongpisitkul says. It doesn’t matter where the musician plays, she tells me, or to what audience. What matters the most to her is the ability to connect with the music – something that has been a meaningful process of cathartic growth over the most recent chapter of her career.
“Last year, I wrote a mammoth piece,” Durongpisitkul says. “It was informed by my own experiences of trauma, loss, grief and depression that I have felt over the last two and a half decades.” The piece at hand was one of the few that Durongpisitkul composed on her saxophone – a process in which the compositions of the suite were already grounded in “incredibly strong foundations” before any writing began to take place. After losing her mother, Durongpisitkul picked up her saxophone in the hopes of generating material as well as seeking a kind of cathartic act. “It absolutely was,” she says. “It wasn’t so much that I wanted to write music to these stories, but I absolutely felt I had to.”
This in itself demonstrates the profuse range of material the musician is a master of. It points to Durongpisitkul’s ability to be so in touch with both her own emotive journey and the story at hand, as well as the music that portrays these experiences.
These qualities have cemented her as a trailblazer in Australia’s music scene. It all comes down to one thing for Durongpisitkul, as she puts it: “If I have a good experience playing personal, original music, I am totally satisfied in life.”
When it comes to the gig at Section 8, though, the musician admits that there’ll be some emotive experiences of a different kind on offer on the night of March 29. “This is one time where deeply personal concepts will not be informing the music I write,” she says. “It’s still going to have the wonky Cheryl stamp on it all, but I think I’m ready to write music grounded in joy!”
A sumptuous lineup
The line-up of the event includes what Durongpisitkul asserts are some of her favourite musicians, with a large ensemble from the Australian Art Orchestra showcasing the incredible originality, creativity and diversity of Australian improvisers. “[They] will be both reading the silly dots I put in front of them, but also listening deeply and adding themselves in where the space is available,” she says.
Also on the bill for the night are beats from Ra Ra Raj, Joelistics, Dan West and Aaron Choulai to start off the event at 6pm, with Cheryl Durongpisitkul and the AAO ensemble on at 8pm, and then Section 8 DJs from 9pm until late.
This is the kind of event that the city is best known for: the marriage of dynamic culture and artistic experimentation, and all on a night out. I think Durongpisitkul puts it best when she finishes the interview by telling me, “I love to dance, I love to be out! I love the vibrancy of Melbourne’s nightlife and I love bringing the AAO to these spaces!” Rest assured, you will too.
