Collaboration and diversity take centre stage at Brisbane Multicultural Arts Centre (BEMAC) in the final half of their A Stage Called Home programme.
A Stage Called Home is an eclectic curation of concerts, panel discussions and theatrical performances that brings together artists, venues and arts organisations to speak about the Australian experience and challenge notions of a singular national identity.
Drawing on the cultural influences of the diasporas that call Australia home, BEMAC has collected a globe-trekking volume of stories from our own backyard and beyond, taking audiences through ancient worlds, war-torn countries, suburban backdrops and lush traditional soundscapes.
Persian Sufi mysticism meets modern hip hop when electrifying duo Zemzemeh present Rhyme & Reason at Queensland Multicultural Centre on 24 October.
Multi-instrumentalists Siyavash Doostkhah and Greta Kelly fuse the poetry of Persian mystics Rumi, Hafez, and Attar with electronic sound, visual storytelling and hip hop aesthetics into a one-of-a-kind contemporary ritual.
Rhyme & Reason features projected translations, animated sacred geometry and original music that merges ancient instruments – tanbour and shah kaman – with hip hop beats, synths, samples and Persian-language vocals.
"I find myself stretched across the world, all the way from Iran to Australia, and home is both places," Siyavash says. "Not just where I am, but home is also where I came from culturally.
"The music that we do, we feel like we are recreating that concept of home in a musical way, so that it has elements of here and now but also where I came from."
'Superheroes', an award-winning original Australian play dissecting responsibility, survival and what being a hero really looks like, makes its Brisbane debut at Queensland Theatre from 7-22 November.
It's November 2017; two young women, worlds apart, are both at breaking point. On the south coast of NSW, Emily has forgotten her nephew's birthday party and needs her ex-boyfriend to answer her texts. In Mostar, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Jana's trip to the grocery store puts her smack bang in the middle of the European refugee crisis.
"'Superheroes' is a play about responsibility," Director Sanja Simić says. "It stages this on a global and personal scale, asking questions about what it takes to change someone's mind.
"The play is formally ambitious, playful, sharp, startlingly funny, and riddled with moments of real dramatic impact. It's the kind of writing that hits home and hits hard – brutal, tender, and ultimately quite hopeful."
Melbourne-based quintet Queen Of Hearts offer a vibrant and polished fusion of Latin American rhythms, folk, blues, rock and contemporary influences with their 'Divinia' concert at Mirrorball Ministries on 2 November. This will be the group's first time playing in Brisbane following the release of their second studio album 'Divinia'.
Performing in Spanish, English and Spanglish, the Queen Of Hearts ensemble is a reflection of modern Australia: multicultural, multilingual and creatively ambitious. Their repertoire, emotion and the richness of their live energy bridge cultures and resonate across generations.
With an all-female line-up of five accomplished musicians, Queen Of Hearts exquisitely dazzle with their original compositions alongside tasteful reinterpretations of Latin classics and iconic global songs, including the most exceptional versions of the Divinyls' 'I Touch Myself' and AC/DC's 'Thunderstruck'.
BEMAC's A Stage Called Home Season Two 2025 features Zemzemeh's Rhyme & Reason at Queensland Multicultural Centre (Brisbane) on 24 October, Queen Of Hearts' 'Divinia' concert at Mirrorball Ministries (Brisbane) on 2 November, and 'Superheroes' at Queensland Theatre (Brisbane) 7-22 November.
