For Immediate Release: April 6, 2022
Grand Vision Foundation Presents
Small Island Big Song
A Live Music and Multimedia Concert
Championing Environmental Awareness and Cultural Preservation
Warner Grand Theatre
Wednesday, April 27, 2022
SAN PEDRO, CA – Grand Vision Foundation presents Small Island Big Song, a live music and multimedia concert on Wednesday, April 27, 2022, at 7:30 pm at the Warner Grand Theatre in San Pedro, California. The Small Island Big Song concert is part of a larger multi-platform project—that includes a documentary film and several full-length albums—uniting indigenous musicians who share an ancient seafaring ancestry across the Pacific and Indian Oceans. Composed, recorded and filmed with the artists, in the languages and with the instruments of the artists’ homelands, Taiwanese producer BaoBao Chen and Australian music producer and filmmaker Tim Cole have created an epic contemporary and relevant musical statement from a region at the frontline of global cultural and environmental challenges.
The concert is framed in a theatrical narrative, combining oceanic grooves, soulful island ballads, spoken word, and films of the artist’s homelands. The Los Angeles event will feature performances by Putad (Amis tribe of Taiwan), Selina Leem (Marshall Islands), Richard Mogu (Magi tribe of Papua New Guinea), Sammy (Merina tribe of Madagascar), and Emlyn, Kan, Kokol, all from Mauritius. The Warner Grand Theatre, originally opened as a lavish movie palace in 1931, is located at 478 W. 6th St., San Pedro, CA 90731. Small Island Big Song concert tickets range in price from $28 to $105. Call the box office at 310-548-2493 or visit the event page for tickets and more at grandvision.org/event/small island-big-song. Visit the venue’s FB and Instagram for artist bios. To learn more about the whole project, please visit www.smallislandbigsong.com. Watch the concert trailer here: youtube.com/watch?v=H3hChsglDIY.
For this concert only, a few special site-specific experiences will be incorporated including:
- The Marshallese Youth of Orange County (MYOC) will offer a pre-event Lei Ceremony to honor several of the dignitaries who have made it possible to bring this event to San Pedro. Marshalleseyouth.org | facebook.com/myocorg
- Josh Andujo, a member of the Gabrielino-Tongva Tribe and a tribal dancer, will start the event with a traditional Tongva welcome song.
The U.S. leg of the concert tour kicked off in Seattle in late January. It will touch down in 31 more locations before its final stop in San Pedro—the southernmost tip of the City of Los Angeles—after which it will head to Italy to headline the 2022 Capital of Culture. See all the stops here. Through music, this production draws attention to the diverse cultures of Madagascar, Taiwan, Marshall Islands, Papua New Guinea, Tahiti, Mauritius, and more.
New audiences will hear the music that has earned the award for Album of the Year (German Record Critics’), Best Asia/Pacific Album (UK Songlines Music Award), and nominations for Best Concept Album and Best Music Website from the U.S. Independent Music Awards. “We are excited to be the only Southern California location to present this exhilarating concert event,” stated Liz Johnson, Executive Director, Grand Vision Foundation.
News from the 2021 COP26 UN Conference in Glasgow reports that two of the eight islands of the nation of Tuvalu are nearly submerged and according to the U.S. Geological Survey, the Marshall Islands to the north may face the same fate within the next 20 years. “This situation is
not only affecting the South Pacific. Climate change and sea level rise are changing coastlines around the world, in ways that threaten ecological balances that we rely on,” says Dr. Julianne Pasarelli, Education and Collections Curator at the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium in San Pedro. “Sea level rise can change the nature of local wetlands, threatening animal habitats and fisheries, and can also remove natural buffers from storms – not to mention the risk to freshwater supplies and the impact on real estate.”
This project is presented by AltaSea, the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium, and the Marine Mammal Care Center. It is generously supported by the LA City Councilman Joe Buscaino, the LA County Supervisor Janice Hahn, and the Family of Gary and Milli Alexander.
“We’re thrilled to help bring Small Islands Big Song to the Warner Grand because it is a unique live music event, but at the same time, it is a powerful call to action.” – Jenny Krusoe, Executive Director, AltaSea.
About the film and album that inspired the LIVE CONCERT:
THE FILM: SMALL ISLAND BIG SONG – AN OCEANIC SONGLINE
Released in August 2019, Small Island Big Song – An Oceanic Songline has screened around the world. Filmed over three years on 16 Island nations with 33 Indigenous tribes across the Pacific & Indian Oceans, while working with over 100 artists, this grassroots musical journey follows the ocean highways uniting ancient musical lineages from Madagascar to Rapa Nui (Easter Island), Taiwan to Aotearoa (New Zealand). A heartfelt plea for environmental awareness and cultural preservation from those on the frontline of the climate crisis, the entire Small Island Big Song project presents a viewpoint rarely encountered in the Western hemisphere.
A Small Island Big Song production, the documentary is directed by Tim Cole and produced by BaoBao Chen. See the trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAvgoKDP9pU. Learn more by visiting https://www.smallislandbigsong.com/film and https://www.imdb.com/title/tt12715298. The film’s soundtrack can be heard on SoundCloud here: https://soundcloud.com/small-island-big-song/an-oceanic-songline.
THE ALBUM: OUR ISLAND
Our Island is the second album to come out of the Small Island Big Song universe. The 14-song collection was released on January 28, 2022, and entered the Trans-Global Music Chart at #1. Listen on Bandcamp, here: https://smallislandbigsong1.bandcamp.com/album/our-island
GRAND VISION FOUNDATION
Grand Vision Foundation is a non-profit 501(c)(3) arts presenting and arts education organization. The organization serves as the Official Friends’ Group to the Warner Grand Theatre and regularly produces live concerts at the Grand Annex Music Hall, a 150-seat music listening room in the heart of San Pedro’s arts district, as well as concerts, performances and educational events at the 1,500 seat Warner Grand Theatre. For the next generation, Grand Vision’s “Meet the Music” program serves over 2,300 elementary students, primarily in the LA Harbor area, with a robust in-school music curriculum.
LINKS
- Small Island Big Song – Smallislandbigsong.com
• Instagram – Instagram.com/small_island_big_song
• Facebook – Facebook.com/smallislandbigsong
• YouTube – youtube.com/smallislandbigsong - Grand Vision Foundation – Grandvision.org
• Instagram – Instagram.com/warnergrand_grandannex
• Twitter – Twitter.com/GrandAnnex
• Facebook – Facebook.com/GrandVisionFoundation
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For more information, photos, to schedule an interview or request audio files, please contact Green Galactic’s Lynn Tejada at 213-840-1201 or lynn@greengalactic.com.