Australian Art Orchestra

Hand to Earth is a call to open ears: eluding genre, traversing continents and fusing the ancient and contemporary. At its heart are yolŋu manikay (song cycles), a 40,000+ year-old oral tradition from south east Arnhem land, northern Australia. These songs exist to cross vast time and space, to continuously make the continuous – known as raki, the spirit that pulls all together, all performers all listeners.  

Hand to Earth was developed during an Australia Art Orchestra residency in the remote highlands of Tasmania. Through the residency, Yolŋu songman, Daniel Yipininy Wilfred, and Korean vocalist, Sunny Kim, formed an effortless rapport that spans continents and cultures and expresses a deeply human commonality. In Hand to Earth their vocal approaches are melded into the atmospheres created by trumpeter/composer Peter Knight, David Yipininy Wilfred on yidaki and Aviva Endean on clarinets, woven into minimalist soundscapes reminiscent of Brian Eno and Jon Hassell. 

“Daniel Wilfred shares one of the oldest song traditions in the world with us, it’s an extraordinary gift. He has one of those unforgettable voices that feels like it emanates from the earth and changes your body. He has taught us all to listen in new ways.”

Peter Knight

“In our performances, you’re going to experience friendship. And you’ll hear us share ancient ideas and stories, but told in a way that’s quite contemporary.”

Sunny Kim

“When art making crosses cultures, when art making bridges things that usually divide us, what you end up with is the essence of human connection.”

Peter Knight