Dec 4 ZÖJ  + ACROSS SILENCE

double bill evening show 7.30pm

set 1 ZÖJ  set 2 Across Silence

The Jazzlab Monday Dec 4 Doors 7pm Show 7.30pm

Tickets HERE $35/$25 Bookings essential

ZÖJ 

Gelareh Pour - Kamancheh and Voice

Brian O’Dwyer - Drum kit

ZÖJ is an experimental cross-cultural music duo based in Australia, comprising Gelareh Pour on Kamancheh Qeychak Alto and Voice and Brian O’Dwyer on drumkit. The duo has been creating music as ZÖJ since 2016 but have worked together in other projects since 2012. The ideals of ZÖJ are firmly rooted in true expression of inter-culturalism, specifically what it means to be from more than one place.

Gelareh Pour, a musician originally from Iran, has been studying and performing music since the age of seven. She is a master of the Kamancheh, a Persian string instrument, and has won several international awards for her work.

Brian O’Dwyer is an Australian born drummer who explores sound as connection. Working with the moment in which musician and listener impact equally through reaction and response, Brian’s approach to percussion and drumming involves incredible dynamic shift, ebbing and flowing with the various influences of the room.

Together, ZÖJ creates a unique and powerful sound that combines the traditional music of their respective cultures with contemporary experimental elements. Pour’s virtuosic Kamancheh playing is complemented by O’Dwyer’s dynamic and diverse drumming, resulting in a sound that is at once complex and accessible.

Pour’s classical background comes through in masterful playing and evocative interpretations of Persian poetry sung in Farsi. No ZÖJ performance is ever the same. Improvisation is tooled to allow each musician to explore their instruments within the confides of each new setting. The energy, a reciprocal process between the musicians and their audience, determines the depth of exploration into each piece.

A ZÖJ performance demonstrates a fluidity in abstract musical conversation. It unveils similarities and celebrates differences as new. And, like eavesdropping on any conversation, connecting meaning to context requires a close listen.

‘The consistently exquisite genius of Gelareh Pour – we are simply not worthy’- Nick Cave

ACROSS SILENCE

The Newmarket Collective presents:
Across Silence: The Art of Music, Auslan and Haptics

Walter Kadiki - Deaf Poet

Marnie Kerridge - Deaf Actor

Andrea Keller -
 Piano/Composer/Arranger


Gian Slater - Voice

Natasha Fearnside - Clarinets

Kylie Davies - 
Double bass

Amber Richardson 
- Auslan Interpreter


Across Silence is a collaboration the first of its kind in Australia. Delivered in Auslan and sung by Gian Slater, Deaf artists Walter Kadiki and Marnie Kerridge perform a series of poems set to music by Andrea Keller.

Walter and Marnie wear vibro-tactile haptic vests created by Music: Not Impossible. Consisting of a body pack, wrist and ankle bands they allow the performers to receive vibrations across 24 touch points on the body by programmed software, to feel the instruments and music live on stage. The actuators on the suits are all individually programmed to receive different instruments, frequency and intensity levels, and can be manipulated in real time, creating a unique mix for the performer.

In collaboration with Walter, Andrea has scored Little Fledgling Australia’s premiere work for M:NI haptic vests, Auslan poetry, voice and ensemble. Composing material with not only the audible outcome as the focus, how the storytelling and musical elements can be communicated through the vibrations is key for the Deaf artists to obtain a similar experience of the music to the hearing musicians and audience.

These vests also allow Walter and Andrea to improvise together, as Walter can immediately feel everything in the piano through his vest with zero latency.

Along side the new commissions for this concert, various works from Andrea’s Still Night album are signed by Marnie Kerridge, and arranged by Andrea for piano, voice (Gian Slater ), clarinets (Natasha Freanside) and double bass Kylie Davies.

The group are joined by Amber Richardson as Auslan Interpreter.