Details

An exploration of the voices who are always absent, revealing themselves only in songs, poems, proverbs and folktales.

SARAY Iluminado specialises in contemporary reimagining of ruptured diasporic heritages expressed through interpretation of Sevdah music from Bosnia and Herzegovina and Sephardic Jewish music from the Balkans. Known for their distinctive performance aesthetic that straddles borders of music, storytelling and interrogates the role of ritualistic participation in contemporary music making.

About the concert

Their performance in Primrose Potter Salon presents their most recent intimate stage work, crafted in the format of a performance ritual. This ritual explores the voices of those who are always absent, yet reveal themselves in storylines of songs, verse of poems and roam the world transcending space and time, finding brief expressions in proverbs and folktales.

This trilingual performance features work in Bosnian, English and Judean-Spanish Ladino language, traversing love-stories drenched in plum-brandy and tears, humourous poems about flirting and stewing quinces and tales about interpreting the future by decoding images and symbols found on the bottom of a coffee cup.

Praise for SARAY Iluminado

‘Trifkovic’s voice is something to behold; it cuts through the thick stifled air like a knife through butter.’ The Melbourne Critique

COVID Safety

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Artists

Nela Trifkovic vocals, frame drum
Irine Vela lutes, frame drum
Kelly Dowall ney flute, clarinet, frame drum
Ernie Gruner mandolin, violin
Dan Witton double bass, vocals, frame drum