A storytelling experience of a different kind, Daydreamer Wolf is the expressive and spontaneous showcase of an Afghani refugee, visual artist and poet Elyas Alavi’s longing for his homeland.
Coming together with jazz musicians Derek Pascoe and Chris Martin, the collaborative Daydreamer Wolf performance (part of Umbrella: Winter City Sounds) will see the beautiful collision of Elyas’ visual art and poetry, with Derek and Chris’ interpretative music performed in the moment.
As Elyas debuts his latest poems on stage, Derek and Chris will be hearing them for the very first time also.
The two musicians, with over 50 years of musicianship between them, will perform improvised, background music reflective of Elyas’ emotive content, making for a unique performance that Derek describes as an atmospheric experience for both performer and audience.
“As an audience member, you’ll be witnessing something being entirely created for the first time and seeing someone’s craft, background and expertise being drawn upon to make it the best performance they can at that moment in time,” Derek says.
This will be the trio’s second performance together, after they worked together in 2013 for a similar performance concept, where Elyas expressed the experiences, trials and tribulations of his past in poetry. “[Elyas’] poetry is truly heartfelt.
“It’s not just ‘I wandered lonely in the crowd’ type of poetry – not that that’s not heartfelt – but it’s someone talking about their homeland. It’s direct and immediate and that really helps the audience, as well as Chris and I, to align ourselves with Elyas’ emotions and vision.”
Despite the three men coming from vastly different circumstances; Derek being raised in London, Chris in Adelaide and Elyas fleeing his homeland of Afghanistan, the trio seamlessly work as one on stage.
They’ll bring together their experiences in not only an artistic collaboration, but a cross-cultural intertwinement too. “[As musicians], Chris and I don’t draft our own projection of what it would be like to be an Afghan refugee, because that is obviously so far beyond our own understanding. You can’t really comprehend it, unless you live it.
“As three people from diverse backgrounds, we bring a sense of what true art should be; that is, a sense of humanity and what it actually means to be human.
“I could never begin to understand Elyas’ background, but through my own experiences in life, living many years on Earth you can start to find a way to inject the human element of it.”
Daydreamer Wolf takes place at Nexus Arts (Adelaide) 28 July.
