“A work of art is not just the art object, the painting, the performance, the book, but also what that thing does with and

in the minds, imagination and memory of the watching audience. Our ambitions for young audiences should be for them to be active

and empowered audiences." Matthew Reason – Senior Lecture in Theatre

York St John University

resource Pack

no man’s land New Zealand Festival and Victoria University of Wellington

New Zealand

Suggested Curriculum Links:

Years 9-13 (Levels 4-8)

Subject NCEA Achievement Standards Achievement Objectives (arts subject only)

Music 1.5, 2.6, 2.9, 3.7, 3.10 L4,5&6-UC, CI/L7&8-UC, DI, CI

History 1.1, 1.2, 1.4, 1.6, 2.1, 2.2, 2.4, 2.5, 2.6, 3.1, 3.2, 3.5 NA

festival.co.nz/schoolfest

Contents o The Company and The Show

o No Man’s Land

o What Others Have Said

o Meet The Makers of No Man’s Land

o John Psathas

o Jasmine Millett

o Mathew Knight

o Further Reading

o Video

o Reviews

o Your Curriculum Links

o Discussion Questions – Let’s Talk!

The company and the show

No man’s land

Acclaimed New Zealand composer John Psathas, ONZM, and film-maker Jasmine Millet have created

a ground breaking new cinematic performance in commemoration of the First World War. Musicians

descended from opposing forces of the Great War have been brought together on the battlefields of

WWI in an original composition. These musical collaborations have been fused into a unique 70-

minute film, to be projected alongside live musicians on-stage. All musicians, live and virtual, will

perform as one epic global orchestra.

New Zealand has never witnessed a multi-layered world music collaboration like this before. John

Psathas is no stranger to large-scale works but this “love letter to peace” is his most ambitious

project yet. The composition leaps musical genres as it does borders, from folk to jazz to rock to

classical. The performance features 150 musicians from more than 20 countries.

The intention of the work is to communicate a simple idea. No Man’s Land presents a powerful

opportunity to reflect on the similarities and differences in ourselves between then and now. This

idea is expressed by taking musicians to the exact places where, a century ago, soldiers from these

same countries were fighting and dying. Intense musical and visual expression is combined, filmed

on-location at the Western, Eastern and Mediterranean fronts, to communicate the idea that such

collaborations would have been unthinkable by the warring nations at the time of the conflict. Thus,

perhaps, we can hope that nations currently at war will find themselves friends and collaborators in

the years ahead.

When a Turkish musician collaborates with a New Zealand, American or Indian counterpart; when

Russian, Japanese and German musicians perform together; when French, Austrian and Senegalese

musicians collaborate; they are bearing witness - often unawares - that those who once fought are

no longer enemies. By celebrating positive human connections through music in this unique way, No

Man’s Land is an unashamed commitment to optimism.

Composer John Psathas has the following to say about the project:

“Music’s miraculous ability to bypass our carefully managed personal filters opens us up to a unique

form of collective and mutual empathy. Of all the art forms, it is music that can achieve the kind of

deep connection we are striving for in No Man’s Land.

“I have repeatedly experienced how music can collapse the space between us, how it can enable a

shared extended moment that is free from commercial pursuit, spiritual affiliation, political or

national division, and personal ambition. This extended moment is one of profound human

participation, deeply humbling and overwhelmingly positive.

Across time and distance, and speaking to us through the universal language of music, performers

will bring to the screen their own stories, their own memories, and we will weave these utterances of

pain and hope into the testament that is No Man’s Land.”

meet the makers of no man’s land

The creative team

John Psathas - Composer

John Psathas, ONZM, is a freelance composer

and Professor of composition at the New

Zealand School of Music, living in Wellington. Of

Greek heritage, John is also now widely

considered one of the three most important

living composers of the Greek Diaspora. John

has a natural inclination toward mega-

projects. Since writing much of the ceremonial

music for the 2004 Athens Olympic Games,

John’s music has been on the radar of a wider

public than that normally associated with a

contemporary composer. His works have been played by many of the world's great orchestras and

soloists. His music fuses the languages of jazz, classical, Eastern European, Middle Eastern, avant-

garde, rock, and electronica. John's recent collaborations have included crossover projects with Serj

Tankian (from System of a Down), roots musicians Warren Maxwell and Little Bushman, Greek folk

master musician Manos Achalinotopoulos, author Salman Rushdie, film director Dana Rotberg, and

jazz luminaries Michael Brecker and Joshua Redman.

Jasmine Millet - Director

Jasmine is an experienced director and

producer with a background in documentary.

She has worked in the New Zealand television

industry for 10 years, specialising in military

history and biopics. She helped develop the

award-winning ANZAC Day broadcasts on Māori

Television 2006 – 2008, and produced the first

live televised broadcast of the New Zealand

commemorative service at Chunuk Bair on

the Gallipoli Peninsula. Jasmine directed and

produced a documentary following a young New Zealander using traditional Māori musical

instruments to honour those killed at Passchendaele in 1917. She has been involved with shoots in

several countries across Europe and Asia. She directed and produced Whakanoa at last: Tribute 08, a

documentary based on the New Zealand government’s recent apology to Vietnam veterans for their

post-war treatment and has made programmes about the history of the Sikhs of India.

Mathew Knight - Director of Photography

Mathew Knight has 20 years’ experience as a

Director of Photography shooting all over the

world on documentaries, feature films,

television dramas and commercials, working

throughout China, Tibet, Mongolia, and much of

Asia shooting projects for National Geographic,

the BBC and many other international television

networks. His feature debut as cinematographer

was the New Zealand western Good for

Nothing (2012), which received rave reviews

internationally for its stunning depiction of the

New Zealand landscape. Mathew's feature film experience includes shooting visual effects for Peter

Jackson’s Weta Digital, working as lead motion capture camera operator on The

Avengers (2012), The Adventures of Tintin (2011), Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011), and most

recently Peter Jackson’s film trilogy The Hobbit (2012, 2013, 2014).

George Kariotis - Sound Engineer

George Kariotis has been working as a sound

engineer over the last 30 years. He has recorded

a great number of music records,

soundtracks and works

for theatre. He specialises in acoustic sound

recording including classical, jazz and traditional

music. George has worked on a number

of international productions. He has

collaborated closely with composer Eleni

Karaindrou, ECM Records and its founder Manfred Eicher. As a front of house engineer, George has

toured with many artists at major venues around the world such as the United States, Australia,

Armenia, Egypt and throughout Europe.

The musicians

Serj Tankian – Lebanese-born, Armenian–American singer-songwriter, composer, multi-

instrumentalist

Oum (Oum El Ghait Benessahraoui) – Moroccan soul music singer

Meeta Pandit – Classical Indian vocalist

Refugees of Rap – Palestinian-Syrian pioneer hip hop artists

Márta Sebestyén - Hungarian folk vocalist

Derya Türkan – Turkish musician, kemence (stringed bowed instruments)

Muhammet Sadrettin Özçimi – Turkish musician

Shahbaz Hussain – Traditional tabla player

Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg – French orchestra based in Strasbourg, France

Bijan Chemirani – Iranian zarb(percussion) player

Stratis Psaradelis – Greek Middle Eastern folk musician

Vagelis Karipis – Greek musician with oud and percussion as main instruments

Paolo Cimmino – Italian percussionist

Netherlands Blazers Ensemble (Dutch wind ensemble)

Alexej Gerassimez – German percussionist

Renkei Hashimoto – Japanese Zen-Shakuhachi performer (traditional japanese bamboo flute)

Fara Diouf – Djembe player from Senegal

Hang Massive – a group consisting of Danny Cudd and Markus Johansson who play the Hang, a new

instrument handmade in Switzerland

Polish Radio Choir

Joshua Hyde – Australian saxophonist

Zofia Kolbe-Wojdyr - a Polish musician who sings, plays the bagpipes, shawm, flute and percussion

Gareth Lubbe – South African-born overtone singer and instrumentalist now living in Germany

Nawras Alhajibrahim - Palestinian double bass player

Pierre Méa – French organist

Simone Rebello – UK percussionist

Jolanta Kossakowska – Polish singer and violin/medieval fiddle player

David Ross – Scottish pipe band drummer

David Henderson – Scottish pipe band drummer

Svet Stoyanov – Bulgarian percussionist, currently based in the US

Tecwyn Evans – New Zealand-born conductor, currently based in Sweden.

Mateusz Szemraj – Polish guitarist and lute player

Benjamin Schäfer – German percussionist

Hayden Chisholm – New Zealand saxophonist

Russel Walder – Composer and oboe player

Sofia Labropoulou – Greek kanun player

Yanal Stalti – France based percussionist

Caleb Robinson – New Zealand bassist

Ariana Tikao – Singer, taonga puoro (Māori instruments) player from New Zealand

David Downes – NZ composer/filmmaker

Joe Callwood – Guitarist/composer

Jack Hooker – Sound artist, composer and guitarist from New Zealand

The Nudge – Psychedeilc blues band from New Zealand

For more information including bios, go to http://www.nomanslandproject.org/musicians/

Netherlands Blazers Ensemble

Further reading

No Man’s Land official website: http://www.nomanslandproject.org/

A collection of History links:

http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/war/first-world-war

http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/first-world-war

http://www.firstworldwar.com/

http://www.britannica.com/event/World-War-I

Video

No Man’s Land Master compilation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HR5MXDtuShE

“But I had in front of me the dead man, the dead French soldier, and how I would have liked him to

have raised his hand, I would have shaken his hand and we would have been the best of friends”

— German Soldier, WWI

your curriculum links

Which subjects does No Man’s Land link to? Music History How? Read further for more specific information about how No Man’s Land contributes to the following Achievement Standards;

Subjects and Standards Music

There are several different music genres and styles in No Man’s Land, giving students a lot of opportunity to gain a wider knowledge of conventions in a musical score across genre and style.

AS91094 - 1.5 Demonstrate knowledge of conventions used in music scores. AS91275 - 2.5 Demonstrate aural understanding through written representation. AS91276 - 2.6 Demonstrate knowledge of conventions in a range of music scores.

This work is a substantial and ambitious piece. It hails from New Zealand giving students the chance to experience significant work that is generated here.

AS91278 - 2.9 Investigate an aspect of New Zealand music. AS91422 - 3.7 Analyse a substantial music work.

There are many potential research topics students can explore using No Man’s Land as a starting point.

AS91425 - 3.10 Research a music topic. History

No Man’s Land is a piece that uses WW1 as an inspirational starting point. This event and the locations No Man’s Land draws its music-making inspiration from are hugely significant to New Zealanders and the country’s history.

AS91001 - 1.1 Carry out an investigation of an historical event, or place, of significance to New Zealanders. AS91229 - 2.1 Carry out an inquiry of an historical event or place that is of significance to New Zealanders. AS91434 - 3.1 Research an historical event or place of significance to New Zealanders, using primary and secondary sources. AS91002 - 1.2 Demonstrate understanding of an historical event, or place, of significance to New Zealanders AS91230 - 2.2 Examine an historical event, or place, of significance to New Zealanders.

AS91435 - 3.2 Analyse an historical event, or place, of significance to New Zealanders.

No Man’s Land draws primarily upon the relationships of people from around the world, including New Zealand, in order to understand the past. It seeks to use WW1 history (coupled with the power of music) to bring people closer together and move forward from what was a horrifying chapter in our history. Students can use this piece as a strong starting point for understanding how relationships can change over time despite how violent the past may have been.

AS91004 - 1.4 Demonstrate understanding of different perspectives of people in an historical event of significance to New Zealanders. AS91232 - 2.4 Interpret different perspectives of people in an historical event that is of significance to New Zealanders. AS91233 - 2.5 Examine causes and consequences of a significant historical event. AS91438 - 3.5 Analyse the causes and consequences of a significant historical event. AS91006 - 1.6 Describe how a significant historical event affected New Zealand society. AS91234 - 2.6 Examine how a significant historical event affected New Zealand society.

discussion questions – let’s talk!

These questions are a guide. They will be more appropriate for some ages and subjects than

others. They are designed to provoke further discussion.

What was the idea behind this collaboration?

How did you feel watching and listening to it?

Did you notice any interesting musical ideas, themes or techniques used in the work?

Did you notice any new musical instruments used in the performance?

What effect did the blending of different music genres have in the piece?

Did the music give the audience a sense of “collective and mutual empathy” as the

composer intended? Can you describe how?

How effective was the layering of music on film with live music on stage? What was your

response to this?

From your own perspective, did the performance evoke any new ideas about war?

Were there any stand-out performers for you? Why? Discuss what stage presence is, and

how we achieve it.

What did you notice about staging, lighting, sound and other production elements? How did

they support and enhance the performance?

What was your favourite part of the performance? Why?

Was there anything you didn’t like about the performance? Why?

How would you describe the performance to a friend?