'The Heart Whispers And Whirls' is an immersive, multidisciplinary performance set to grace Queensland Multicultural Centre as part of BEMAC Live, this March.
It’s a poetic reimagining of cultural heritage, brought to life by The Resonant Heart – a collective of female artists whose diverse backgrounds converge in a stunning blend of music, dance, poetry, and shadow puppetry.
Check out the full BEMAC artistic season, 'A Stage Called Home'.
At its core, the performance is a rich tapestry of multilingual storytelling, featuring works in Farsi, Hindi, English, Bosnian, Nuer, and Ladino. With instruments like the sitar and qanun weaving through powerful spoken word and evocative movement, the piece transforms the stage into a ritual of ancestral wisdom and artistic expression.
The ensemble includes Sudanese poet Nyaluelit ‘Lizzy’ Kuoth, Indian sitarist and singer Sarita McHarg, Iranian qanun player Vahideh Eisaei, and dancer Elnaz Sheshgelani. Joining them is Balkan and Sephardic Jewish music trio Saray Iluminado Femme, featuring vocalist Nela Trifkovic alongside instrumentalists Irine Vela and Kelly Dowall.
Developed through deep collaboration, the performance presents rarely showcased cultural expressions, from South Sudanese Nuer poetry to Persian Naghali storytelling.
Ahead of the show, we caught up with Nela Trifkovic to delve into the creative process, the power of cultural storytelling, and what audiences can expect from this unique experience.
'The Heart Whispers And Whirls' brings together music, poetry, dance, and shadow puppetry in a deeply multicultural and interdisciplinary performance. What inspired the creation of this work, and how did you and the collective approach blending these diverse art forms?
Two of my colleagues and closest friends: Irine Vela and Kelly Dowall are the musicians in Saray Ilumiando, the Balkan and Sephardic Jewish band we all collaborate in. In conversations with them I expressed curiosity for connecting with many other amazing women and female-identifying artists we come across in Melbourne. Yet, we are all so busy with our won survival, our own hustle, making bank. . . We remain separated. It takes conscious effort for us to come together in any which way. We ate together, drank together, exchanged songs, stories and dances, exchanged tears, hugs and laughters, there has been joy and there have been moments of tension – all of this goes into the work. The other massive inspiration for me instigating something like this has been my mother and grandmother. Mum brought us (grandma and I) to Australia on the 'woman at risk, subclass 204' visa – and for 25 years I have observing my mother's countless, silent sacrifices that have led to the present day. . . All migrants, refugees and asylum seekers have their challenges, but there are also unique and specific sets of intersectional challenges that are specific for women and female-identifying people and so the work not only celebrates people's prowess and artistry but also feminine vulnerability.
Your music, particularly with Saray Iluminado Femme, explores Balkan and Sephardic Jewish traditions. How do these traditions find their place within 'The Heart Whispers And Whirls', and how do they resonate with the other cultural expressions in the show?
Music is great, because by nature music is an an antidote to separation, it invites and promotes orientation of unity. The starting point of my work is already 'pluralism' – I specialise in Bosnian Sevdah and Sephardic music and both those genres are rooted in pluralism – they evolve through diasporic discourse with other cultures and movement. Sevdah itself carries multiple influences. If you lived in Bosnia between 19th and 20th century you could have lived in a couple of countries and carried a couple of passports without ever leaving your own backyard. We have had the Middle Ages, the Ottoman Empire, The Austro-Hungarian times, several types of Yugoslavia. In musical terms, we are garnished with Mediterranian and Anatolian traditions, we have had a history and presence of maqams, then the accordion arrived and we moved towards more tempered tuning. And now, practitioners all over the world are interrogating all those elements and also exploring their own fusion between Balkan trad music and jazz or classical sounds. So when I collaborate with our Persian musician Vahideh Eisaei or the Indian artist Dr Sarita McHarg, I am in my element, exploring intersections and contrasts. And we are dynamically conversing.
The show is described as both a performance and a ritual, embodying ancestral wisdom in a modern Australian context. What does that ritual aspect mean to you personally, and how does it manifest in the performance?
For me personally ritual is a moment of communing with my creative action and the way in which this is done – to give it ceremonial significance is to give fully of myself and be intentionally present with the knowledge of my lineage. I learned a lot of this music informally through my family, it was a way of spending time together, there was no promise or even a suggestion of career when we were taught it as children. It was a way of connecting with oneself and those around you and fostering this particular emotional intimacy that music making evokes. And when you experience the work, it is striking in its simplicity and stripped down approach, we are there with one another and with all of you – each stage is transformed into a grandmother's living room. It is a ritual of belonging.
What was the creative process like working with artists from such diverse backgrounds, and were there any surprising artistic synergies that emerged?
For me it is the great opportunity and privilege to work with people from all over the world – this is the miracle of Melbourne and living in Melbourne. It is awesome to listen to Irine play laoutos (Greek lutes that she plays) with Sarita playing the sitar, Vahideh playing the qanun (zither style instrument) and Kelly playing the Turkish ney flute and just witness them find flow and togetherness. I don't have anything overly intellectual to say there, they are just awesome at listening to each other from the heart, listening in this generous and open way. It is also awesome to see Elnaz, our movement artist and shadow puppeteer, move with Lizzy the poet and they have this real flow together, as if they've danced together for a long time. Then they actually shape what they do to the explored narratives and pieces, but I am just in awe of the ensemble's openness and generosity.
The performance features multiple languages, including Farsi, Hindi, English, Bosnian, Nuer, and Ladino. How do you think language – both its presence and its barriers – affects the audience’s experience of the show?
Language is an amazing tool. Most of us come from languages other than English. Generally we give some insight into what we are presenting and we talk directly to the audience, but sometimes it is also powerful to just sit with the sounds you don't understand. Audiences readily do this with music/songs. It is a bit different with prose and poetry. But I encourage people to just sit with it and perhaps empathetically walk in immigrant/refugees vulnerable shoes of questioning if we'll understand. But those moments of hearing what we don't understand can also create affirmative experiences of fragility. And I find this important in art.
As an all-female collective, The Resonant Heart creates space for CALD and BIPOC women and female-identifying artists to share their voices. How does this ethos shape both the creative process and the impact of 'The Heart Whispers And Whirls'?
For the most part we have been independent and have worked on getting shows and exposure ourselves. Recently we have been working with the awesome team from MUSIC In EXILE – and they have been great in keeping a totally horizontal relationship with us - we make work, we talk, we connect, we go where we are celebrated and don't break ourselves to be in contexts that might not appreciate us. Rehearsals are very organic and simple – we eat together, we talk about our lives, we connect, then we break into a song, we have desert, we do another song. . . That's how we roll.
This piece includes rarely performed cultural expressions, such as Lizzy Kuoth’s Nuer-language poetry and Elnaz Sheshgelani’s work with Persian Naghali. What does it mean to you to be part of a project that revives and reinterprets these traditions?
It is an honour. and a privilege to witness these expressions being brought to life and to be a part of that work. Dr Elnaz Sheshgelani is a colleague from study days at VCA, and somebody who is keeping and championing Naghali. I find it gorgeous to witness the work. It is at once ceremonious and also incredibly playful – it seems that ancient knowledge and the joy of storytelling collide in this form. And when she performs she creates this ceremonious environment – putting all of us into dreamscape-like surroundings from her lore. I am grateful.
'The Heart Whispers And Whirls' premiered on International Women’s Day. How does this timing align with the themes of the performance, and what do you hope audiences – particularly women –take away from it?
'The Heart Whispers And Whirls' can be performed at any time. At the time of being premiered it carried a simple message – WE ARE HERE, among the array of Women of Soul, Women of Blues, Women Composers, and all those other events that carry their own magic and message, we are also now there offering a kaleidoscopic look into some cultural arts. We are here and we are making what we make best, our original and cultural work. And that is what I want all women and female-identifying artists to take away – make what you're best at, make the work that you are in accord with and eventually that work will find its audience and there might even be some curious, unexpected people there. When you make directly from the heart it is felt and perceived by the senses.
The show is part of BEMAC Live at Queensland Multicultural Centre. How does presenting this work in a multicultural arts space add to its significance?
Each space offers a subtly different message – these are just some of my personal spins on the experience, so don't take it as gospel. Being at BEMAC feels like we are in our expected context, we are going to the 'living room of our genres'. Being at the Melbourne Recital Centre or the Sydney Opera House can perhaps suggest a message of arrival into the more general Australian society. I love performing at Multicultural Centres because you meet people full of possibility and hope – it is like being from a developing country (rather than a developed one), you're still in the core of your pursuit, you're still trying to make a better world. I hope to carry this vibe even in those more mainstream venues and to never rest on my laurels. They all have their charms and fuel me with inspiration.
Looking beyond this performance, what’s next for you and The Resonant Heart? Are there plans to develop 'The Heart Whispers And Whirls' further or explore new collaborations?
We are making an art film featuring a medley of music from this work and touring in the first half of the year, so finessing this work is the current focus. I don't know yet what the future brings, but in connection with this crew of humans, I'm thrilled to try many things.
'The Heart Whispers And Whirls' plays Queensland Multicultural Centre 22 March.
