MUSIC. MEMORY. HOPE. THE LAUDED HIT OF PERTH FESTIVAL, NOW IN SYDNEY FOR A LIMITED SEASON.

Australia, today. In a small recording studio, a cleaner tries to tidy the mess left by careless musicians. As he cleans, a window opens onto his life – the pain of leaving his home, the alienation of living in a new land, his gratitude, his confusion, the beautiful mess of life. But simultaneously, on the other side of the glass, another man is recording music both joyous and heart-rending, songs of home, of love, of power.

Black Brass is a play of voyaging and discovery told through music and song that span a continent (Shangana, Swahili, Kikuyu, Xhosa, as well as English). Soulful, uplifting, it takes everyone in the room into the rich complexity of here and now.

Performed by the extraordinary Mararo Wangai, joined onstage by composer-musician Mahamudo Selimane, Black Brass was the hit of the 2021 Perth Festival, a piece that stimulates all the senses – and opens the heart.

This is just a gem. It’s worth it for the music alone, but there’s a moving and poignant play at work here too. Mararo and Mahamudo have astonishing presence. Come and see. – Eamon