Small Island Big Song

MUSIC | FILM | CONCERT | IMPACT

Small Island Big Song is a performing arts company of artists from islands across the Pacific & Indian oceans, uniting these great oceans through music for the ocean & island we all celebrate.

Our cinematic concert for large theatres and festival main stages draws on an ensemble of some of the most respected artists from 17 island nations around the world, supported by an extensive impact program of workshops, panels, film screening, sideshows and community concert engagement confronting the intersect of culture and the global environmental crisis.

‘But let us also make “island” a verb. It is a way of living that could save our lives’. Teresia Kieuea Teaiwa


Our story,
After making a music documentary on the first islands to be declared climate refugees by the United Nations, BaoBao Chen, a Taiwanese theatre producer, and Tim Cole, an Australian filmmaker/music producer with two decades of collaborating with Indigenous artists of Australia & the Pacific, quit their jobs, packed their lives into the back of a pick-up and took to the ocean.

They spent the next three years collaborating with over 100 artists on 16 island nations across the Pacific & the Indian Oceans, musicians who carried the cultural lineage of their islands, in their languages and instruments both shaped over countless generations of living with nature, precious environments now threatened. These relationships formed the foundations and ongoing inspiration of Small Island Big Song.

Outcomes include two award-winning albums, a feature film, outreach impact programs, and a live theatrical concert that has toured to eighteen countries across four continents reaching over 200K+ live audiences.

"One of our favourites, It's not a usual thing!" - Lauren Laverne, BBC Radio 6.


◆ IN DEVELOPMENT

We're currently looking for international partners and presenters for our third production ‘One Ocean’ - an ambitious global collaboration confronting the most pressing issue of our age, to premiere in 2026.
Come chat with us at booth C25


◆ CONCERT

'Small Island Big Song'
A theatrical concert of musicians performing live backed by film shot during a 3-year field trip to the artists homelands.
2018/19 Førde (Norway), Rudolstadt (Germany), Colours of Ostrava (Czech Republic), EtnoSur (Spain)

'Our Island' - Theatrical concert & impact outreach residency.
2022 Twenty-three performing art centres (USA), 2022 Italian Capital of Culture (Italy)
2023 WOMADelaide (Australia), TIFA (Taiwan), ACC world music fest (S. Korea), Arts Center at NYU Abu Dhabi (UAE)
2024 Eighteen performing art centres (USA)


◆ ALBUM

2018 - 'Small Island Big Song' - (Self titled)
Winner - Songlines Music Award UK 2019 - Best Asia/Pacific album
Winner - The Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik (German Record Critics' Awards) 2019 - Album of the Year
Nominated - Independent Music Awards US 2019 - Best Concept Album & Best Website.
'Compilation Album of the Week' - "One of our favourites, It's not a usual thing!" - Lauren Laverne, BBC Radio 6.
★★★★★ "Simply Brilliant!" - Seth Jordan, Songlines Magazine, UK

2022 - 'Our Island'
Nominated - Golden Melody Awards Taiwan 2022 - Best Indigenous language album & Album of the year
★★★★★ “For too long the term ‘world music’ has applied overwhelmingly to music from Africa, the Indian subcontinent and South America. Asia and the Pacific have been the Cinderellas at the party. Not anymore!” Sydney Morning Herald AU


◆ FILM

2019 - 'Small Island Big Song - An Oceanic Songline'
Feature Musical Documentary - 83min
Screened at 19 international film festivals, broadcast in Sweden, Australia and the Pacific, with theatrical release across 18 cities in Japan.
"The most important music documentary you will see this year'. - BEAT magazine Australia.

◆IMPACT OUTREACH
A program of workshops, panels, film screening and community engagement around our concert performance.

More info
https://www.smallislandbigsong.com

Contact
Producer/Management - BaoBao Chen - baobao@smallislandbigsong.com
Artistic Director/Production Management - tim@smallislandbigsong.com