Balthazar

Part Theatre, Part Dance, Part Musical

Sydney Sacred Music Festival returns to Riverside with this vibrant and energetic concert inspired by Afro-Uruguayan music and culture. A fusion of theatre, music, dance, visuals and the drumming artform of Candombe.

Balthazar, known to be one of the three wise men (magical kings) of biblical origins as well as the African god Eleggua (the joker), is the story-teller and protagonist, showing the way, creating crossroads and provoking outcomes, enticing man’s natural nomadic and social nature, non-judgmentally facilitating the path, where ever it may lead…

The journey of humanity itself starts in Africa, as does this story; the telling of an identity of musical people of European, Indigenous-American and African descent, that has fused into a single culture and its main musical offspring the UNESCO recognised drumming artform that is, “Candombe”.

The central theme is cultural syncretism, the ultimate form of integration. Through musical and physical (dance) communication, Balthazar becomes the catalyst of this story of migration and cultural fusion, which results in the hybrid that is “Candombe”.

The lively dynamics of the Candombe and its inception, is the platform from which this journey grows, one in a myriad of stories of cultural survival, integration and ultimately, birth of a new communal awareness.

Part theatre, part musical with stunning dance and visuals, Balthazar, fuses many genres, styles and artistic fields, as much as “Candombe” itself is a conglomerate of many musical cultures.