Ngaiire with Paul Grabowsky and Friends

The After Dark sessions embrace the intimacy and immediacy of Windsong Pavilion, an acoustically pristine space that is always a destination at the Festival. This year, Festival Creative Director Matthew Hoy and Composer & Pianist Paul Grabowsky have co-curated two nights, each distinctly unique, yet bound by the spirit of collaboration that brings exponential (and often yet unknown) creative possibilities to life!

When first hearing Ngaiire some ten years ago, Paul Grabowsky was astonished – here was an artist exploring the early recordings of Louis Armstrong, combining jazz musicians with a turntablist, electronics and video projection – the embodiment of past, present and future.

The two were recently reunited at UKARIA Cultural Centre, a place of inspiration and creation in the Adelaide Hills, that revealed an alchemy embracing past and present work from two artists especially conscious of space and their place within it. Their exploration continues at Four Winds, where Ngaiire and Paul share Ngaiire’s own songs, those she likes and whatever else might musically reveal itself in a continuing musical dialogue. This collaboration invites a quartet of Australia’s finest genre-defying musicians into their combined orbit.

“There’s something about Ngaiire’s voice that suggests Nina Simone, but then I used to say that about Aunty Ruby Hunter, too. It is a voice that transcends time and space”

Paul Grabowsky