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Nexus Live2018 –

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From a musical street parade to the top of Ethiopia’s highest peak…

… the female Jewish experience to Indigenous Australian storytelling…

… samba to the Turkish bağlama, Kathak dance to spoken word and everything in between, all with a focus on bringing the influences of culturally diverse traditions into contemporary art music practice in Australia.

Featuring 6 new works, 4 commissions and 10 Adelaide premieres, Nexus Live 2018 continues to bring you the best music by culturally diverse artists from Australia and further afield.

10 February 2018Doors at 4.30pm–

NOLA at Nexus

Join the Mardi Gras party straight from New Orleans, Louisiana with this musical feast revelling in one of the world’s greatest celebrations.

First up, the sounds of Chris Weber’s Banksia Orchestra will transport you to old-time New Orleans and the Jazz Era.

Next, Melbourne’s Horns of Leroy will take you from New Orleans to Fitzroy with one of their trademark energetic brass band performances to bring you to your feet.

Then, join parade leader and musical vanguard Adam Page in the first ever performance of the Piping Shrike Street Band – which you will be a part of! If you play an instrument, bring it along, and if not then get your hands and vocal cords ready. There will be easy musical parts for everyone to learn before we take to the streets for a musical parade through the West End. Then it’s back to the Nexus beer garden to continue the party with Adam Page spinning NOLA classics on vinyl.

It’s a street party brought straight from the Bayou to the banks of the Torrens. Happy Mardi Gras y’all!

This performance is supported by Adelaide Hills Distillery

14 apriL 2018Doors at 7.30pm–

This Country

The yearlings with Corey Theatre, Nathan May and Jessica Wishart

Drawing together songs of country, family, language and culture, this special performance will explore and express the Indigenous experience of three young artists carving their path through contemporary Australian society.

Ascendant young Indigenous songwriters Corey Theatre, Nathan May and Jessica Wishart join forces with alt-country darlings The Yearlings to reimagine their original songs, and then to create new collaborative material with the full ensemble which will be brought to life for this first time in this performance.

The Yearlings make music that exudes raw beauty, honesty, intimacy and passion. Together with full band and these extraordinary First Nations artists, this will be a soulful, intimate performance experience not to be missed.

This performance is supported by the Wheatsheaf Hotel

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5 May 2018Doors at 7.30pm–

A Well-Set Table

aviva endean and Shoshana rosenberg

A well-set table. A conversation with ourselves.

Aviva Endean and Shoshana Rosenberg are two of Australia’s most curious clarinettists, coming towards experimental and improvised music from very different backgrounds spanning contemporary classical music, Klezmer, sound art, noise and punk music. Their collaboration invites you to engage with, reflect on, and surrender to what you are experiencing.

Aviva and Shoshana’s program will focus on the way our simplest moments can become the most profound. Through the resonances of clarinets, chants, and singing bowls, their sonic explorations will provide a bridge from the everyday to the esoteric. Weaving a tapestry of compositions and improvisations that occupy the intensely intimate space of deep personal prayer and Jewish rituals, they invite you into this captivating place to attend to sounds we may often ignore and question our relationship to the ritual of performance.

You are invited to their table.

ben Opie, iskender Ozan Toprak and Matthew Horsley

Join Australia’s leading oboe specialist Ben Opie, bağlama virtuoso Iskender Ozan Toprak and percussionist Matthew Horsley in an intimate performance of diverse repertoire: from reworkings of JS Bach to original works by Iskender Ozan Toprak, from Turkish folk music to Vivaldi reimagined.

The soloists come together to perform a concert of works from their different individual cultures and backgrounds, creating a new and exciting sound world. The challenge and joy of exploring how far the sonic realms of eastern and western instruments can be pushed is what makes this unique musical relationship ideal.

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Photo: Jess Lemon

7 JuLy 2018Doors at 7.30pm–

Knock, Mark, Stitch

iran Sanadzadeh, angus Mason and Setare arashloo

An exploration in visual, tactile and sound modalities, this performance focuses on the ideas of dislocation and isolation. The cross-generational memory of isolation and confinement amplifies the weight of the experience of migration, which has been central to Setare and Iran’s practice and lives, as they both now live and work outside of Iran.

Growing up with political ex-convicts as parents and relatives, the artists have been playfully reassembling the displaced products of isolation and material as modules of a shared past in recent collaborative works. The text of interviews with some of these activist-convicts and other stories has been adapted into animated segments, then interacted with and distorted by stitching on the projection screen, which is made of hessian. Transcribed into Morse code, which was used by the artists’ parents to communicate between cells, the text also forms the basis of the drum improvisations performed by Angus. First performed in New York City in 2016, this will be the Adelaide premiere.

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2 JuNe 2018Doors at 7.30pm–

Ras Dashen

elyas alavi, Derek pascoe and Chris Martin

A performance of verbal-musical works reflecting on identity, displacement and memory.

With the artists working together for the third incarnation of this very special collaborative relationship, this performance interweaves the poetry of Elyas Alavi with music by leading Adelaide improvising musicians Derek Pascoe and Chris Martin. This suite of verbal-musical works is inspired by Elyas’ reflections of his experiences as a refugee fleeing war-torn Afghanistan. Elyas’ work focuses on identity, memory, violence, trauma and displacement, and this powerful and intimate performance will draw the audience into his personal experience and leave them changed.

yitzhak yedid and abate berihun: Duo ras Dashen

Duo Ras Dashen, named after the highest mountain in Ethiopia, take Ethiopian folk songs and prayers as sung by Keisim, Ethiopian Jewish religious leaders, and present them with a fresh and modern twist adding blues, gospel and jazz influences.

These songs express the longings of the Beta Israel, Ethiopia’s Jews, for Jerusalem, and the story of their journey. Their album is regarded as one of the finest and most original jazz albums to have been produced in Israel in the last decade and the music of Ras Dashen emphasises the ancestry of these musical roots of blues and jazz to Africa.

“When Berihun opened his mouth and began to sing an ancient prayer with the most authentic blues intonation I had ever heard, I was already floating a few centimetres above my seat” – Ben Shalev, Haaretz

This performance is supported by Writers SA

erkki Veltheim, parvyn Singh, rachel Johnston and iran Sanadzadeh

This new work, commissioned by Nexus Arts, will bring together four unique musical voices from across Australia in an original exploration of sonic possibility.

Bringing together voice, violin, violoncello, dance and electronics, this new work will follow unknown pathways opened up by the interaction of the collaborators. The performance will utilise a purpose-built set of pressure-sensitive floors as the physical interface for performing with synthesisers, and will combine visual and aural elements in a stunning and highly original new performance piece.

With backgrounds in art music, folk music, sonic arts, classical Indian dance and singing, electronics and classical music, the performers’ musical styles are certainly diverse. Cultural backgrounds from India, Iran, Finland and Australia complement these diversities and the outcome of these original voices working in collaborative harmony will be something bold, current and authentic.

Expect the unexpected.

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4 auguST 2018Doors at 7.30pm–

Ujamaa

Melbourne african Traditional ensemble

Tradition, storytelling, language and connection to ancestral heritage through music.

The warm sounds of the Melbourne African Traditional Ensemble (MATE) gently carry the listener through a ruminative journey. Scintillating polyrhythms of the mbira and foot percussion dance elegantly beneath the harmonies of the strings, the krar (5 stringed lyre) and masinqo (1 string violin). Blended into the seamless weave of this aural cloth is a remarkable vocal range, imprinting raw fibres of oral history from the voice of Limpopo-born Valanga Khoza and his ancestral history of orators and storytellers, to the Eastern melodies and dulcet tones of Eritrean-born Anbessa Gebrehiwot.

MATE encompasses and represents the traditional sounds of each member’s respective country, collaborating to preserve important traditions in music, storytelling, language and connection to ancestral heritage to unite the diaspora and share the Pan African experience with the wider community.

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Manal younus and the Jazmaris

This thrilling new collaboration crosses borders, generations and artistry. The JAzmaris, Ethiopian jazz musicians Daniel Seifu (keyboard), Solomon Sisay (saxophone), Yoseph Bekele (bass) and Zelalem Negatu (drums) come together with young Eritrean poet Manal Younus to tell stories through music and spoken word. The sounds are inspired by great voices from both countries, such as Yemane Barya and Mahmoud Ahmed, and the words are inspired by everything it means to be African and of the diaspora.

This new work explores ancestry, family, freedom, divide, community and self-love. It will take you on a journey which to some might feel familiar, and to others, an opportunity to take a glimpse into another world.

This project has been co-commissioned by Nexus Arts and Multicultural Arts Victoria.

1 SepTeMber 2018Doors at 7.30pm–

Saúde

abraSKa

Unpredictable & delightful, ABRASKA creates a unique musical blend that comes from the sound of travel and the merging of different cultures, rhythms & people. Incorporating horns, guitar, bass and drums, ABRASKA’S style ranges from lyrical Caribbean dance tunes to soaring narrative ballads bedded deep in New Orleans gospel brass and harmonium music with crystal vocals sparkling above. Drawing on a whole world of inspiration they create a new sound pulsing with vibrancy and vitality.

Wrapping their lyrics in global beats ABRASKA create something new, shimmering with luscious, tuneful appeal.

adam page and SaSamba

Composer, performer and all-round musical wizard Adam Page joins forces with Adelaide community percussion ensemble SaSamba for this new genre-mashing collaboration that is sure to explore completely new musical territories.

Tradition meets modern in this new work commissioned by Nexus Arts, with Adam creating compositions utilising the unique samba instrumentation in unconventional ways and stretching the boundaries of samba percussion ensemble music in an immersive and explosive performance style.

Expect batucada, bass, brass and boom-bap beats! Together with a full band featuring some of Adelaide’s finest musicians, this will be a night of music you’re guaranteed to have never experienced before.

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OCTOber/NOVeMber–

OzAsia Festival

During October/November, Nexus will be host to a variety of exciting performances as part of Adelaide Festival Centre’s OzAsia Festival. Showcasing some of the best underground and experimental works from the cutting edge of contemporary performance, the best of Asia sits alongside local talent from Adelaide.

Stay tuned to the OzAsia Festival website for full program details as they are announced throughout the year.

ozasiafestival.com.au

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3 NOVeMber 2018Doors at 7.30pm–

Haveli

Lyndon gray’s Carnatic Jazz project

Jazz bass player Lyndon Gray has been exploring the integration of South Indian Carnatic rhythmic devices in his performance practice for the past few years. This performance will bring together leading Adelaide jazz musicians Angus Mason, Jason McMahon, Django Rowe, Ed Heddle and Pat Thiele in a unique and dynamic take on contemporary jazz performance, led by one of Adelaide’s best-regarded jazz musicians.

The Three Seas

The Three Seas combine elements of Indian folk music with a western style of song form and production in a band full of engaging performers from India and Australia. Listeners can expect a soulful, song-based repertoire with a diverse array of voices and unusual instruments – no tabla or sitar here.

Centre stage is the outstanding folk singer Raju Das Baul. His amazing stage presence, arresting voice and virtuosic khamak playing showcase the best of the Baul tradition.

Deaoashish Mothey brings his enigmatic style and soulful sounds from the mountains in Darjeeling, while Kolkata based rock drummer and dubki expert, Gaurab Chatterjee (from the famous Bengali band Lakkhichhara), smoothly bridges musical cultures. From Australia band leader and saxophonist Matt Keegan and master bassist Steve Elphick complete the unique sound of the band.

This performance is supported by Creative

Original Music Adelaide (COMA)

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ALL peRFORMANCeS: $25 WAgeD / $15 UNWAgeD

A Nexus Arts 2018 Solidarity Membership priced at $30 entitles you to $15 tickets for all Nexus Live performances, as well as other benefits and the reward of helping this dedicated not-for-profit organisation. See NexUSARTS.ORg.AU FOR MORe iNFORMATiON.

Booking fees apply.

Phot

o: N

ik H

arris

on

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Like what you’ve seen so far?

Nexus will be presenting even more performances throughout the year, including:

à Summer Twilight Shows featuring Chakam (Iran/Australia) and Duo Åkerlund/Paulson (Sweden) (25 January and 1 February)

à ‘a Trip To The Moon’, featuring live soundtracks to short films by Georges Méliès as part of the AFC’s Adelaide French Festival (14 January)

à adelaide Fringe Festival performance ‘Ngundakati: Music’ with Corey Theatre, Vonda Last, Nathan May and Jessica Wishart (17 Feburary)

à ‘Four Colour Season’ by Sydney’s The Song Company (15 September)

Nexus also runs two development programs for culturally and linguistically diverse and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander contemporary musicians which include performances throughout the year, and we also present visual art by culturally and linguistically diverse and Indigenous artists in our Gallery space.

Information about all this and more is available on our website, and keep an eye on our Facebook page for the most up-to-date news.

nexusarts.org.au | facebook.com/nexusarts

Photo: Cheung Chi Wai

Nexus Live is presented by Nexus arts

nexusarts.org.aucnr Morphett St and North Tce, Adelaide

This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia

Council, its arts funding and advisory body.

Nexus Arts is proud to celebrate Adelaide’s designation as a UNESCO City of Music.