'1988'
Composed by Dung Nguyen and Peter Knight
The fall of Saigon in 1975 triggered a mass exodus of South Vietnamese from their homeland by sea. It is estimated that anywhere between one to two million people would eventually flee the country, of this it is estimated that half perished at sea. One of the lucky ones was Quí Văn Nguyễn.
1988 was a pivotal year for Dung Nguyen as he emigrated from South Vietnam to Australia, to join Quí Văn Nguyễn, his father.
1988 is the point of arrival and the point of departure, the end of one journey and the start of another; yet it is one story, Dung’s story told in fragments. 1988 is misaligned, disjointed and cyclical, it borrows from the memories of the Vietnamese people, but is corrupted by a sense of nostalgia. It intertwines personal narratives, diverse music practices, history, and cultural legacies, in seeking to understand how and why we come to occupy the spaces we find ourselves in.
Consisting of 9 compositions that bleed togther, the individual musical practices of the players in the ensemble align to collectively tell this story with Dung. It is a moment of togetherness that is owed to the richness of his experiences and that of the Vietnamese people. Accompanied by a dynamic and experimental visual design using vintage slide projectors to present personal and archival images, 1988s compositions interweave with the whir and click of the technology, creating a unique musical texture that reflects and highlights the stories being told.
"Dung Nguyen and his experiences... form [1988's] emotional heart. As the show opens he is alone on stage, his fingers dancing nimbly on the dan tranh (Vietnamese zither). Gradually he is joined by Vanessa Tomlinson’s shimmering vibraphone and the ripple of Minh Ha Patmore’s t’rung (a marvellously sculptural bamboo xylophone). The rest of the ensemble arrive silently as the blurry images from six vintage slide projectors come into focus, revealing Nguyen and his family at Melbourne airport in 1988.”
* * * * The Age
Dung Nguyen - lead composer, Vietnamese stringed instruments, dan bau, dan tranh, dan nguyet.
Peter Knight - lead composer, co-director, trumpet, electronics.
Minh Ha Patmore - co-composer, Vietnamese percussion instruments, dan truong.
Vanessa Tomlinson - co-composer, percussion, vibraphone.
Erik Griswold - co-composer, prepared upright piano, melodica.
Helen Svoboda - co-composer, double bass, voice.
Phuong Ngo - co-director, visual design, photography, operation.
Tamara Saulwick - co-director, dramaturge.
Rob Sowinski - lighting design.
Jem Savage - audio design
UPCOMING CONCERTS
TBA
PAST CONCERTS
OzAsia Festival 2023
Space Theatre
Premiere season May 2022 at The Substation
‘1988’ was originally commissioned by the Australian Art Orchestra and The Substation
Photography by Sarah Walker