The artists participating in SAND come from all over Asia. Their approaches to music are also vast. Ang Song Ming from Singapore has set up multiple guitars for the audience to play by hitting plastic balls at the instruments. Cedric Maridet from Hong Kong explores the relationship between image and sound. New Fairfield Parks & Recreation (NFPNR) from Hong Kong transform urban sounds into something “sublime and dissonant,” writes one reviewer. ZenLu has invented an abstract electronic sound which has pioneered a new kind of creativity in mainland China. Some of the artists are also involved in promoting boundary-pushing music in their hometown. In Malaysia, Yeoh Yin Pin, one of the SAND participants, runs a number of labels dedicated to experimental, creative works.

This evening of new music will be accompanied by a prior weeklong exhibition of gig poster art by the Montreal duo Seripop. George asked Seripop to participate in SAND because of their role in Montreal’s silk-screening DIY scene. Seripop’s love of music is embodied in their posters and album covers, the same way SAND embodies sound, art, noise, drone, as well as the Chinese word for sound (sang).

For these four friends, SAND is not an end in itself. George explains that their intention is to use minimal resources to provide a platform on which like-minded musicians can collaborate. “We want to do more festivals in the future. We want to inspire collaboration, not have people just attend the show and leave.”

At one point, someone in the room says, “We in Hong Kong don’t have this DIY spirit yet.” Given that these four friends mostly got to know each other through White Noise over the last few years, and that they put together Hong Kong’s first experimental music festival, financed it purely out of pocket and out of a love for music, we may be able to refute this. SAND is coming, and it definitely has spirit.

List of Artists: Cedric Maridet (Hong Kong), Dickson Dee (Hong Kong), Fathmoun t (Hong Kong), Pei (Taiwan), Nanahara Shuya(Hong Kong), New Fairfield Parks and Recreation (Hong Kong), Peter Scherr (Hong Kong), Sylvain Holtermann (Hong Kong), Ang Song Ming (Singapore), Yeoh Yin Pin (Malaysia), Zen Lu (Shenzhen,China)

SAND Festival 2006
Date: June 24th, 2006
Open: 16:00 –
Place: Para/Site Art Space
Address: G/F, 4 Po Yan Street, Sheung Wan, Hong Kong
Price (At Door): HKD$120 (incl. one drink)
Tel: +852 9689 1299
Organizers: Enoch Kwan, George Chuk, Wilson Lee, Gary Ieong, White Noise Records
http://www.sandfesthk.com