The Mara! Big Band hit the road in November 2024 to take their ground-breaking original world/jazz suite ‘Zashto?’ to music lovers in regional NSW, from Bellingen on the North Coast to Goulburn in the Southern Tablelands.

On Saturday 16 November they will present 'Zashto?' live in concert to Port Macquarie audiences at the Players Theatre (8 - 10pm).

The Band …

The Mara! Big Band, as the name suggests, is an expanded version of the dual ARIA winning Mara! Quintet.

Featuring a who’s who of Australian jazz and world music royalty, this ‘dynamic’ new 13-piece ensemble hovers between the Eastern European Gypsy brass band and jazz big band traditions to produce a breathtaking performance and a ‘a stellar musical experience’.

The Music ...

The suite ‘Zashto?’ is 60 incredible minutes of original music, features texts in Bulgarian, Farsi, Irish Gaelic and English.

Composed by six current and past members of the Mara! Band, this narrative suite focuses on the migrant experience in Australia and the spectre of incarceration (physical and psychological) hovering over it in the past 230+ years. Three women (an Irish convict, a Bulgarian migrant & an Iranian refugee) speak to us from different times and different circumstances of the trauma that scarred them and we pose the question ‘Zashto?’ (‘Why?’ in Bulgarian language).

What the critics say...

“All-star music line-up delivers a triumph and a treat” SMH 2022

“… impossible harmonies … wonderfully complex horn arrangements … If you can, go and see them for an evening of some of the most exciting music you’re ever likely to hear.” Canberra City News 2022

“… The Snare … joins Henry Lawson’s Past Carin’ as being among the most moving songs in the Mara! canon. … the project is wildly ambitious, but meets its own challenges with flair and conviction…” SMH 2023

MARA! BIG BAND IS ...

Mara Kiek . voice & percussion

Llew Kiek . bouzouki, bağlama, acoustic & electric guitars

Sandy Evans . soprano & tenor saxophone

Paul Cutlan . clarinets & saxophones

Steve Elphick . double bass

Plus

Andrew Robson . alto & baritone saxophones

Sam Golding . trumpet, tuba

James Greening . pocket trumpet, trombone & tuba

Gary Daley . piano accordion

Jess Ciampa . drums & percussion

Silvia Entcheva . voice (soprano)

Jenny Dornan . voice (soprano)

Jarnie Birmingham . voice (alto)