Spotlight: ASIAN (SOUND) SCAPES x Ponsonby Social Club Festival

Every Thursday, Friday and Saturday this coming October, Tāmaki Makaurau's Ponsonby Social Club is hosting ASIAN (SOUND) SCAPES, a springtime pop-up festival celebrating "the rich tapestry of Pan-Asian music, comedy, and culinary delights". Gathering together a wide variety of acts encompassing jazz, hip hop, trip hop, R&B, J-pop, pop-punk, fusion, traditional folk instrumentation, dream-pop and even comedy, ASIAN (SOUND) SCAPES will treat attendees to "sixty plus homegrown musicians, six funny as stand-up comics and two outstanding Filipino chefs" across eleven evenings.

It's a formidable prospect to cherry pick musical highlights from the festival, as each night presents its own distinct galaxy of sound. Genre-straddling draw cards include 2018 Best Jazz Artist award winner Umar Zakaria celebrating the fifth anniversary of his album Fearless, a Pan-Asian hip hop showcase starring thrillpvck thari ත්රිල්පැක් තරි x Scalper x ¥OUNG GHO$T 鬼打樣 (not the Bad Taste rapper) with DJ Kieran Tahir, j-pop / alt-rock crew Sleepwalk Skeleton with Chinese folk rock collective Ink Fan (featuring pipa 琵琶 and guzheng 古筝), an evening of Indian ragas and Japanese folk songs featuring RaagTime and 紅音 Akane, and a night of dream-pop / alt-pop excellence from Phoebe Rings and Geoff Ong 王国豪. Dive into the details for each event below and nab tickets while you can...

ASIAN (SOUND) SCAPES x PONSONBY SOCIAL CLUB
Every Thursday, Friday and Saturday in October 2023 - Ponsonby Social Club, Auckland
Tickets and more info available at www.asiansoundscapes.nz

Friday 6th October
Umar Zakaria (Southeast Asian / Malay world jazz) with opener Fēi Lín 飞林 (indie folk/jazz singer-songwriter)

Saturday 7th October
Amir Yussof (singer-songwriter) with opener Ms. Mia & Clarissa Chai (adult contemporary emo-pop duo)

Thursday 12th October
thrillpvck thari ත්රිල්පැක් තරි (alt-hip-hop), Scalper (alt-hip-hop) & ¥oung Gho$t 鬼打様 (multilingual hip-hop) with DJ Kieran Tahir

Friday 13th October
Iris Zhang 张雨清 (sad girl folk-pop) & Ersha Island 二沙岛 (alt-folk / folk-pop)

Saturday 14th October
Sleepwalk Skeleton (j-pop/alt-rock) with opener Ink Fan (Chinese folk rock, feat. pipa 琵琶 & guzheng 古筝)

Thursday 19th October
romiin (r&b/alt-r&b), Ray Leslie (alt-hip-hop) and DJ RNG?SUS (world club music / open format)

Friday 20th October
Daniel&Ashley (acoustic) & Chillibeans (blues / soul / jazz / rock)

Saturday 21st October
RaagTime (Indo-Western fusion / world music) with opener 紅音 Akane (Japanese folk, Japanese / Chinese poetry)

Thursday 26th October
Asian Comedy Takeover
w/ Jess Karamjeet (MC), Natalie Samy, Henry Cheung, Summer Xia 夏露, Ed Amon & Angella Dravid

Friday 27th October
Goodspace (indie folk / lo-fi electronic glitch hop / alt-rock / indie pop) & Club Ruby (pop-punk / indie rock / secretly a musical)

Saturday 28th October
Phoebe Rings (dream pop with lots of bleeps) & Geoff Ong 王国豪 (indie pop)

Listen to 'Deadline' from Umar Zakaria's Tūī award winning album Fearless Music...

Watch the clip for 'Bismillah' from Scalper's new album The Shine...

Check out Sleepwalk Skeleton's video for their epic single 'Treasure Island'...

Experience Phoebe Rings' charming animated clip for 'Lazy Universe'...

Here's Club Ruby's slice of life video for their hook-packed 2023 single 'Bada'...

Bop along with Geoff Ong's newest single 'Waiting On What To Say'...