Kid Koala’s Satellite Turntable Orchestra events at VIFF!

From October 5-7, the iconic DJ Kid Koala is bringing his latest album Music to Draw to: Satellite to life with the help of Vancouverites. Through six interactive performances, the Satellite Turntable Orchestra will invite audiences to recreate the album’s soundscape with 50 individual turntables, LED lights and stacks of colour-coded vinyl records.

This is a unique and innovative opportunity for Vancouver’s creative community to learn and hone their skills, discuss and share the craft of music-based storytelling.

In Kid Koala’s latest live innovation, the master Canadian DJ empowers his audience, drawing them into a communal experience of light and sound. The audience collaborates in groups of four at stations equipped with a turntable, an effects box and a small crate of colour-coded records. Through subtly coloured lighting changes in the room, they’re cued to play along–DJs in a spontaneous collective, collaborating to create an “ambient vinyl orchestra.”

An innovator from his first days as a turntablist, Kid Koala has moved beyond hip-hop into the realm of radical experimentation. With this show, he’s making participatory music on a high level—an interactive symphony in which the line between listener and composer is erased. The lowbrow word for this kind of experience is “trippy”; but more appropriate would be “sublime.” The show works its wonders on neophytes and DJ-music addicts alike. You could call it an equal-opportunity mind-blower, for as much as the music or the visuals, that’s what it’s about: equality. We’ve come a long way in music—from classical to rock and hip-hop, and now to wonders like this. Who knows what tomorrow will bring? Ask Kid Koala: he’s probably working on it.

VIFF is continuously innovating the film festival model, fusing the world’s best cinema with immersive experiences through its Film+ model. Launched in 2016, the Films+ program features live interdisciplinary performances, industry talks, workshops, VR and other unique experiences, all celebrating the achievements and innovations of screen-based storytelling. Each VIFF programming stream offers a Films+ program.