TONG TANA (Penan for "into the forest") is a fusion cabaret combining improvisation, operatic texts and soundscapes, extreme vocals and an immersive visual performance and viewing enclosure.

TONG TANA opens with Garton’s Drift Theory : each performer composes unique theme based movements in isolation, to be performed and heard for first time, within a structured arrangement, to a live audience.

TONG TANA will be accompanied by projected visual works by Garton and Cape Town’s Andrew Parker. These comprise of Garton’s installation series, NOTHINGKNOWN, based on the forest communities of Sarawak, many of whom are struggling to sustain their rights to customary land.

These include the Penan, one of over 30 indigenous communities in Sarawak, located on the island of Borneo, who have prevented the logging of their forests for over 30 years, and continue to do so, but at significant cost.

“Where are the new home lands ?” Asks Garton. “As humans drift, migrate or flee, generations of cultural knowledge is lost, languages are extinguished and attachment to home land is diminished.”

TONG TANA reminds us of the fragility of cultures in transition and those that remain to live out their traditions and customs on ancestral, customary lands for as long as their rights are acknowledged and protected.

TONG TANA brings a microcosm of Sarawak’s indigenous communities to Cape Town in a unique, one time only performance combining Garton’s immense vocal capacities, soundscape and media arts skills with the legendary sonic armoury of South Africa’s Benguela and visual installation mastery of Cape Town’s, Andrew Parker.