Hamed Sadeghi’s Empty Voices tour comes to Bellingen Memorial Hall Coffs Coast Coffs Coast - popup ad Coffs Coast News by News Of The Area - Modern Media - September 22, 2023 Coming to Bellingen Memorial Hall are the Empty Voices performers. Photo: Cloé Fournier. BELLINGEN Memorial Hall plays host to Hamed Sadeghi’s Empty Voices tour for a concert on Sunday 1 October. The project is supported by the Create NSW Arts and Cultural Funding Program. Advertise with News of The Area today. It’s worth it for your business. Message us. Phone us – (02) 4981 8882. Email us – media@newsofthearea.com.au After two sold out concerts at the Sydney Opera House, the local event is being organised by the Bellingen Improvised Music Collective Inc (BIMCI) as part of its mission to support the creation and performance of original and improvised music in the Bellingen local government area and surrounds. A multi-ARIA award nomininated composer and tar (Iranian lute) virtuoso, Hamed Sadeghi brings with him six world-class musicians to perform Empty Voices, a musical homage to ancestral Persian culture. Through his melancholic and spellbinding compositions, Sadeghi offers a unique and dazzling dialogue between a plucked section including tar, percussions and double bass, and an impressive woodwind and brass section. The multi-generational ensemble is led by Sadeghi and comprises internationally renowned Australian Jazz figures Sandy Evans, Paul Cutlan and Lloyd Swanton and rising stars Michael Avgenicos, Thomas Avgenicos and Adem Yilmaz. “It’s particularly exciting that Sandy Evans and Loyd Swanton are part of the band, having been regular visitors to Bellingen as part of the inspiring band, The catholics, as well as other bands,” Sandy Eager from the Bellingen Improvised Music Collective Inc committee told News Of The Area. “Sandy Evans ran an excellent youth workshop as part of the BIMCI festival program last year and is a great friend of many in Bellingen. “Michael and Thomas Avgenicos, and Adem Yilmaz, have also come to Bellingen on various occasions, playing to immensely appreciative audiences.” Influenced by Persian Sufism philosophy, Sadeghi said, “To be able to love someone or something honestly you need to be able to let yourself dissolve.” Contemplating the notion of love, Sadeghi uses a mix of classical and contemporary music traditions of both East and West, which have significant appeal to local audiences. A recent review in the Sydney Morning Herald rated the performance four and a half stars, describing it as holding “astonishing power and compulsive impact”. For more information and a video glimpse of the show visit the Bellingen Improvised Music Collective Inc. Facebook page. By Andrea FERRARI Hamed Sadeghi brings Empty Voices to Bello. Photo: Alex Apt.
