The Big Band is an expanded version of the dual ARIA-winning Mara! Quintet, which has been at the forefront of the world/jazz movement in Australia for the past four decades, with multiple tours across Australia and to 25 countries on 30 international tours.

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The Mara! Big Band includes a who’s who of Australia’s jazz and world music musicians, bringing their ground-breaking original world/jazz musical suite ‘Zashto?’ to regional NSW in November.

The hour-long Zashto? was commissioned by vocalist/percussionist Mara Kiek in 2020 with support from Create NSW.

Five current and former Mara! Quintet members composed the music, set to poetry by female Australian migrant and refugee poets, with stories of displacement, hope, longing, despair and resignation in their search for new life in the ‘lucky country’.

“Audiences can expect a hybrid musical experience with the sounds of a jazz big band crossed with a Balkan Gypsy brass band,” Mara Kiek told News Of The Area.

A quartet of sublime singers led by Mara and including Silvia Entcheva, formerly from Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares choir, are accompanied by musical textures which feature a huge variety of brass, reeds, percussion and plucked strings, with double bass and accordion.

“You’ll hear virtuosic improvisations, memorable melodies and exquisite harmonies.”

The Mara! Big Band will play the Harold Lobb Concert Hall, Newcastle Conservatorium of Music (Cnr Laman and Auckland Streets, Newcastle) on Friday, 15 November from 8pm.

The concert follows a day of master class workshops.

Students in Years 9, 10 and 11 who play an instrument or sing and enjoy performing jazz, world and contemporary music styles are invited to a Jazz and Improvisation Day.

The event takes place at the Conservatorium of Music on Friday, 15 November, and is presented by the Conservatorium in association with the Newcastle Improvised Music Association (NIMA).

By Andrea FERRARI