OVER THREE INSPIRING WEEKENDS, SEPTEMBER 2 - 18
MUsic and events from:
Ashfield, Broken Hill, Canberra, Melbourne,
Sydney Olympic park, Wagga Wagga, Woollahra.
Global Grooves @ Pullman Laneway - Sydney Olympic Park
September 2 - 4, Pullman Hotel Laneway
FREE CONCERTS & FABULOUS FOOD in the heart of Western Sydney
Sydney Sacred Music Festival, Pullman Sydney Olympic Park and Sydney Olympic Park Authority come together to activate Pullman Laneway. Curated over three immersive evenings, we invite you to embark on a journey of worldly sounds and flavours not to be missed!
Featuring THREE world class bands that are fusing the multicultural sounds of Australia in a newly created outdoor music experience, next to the Pullman Hotel, Sydney Olympic Park.
Book your FREE tickets and listen to great music OR book your dinner for TWO - 10 exclusive tickets for two on each night, front and centre stage with great food and wine served to the only seats in the venue!
Each night will also feature projections by award winning photographer, Gerrie Mifsud’s ‘Colours of Culture’.
FRIDAY 2 SEPT, 7pm - Miriam Lieberman Trio
Experience the alluring melodies, strings and West African fusion of the Miriam Lieberman Trio. This is a singer songwriter knows how to tell a story. Soulful vocals, kora (21 string African harp) and percussive styled guitar, her music is both lyrical and uplifting, with violins and rich vocal harmonies.
SAT 3 SEPT, 7pm - Lolo Lovina
The definitive Balkan Gypsy band...made in Australia!
Get your dancing shoes on for a night of gypsy music from the Balkans by Roma band, Lolo Lovina. Brass, Beats, and Balkan grooves.
A great night out, featuring some of Australia’s best musicians!
SUN 4 SEPT, 3pm - Caribé
A spectacular collision of beautiful music, creativity and multiculturalism set against a repertoire of original Latin Jazz. Caribé’s music is alive with spontaneous interplay and a cracking rhythmic momentum that showcases Adrian Medina’s dancing, chants and stories.
Happy Father’s Day!
If you miss out on the 10 exclusive dinner for two tickets, don’t worry! The talented team from Bacar Restaurant & Bar, Pullman Hotel Sydney Olympic Park will be helming a pop-up outdoor kitchen & bar and serving up global inspired street food, paired with a selection of international and local beers, wines and cocktails.
September 9-11, Pratten Park Ashfield
Three days of contemporary cross cultural music
and community engaged arts
Friday 9 Sept - Community Party
Saturday 10 Sept - Culture X Concert & Panel
Sunday 11 Sept - Culture X Folk Fusion concert and family day
Friday 9 September - Culture X Community party
Parade, family friendly dance party and Concert
Parade - Horns and Drums, 4pm
Bring your horn or drum and lets shake up Ashfield. The 100 + Horn and drum Parade will be led by Sam Golding and The Glorious Sousaphonics…Come join the Parade as we pass your house or just come out and dance in your street!
Culture X Community Party, 5pm
5pm - Post parade party, featuring Fbi’s DJ Jack Sh$t with special musical guests.
A free event! Come dance, eat and be merry to celebrate the opening of Culture X Ashfield.
Culture X Community Concert - Rhythm Hunters, 6.30pm
“Rhythm Hunters seems to be a force of nature rather than a grouping of musicians… a show that was so musically engaging and complex that it feels like you have slipped inside an ancient myth or otherworld. I was clearly unprepared for the power of this act." ~ Steve Gadd - Director Cygnet Folk Festival
A dynamite force in world roots music, adored for their frenetic drum choreographies and infectious dance grooves, Rhythm Hunters bring cutting edge physical percussion, western horns, Asian flute, deep grooves and electro beats, making them one of Australia’s most exciting festival acts.
Special Event
Special Event
Saturday 10 Sept - Culture X new music concert, 6pm
Australia’s leading cross cultural bands
A high energy and moving concert, showcasing three culturally diverse bands changing the face of Australian contemporary music.
The Seven Ups (Melbourne) - The 7-piece heavy groove combo from Melbourne will take you on an abstruse journey into the darker
fringes of instrumental music, drifting from funk to spiritual jazz and through to psychedelic fuzz rock. The
Seven Ups are your soundtrack to the dancefloor at the end of the world.
Farhan Shah & SufiOz (Adelaide) - Sufi inspired fusions featuring the ‘Pakistani Pavarotti’ and his high-powered cross cultural ensemble
Worlds Collide - cross cultural Grooves, Rhymes and Riffs from Sydney’s proponents of the ‘Western Sydney Sound’
THE SEVEN UPS - LIVE
WORDS COLLIDE - Bombs in the Distance
TAJALLI LOUNGE - Featuring Farhan Shah and SufiOz
Saturday 10 Sept - Music In Conversation, 2pm
‘What is contemporary Australian music today and where is it going?’
What is Australian culturally diverse music?
How is Australia’s cultural diversity playing a part in creating new Australian music?
Can we create a national approach to how culturally diverse music is represented?
Panel discussion chair:
Jill Morgan AM
(former CEO Multicultural Arts Victoria; board member Australian Art Orchestra
and Federation of Ethnic Communities Council of Australia)
Speakers:
Farhan Shah (Sufi vocalist/producer and leader of SufiOz)
Richard Petkovic (Cultural Arts Collective- cross cultural music producer and Western Sydney Sound pioneer)
Gai Bryant (composer of Latin inspired Jazz with Ally and Caribe)
Keith Preston (Folk Alliance President and pioneering World musician)
Venue: Pratten Park Bowling Club Ashfield
Sunday 11 Sept - Culture X Folk Fusion, 12-5pm
A day of music, dance and food from around the world
Photo Gerrie Mifsud
Take a step away from the everyday and contemplate our place in the universe to the sounds of some of Australia’s most uniquely diverse musicians traversing the space between traditional and contemporary folk music.
From Indigenous Australia to the Balkans – music that touches the spirit and represents its place of origin and its evolution.
Communal Balkan Feast - 12pm
DJ Cocek’s Gypsy Caravan - 12pm
Interactive Dance workshops 1pm, 2.30pm, 3.30pm
Concert - 2-5pm
Balkan Ethno Orchestra
Folk Fusion Concert, 2pm:
Celebrating place-based sounds from around the world and their evolution…
GiiMusic - Gii means heart in the language of the Gamillaroi people. Folk acoustic music with stories from the land.
Balkan Ethno Orchestra is a contemporary world music experience that rejuvenates century-old stories by blending traditional and modern music elements that give life to forgotten songs.
and MORE
CULTURE X -FOLK FUSION PROGRAM
12pm - Balkan Feast ($20/pp) - civape, sarma and more!
1pm - Balkan Dance Workshop with Yorgo Kaporis and Dusha Balkana (Outdoor) and special guests
2pm - Balkan Ethno Orchestra (Indoor)
2.30pm - Aboriginal Dance Workshop (Outdoor)
3pm - GiiMusic (Indoor)
3.30pm - Salsa Dance workshop (Outdoor)
4pm - Selecta Orchestra (salsa) (Indoor)
Culture X Ashfield - Cross Culture Festival is funded by Create NSW and Inner West Council
Online and around Australia
Three concerts featuring 3 artists per concert from around Australia
Made possible thanks to Australia Council for the Arts
Join us on Friday 16, Saturday 17 and Sunday 18 September from 7pm
Streaming on our website, YouTube and Facebook
(Join the FB events below)
See and hear an amazing array of artists and musical genres from around Australia
Concert 1 Facebook Event- 16 Sept Concert 2 Facebook Event- 17 Sept Concert 3 Facebook Event - 18 Sept
Alexi Kaye - Central COast NSW
16 September from 7pm
Alexi Kaye brings you soulful music with a message from the heart of peace, love, joy and healing. Influenced by the music of her birth place South Africa, as well as blues, jazz and more, she’ll be singing and playing keys direct from the Central Coast of NSW.
SARAY Iluminado Femme- Melbourne
Sat 17 September from 7pm
A trio derivative of the ensemble SARAY Iluminado, a Melbourne based group that specialises in Sephardic Jewish and Sevdah, the traditional music of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The trio started by making an appearance at a women's iftar gathering in 2017.
The group explores contemporary, diasporic reimagining of Sephardic Jewish Romances and Sevdalinka songs.
Goulburn Occasional Consort Choir.
Conducted by Paul Paviour OAM
18 September from 7pm
Over sixty years Paviour has written for nearly all genres and combinations but his particular contribution is to the music of the Anglican church As a 'leading authority on hymn tunes and folk tunes' he has edited and contributed to several compendiums. Over 150 compositions are in print currently, including seven symphonies, five stage works, five concertos and 30 orchestral works.
Platero and I - Wagga Wagga NSW
16 September from 7pm
The series of poems entitled Platero y yo by Nobel prize-winning writer Juan Ramón Jiménez tells the story of a man and his silver-coloured, hairy little donkey, Platero. Deeply touching, this version for the narrator accompanied by classical guitar will be performed by actor Wayne Pigram and guitarist Harold Gretton.
Michael Simic (Mikelangelo) - Braidwood
Sat 17 September from 7pm
Simic has played sold out shows at music venues, theatres and festivals nationally and internationally, both solo and with his band Mikelangelo the Black Sea Gentlemen; including Sydney Opera House, MONA FOMA, Woodford, Soho Theatre (UK), Sziget Festival (EU) and in Spiegeltents worldwide. He’s released 13 independent albums.
Miriam Lieberman Trio- Sydney Olympic Park
18 September from 7pm
African influences blend seamlessly with blues-infused melodies and soaring vocal harmonies in the music by Sydney singer song-writer, Miriam Lieberman. Her albums are soulful collections of stories, beautifully told through strings, African kora and Lieberman’s unmistakable voice.
Performing alongside Miriam as a trio are formidable musicians Lara Goodridge (Baby et Lulu/ Four Play) and Susie Bishop (Chaika).
Lolo Lovina- Sydney Olympic Park
16 September from 7pm
An intoxicating brew infused with Unza, Swing and Balkan Gypsy beats. Created & fronted by Romani- Gypsy singer Sarah Bedak. ‘Lolo Lovina`s music reflects the cosmopolitan identity of an artist, who grew up with three native cultures. The charming and passionate performance of their charismatic singer makes each concert a unique experience.’
Caribe- Sydney Olympic Park
17 september from 7pm
A melding of musicians and dancers from Sydney’s Cuban, jazz and Latin communities. The music and choreography integrates elements of traditional Cuban dance and music with a modern jazz aesthetic.
Performances are an immersive experience combining incredible dancing, chanting, jazz-inspired compositions and archival footage of Cuban musicians.
Constantine Campbell - Canbera - ANU
18 September from 7pm
Constantine Campbell is a renowned Australian jazz saxophonist currently exploring the fusion of jazz with traditional Greek rebetika music. His ensemble brings together jazz and rebetika musicians for a performance that will span the spectrum of traditional through to modern fusion sounds.
In partnership with the Australian National University
sacred Women’s voices - Saturday 17 September, 7.30pm
An amazing night of sacred women’s voices from many cultures
A continuous exploration of the sacred from many cultures. As one voice melds into another over 80mins, with a amazing finale bringing all performers together.
Featuring:
Sacred Soprano vocals of Heather Lee Cunio with Kim Cunio
Larissa Kovalchuk Vocals and Bandura (Ukraine)
Melbourne’s SARAY Iluminado Femme Duo (Sevdah, traditional music of Bosnia and Herzegovina)
Maguerite Montes and Peter Urquhart (Spanish Vocals, guitar and violin)
Bulgarian sacred acapella pieces by Maria Ivanova
Emanuel Synagogue Woollahra