Volume

A festival of sound and vision
Art Gallery of New South Wales
22 Sep – 8 Oct 2023

Volume

Tue 26 Sep 6.30–10.30pm

Lonnie Holley, Mourning [A] BLKstar, Lee Bains III, Hilary Geddes, Maissa Alameddine and Hamed Sadeghi, Jeff Parker, Maya Deren, Marian Abboud and Vicki Van Hout, Tahlia Palmer, Lea Bertucci, KMRU

Volume

A festival of sound and vision
Art Gallery of New South Wales
22 Sep – 8 Oct 2023

Tue 26 Sep 6.30–10.30pm

Lonnie Holley, Mourning [A] BLKstar, Lee Bains III, Hilary Geddes, Maissa Alameddine and Hamed Sadeghi, Jeff Parker, Maya Deren, Marian Abboud and Vicki Van Hout, Tahlia Palmer, Lea Bertucci, KMRU

A person with medium brown skin and a light grey goatee sits with their hands pressed together. They have an even gaze.

Lonnie Holley, photo: David Raccuglia

Nine people standing in a row with serious expressions. Most of them have short, curly black hair and their skin tones range from light to dark brown.

Mourning [A] BLKstar, photo: Bobby Murphy

Two people in a photo booth

Lee Bains III (right) and Lonnie Holley (left)

Four people smiling and standing shoulder-to-shoulder in front of a wooden church door.

Alexander Inman-Hislop, Hilary Geddes, Maximillian Alduca and Matt Harris, photo: April Josie

A perosn with light skin and curly, dark red hair holding the lapels of their coat.

Maissa Alameddine, photo: Christopher Snee

A person with medium brown skin, short black hair and a beard smiling into the camera.

Hamed Sadeghi, photo: Christopher Snee

A person with short, black hair and goatee, thick-rimmed glasses and medium brown skin. They are smiling gently.

Jeff Parker

A person viewed from behind with their arms outstretched and legs spread wide, with one leg lifted into the air.

Still from A study in choreography for camera

A person with voluminous dark, curly hair and light skin holds a knife in their right hand and is wearing spherical, silvery glasses.

Maya Deren

Two people standing next to each other laughing. The person on the left has reddish-brown hair and light skin, the person on the right has crimson and black ahri and light skin.

Vicki Van Hout and Marian Abboud

A person with long red hair and light skin and a sullen expression taking a selfie in the mirror with a digital single lens reflex camera.

Tahlia Palmer

A person with shoulder-length brown hair and light skin looks down.

Lea Bertucci, photo: West Den Haag

A person with short black hair and dark brown skin gazes to the right.

KMRU, photo: Marco Krueger

An evening of powerhouse big-band energy, outsider jazz, experimental Arab world folk and sonic loops.  

Influential American singer, songwriter and visual artist Lonnie Holley headlines the evening, performing with his ten-piece band, comprised of contemporary soul masters Mourning [A] BLKstar and guitarist Lee Bains III. Together they initiate an intergenerational and cross-genre cultural conversation in song. 

Afrofuturist collective Mourning [A] BLKstar meld live instrumentation, soulful vocals and hip-hop beats in songs of eulogy and revolution. FFor their independent set, expect chopped-up drums, historic sample pulls and melodic storytelling that speaks to a 21st-century Black consciousness in the United States.  

Local musician Hilary Geddes brings big-band swagger to the proceedings with her distinguished quartet, comprised of Sydney’s next generation of jazz stars: Maximillian Alduca (double bass), Matt Harris (piano) and Alexander Inman-Hislop (drums).

In the Tank, Australia’s own 21st-century Arabic songsmiths Maissa Alameddine and Hamed Sadeghi perform ‘The long goodbye’ – a riff on folk music from their respective homelands, Lebanon and Iran, filtered through narratives spun from their daily lives in Sydney.  

For his Australian solo debut, American post-rock icon Jeff Parker (Tortoise) fills the Tank with sublime soul jazz and extended guitar techniques. A virtuosic instrumentalist, Parker coaxes guitar loops, sampled beats and live improvisations into transcendent sonic landscapes.   

Projections by legendary Ukrainian-born experimental filmmaker Maya Deren offer images of dreams, dance and ritual that echo the evening’s sonic loops. Also on the big screen, films by Lebanese–Australian artist Marian Abboud and Wiradjuri dancer Vicki Van Hout explore displacement, history and heritage, while Tahlia Palmer’s large-scale projections reanimate cultural knowledge. 

Visitors can also experience the world premiere of a new noise jazz score by acclaimed American composer Lea Bertucci, as well as a looping new score by Berlin-based Kenyan ambient musician KMRU. Expect pounding long-form sonics that soundtrack memories of his Nairobi childhood home. 

Details

Lonnie Holley, Mourning [A] BLKstar, Lee Bains III, Hilary Geddes, Maissa Alameddine and Hamed Sadeghi, Jeff Parker, Maya Deren, Marian Abboud and Vicki Van Hout, Tahlia Palmer, Lea Bertucci, KMRU

Date and time

Tuesday 26 September 2023, 6.30–10.30pm

Location

Art Gallery of New South Wales
North Building

Pricing

$55
$50 concession
$45 member

This event is part of the Volume multi-buy bundle – add two or more Volume events to your order and save!

Access

Ticketed performances are standing only; accessible seating and a zone for wheelchairs will be available. There will be moving images with occasional flashing lights and quick edits. Before you visit, please let us know your access requirements.

Schedule

6.30–7pm

Lea Bertucci, KMRU

Score

North Building

Tahlia Palmer

Film

North Building
Ground level, stepped terrace

Marian Abboud and Vicki Van Hout

Film

North Building
Lower level 2, Aqualand Atrium

Maya Deren

Film

North Building
Lower level 2, Aqualand Atrium

7–7.30pm

Mourning [A] BLKstar

Live music

North Building
Lower level 2, Aqualand Atrium

7–8pm

Maissa Alameddine and Hamed Sadeghi

Live music

North Building
Lower level 4, The Tank

8–8.45pm

Hilary Geddes

Live music

North Building
Lower level 2, Aqualand Atrium and sculpture garden

8.45–9pm

Lea Bertucci, KMRU

Score

North Building

Tahlia Palmer

Film

North Building
Ground level, stepped terrace

9–10pm

Lonnie Holley, Mourning [A] BLKstar, Lee Bains III

Live music

North Building
Lower level 2, Aqualand Atrium

Jeff Parker

Live music

North Building
Lower level 4, The Tank

10.30pm

Doors close