The Resonant Heart

The Resonant Heart is a collective that creates autonomous, authentic spaces for CALD and BIPOC women and female identifying artists to share their voices, craft and dreams with wider Australian audiences.

Their work is presented by the Indian composer, vocalist and sitarist Sarita McHarg; Iranian musician Vahideh Eisaei; practitioner of Naghal, the Persian theatre form, Elnaz Sheshgelani; South Sudanese MC and poet Lizzy Kuoth; and the Balkan/Sephardic Jewish Trio SARAY Iluminado, which includes vocalist Nela Trifkovic and instrumentalists Irine Vela and Kelly Dowall. It features a kaleidoscope of original compositions, traditional Bosnian, Sephardic Indian and Iranian works that include songs, stories and poems in Nuer, Hindi, Bosnian, Serbian, Farsi and Judeo-Spanish Ladino language.

The musicians take us across their stories, histories, customs and rebellions by sharing traditional, classical and original music from India, Persia, the Balkans, Australia and the Sephardic Jewish diaspora. The MC/poet and the performance artist navigate the ceremonious and the poetic aspects of the work through multi-lingual spoken word, movement and gesture, illuminating the shared rituals through their own creative lenses.

The Resonant Heart is an act of coming together. It is driven by each participant's bold and defiant commitment to the weaving of their dreams. Through this work and the ritual of dream weaving the artists communicate about their journeys. Whether they be journeys from their actual lives or creative imaginings, these are the journeys that start from and lead straight back to one's heart - the empowered, dynamic, awakened and resonant heart that radiates further and deeper beyond the known with each new song and story that it makes.