Small Island Big Song to perform April 7 at Eisenhower

The activist-musicians of Small Island Big Song will perform at Penn State in a live concert aimed at raising awareness of the environmental plights and heritages of their ocean nations. The multimedia production will start at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 7, in Eisenhower Auditorium. Visit Center for the Performing Arts online for more information. Tickets—$38 for an adult, $5 for a University Park student, and $28 for a person 18 and younger—are available online at cpa.psu.edu. Tickets are also available by phone at 814-863-0255 or in person at Eisenhower Auditorium from noon to 4 p.m. weekdays. A grant from the University Park Student Fee Board makes Penn State student prices possible. This presentation is part of “The Reflection Project,” funded by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The live tour is part of a multiplatform project conceived by Taiwanese producer BaoBao Chen and Australian music producer Tim Cole. They spent more than three years chronicling artists in communities at the forefront of the climate crisis. The grassroots musical follows artists in 16 island nations across the Pacific and Indian oceans in a heartfelt plea for environmental awareness and cultural preservation. The artists released the self-titled CD and documentary film “Small Island Big Song: An Oceanic Timeline” in 2019. In addition to raising awareness of the climate crisis facing water-bound nations, the project explores a migration theory that seeks to establish musical links between cultures and accentuates similarities in regional instruments, voices and rhythm. The Penn State performance will feature the Small Island Big Song artists Sauljaljui and Putad (Taiwan); Emlyn, Kan and Koko (Mauritius); Selina Leem (Marshall Islands); Sammy (Madagascar); and Airileke and Richard Mogu (Papua New Guinea). Watch Small Island Big Song artists perform “Ta’u Tama.” Related engagement events In addition to a free virtual dance workshop that was presented earlier in March and a weeklong Penn State residency, Small Island Big Song artists will participate in a variety of free public engagement events, including:

• Upcycled Instrument Jam Session: Penn State students will join Small Island Big Song artists to showcase their upcycled instruments. The free public jam session and environmental discussion will be at 5 p.m. Tuesday, April 5, at 3 Dots Downtown.
• Panel discussion: Island-nation artists will lead “Small Island Big Song’s Climate Change: Our Response at Artists.” Richard Alley, Evan Pugh University Professor of Geosciences at Penn State, will moderate the two-hour panel discussion featuring musical artists Selina Leem, Emlyn and Putad. The event is part of IllumiNATION’S month of art and sustainability events. The discussion will start at 3 p.m. Wednesday, April 6, in HUB-Robeson Center’s Freeman Auditorium.

Penn State International Dance Ensemble Endowment provides support. Safety first The Center for the Performing Arts has the health and safety of our patrons in mind. Visit Covid Precautions for more information on the center’s safety measures. Find the Center for the Performing Arts on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.