The Australian Art Orchestra and Bunjil Place come together for the first time to present Saltwater, Sugar, an epic new work by Papuan-Australian composer and AAO Artistic Director Aaron Choulai, commissioned by Bunjil Place in partnership with the Melbourne International Jazz Festival.

Saltwater, Sugar is a story that touches on the interconnectedness of Chinese, Papua New Guinean and Indigenous people during the time of the Gold Rush in Victoria and Blackbirding in North Queensland.

Composed for the Australian Art Orchestra as a 17-piece ensemble alongside Australian music luminaries Ngaiire and Joelistics, this hour-long musical work is built around themes of racial injustice, survival, friendship and often overlooked pockets of resistance during Australia’s colonial past.

A scored fictional narrative that draws on historical events, Saltwater, Sugar is set in the sound world of Duke Ellington, through the distinct voice of the Australian Art Orchestra. Performed in English and Tok Pisin, the piece moves between spoken dialogue, sung melodies and adventurous improvisation from some of Australia’s most important instrumental artists today.

An ambitious musical composition of scale, Saltwater, Sugar traces the friendships and resistance that formed across the very divisions colonial Australia depended on.