World Premiere | Australian Exclusive

Since 1979, Lonnie Holley has devoted his life to the art of improvisation. A survivor of Jim Crow-era Alabama, his practice was born from struggle and has grown into a lifelong expression of resilience and imagination. Across drawing, sculpture, music, film and performance, Holley transforms the everyday into something sacred – fragments of history remade as living art.

At 75, he remains as vital as ever. His work appears in major museum collections around the world, and his music continues to push boundaries. Holley’s seven albums include Oh Me Oh My (2023), featuring Michael Stipe, Bon Iver and Sharon Van Etten, and the lushly produced Tonky (2025). Each performance is a singular act of creation, as songs evolve live before the audience, shaped by the moment and the energy in the room.

To close his three-night residency, Holley is joined by Sydney-based rising star Yasmina Sadiki, known for her alt-jazz and neo-soul soundscapes. A stalwart of Sydney’s independent and improvisational music scene, Sadiki made waves this year with standout performances at Vivid LIVE and SXSW, wowing audiences with her hypnotic, cinematic grooves and emotionally charged vocals.

Together, Holley's powerful oratory and Sadiki’s dazzling voice weave a tapestry of sound that is intricate, moving and entirely new. Since 1979, Lonnie Holley has devoted his life to the art of improvisation. A survivor of Jim Crow-era Alabama, his practice was born from struggle and has grown into a lifelong expression of resilience and imagination. Across drawing, sculpture, music, film and performance, Holley transforms the everyday into something sacred – fragments of history remade as living art.

At 75, he remains as vital as ever. His work appears in major museum collections around the world, and his music continues to push boundaries. Holley’s seven albums include Oh Me Oh My (2023), featuring Michael Stipe, Bon Iver and Sharon Van Etten, and the lushly produced Tonky (2025). Each performance is a singular act of creation, as songs evolve live before the audience, shaped by the moment and the energy in the room.

Together, Holley's powerful oratory and Sadiki’s dazzling voice weave a tapestry of sound that is intricate, moving and entirely new. Expect greatness.

See more of the incredible Lonnie Holley at Sydney Festival, including a solo show, another improvised collaboration with an Australian artist, and an in conversation.

See Lonnie Holley
See Lonnie Holley with Kankawa Nagarra
Spend An Afternoon with Lonnie Holley and Kelly Lovemonster

“Recording Holley is akin to trying to capture lightning in a bottle, and his music represents a devotion to the very act of creation.”

THE NEW YORK TIMES

“He makes the kind of sculpture – and produces the kind of music – that changes people.” – SF Weekly (on Lonnie Holley)  

SF WEEKLY (ON LONNIE HOLLEY)

“The avant-garde singer’s seventh album is a big-hearted, transcendental testimonial.”

PITCHFORK

“Each of his pieces is actually a one-time performance; his words and music, whether in the studio or on a stage, are entirely improvised.”

THE NEW YORK TIMES

Music Music – seated

Lonnie Holley

USA

Lonnie Holley (b. Birmingham, AL, 1950) is a multidisciplinary visual artist and improvisational musician, whose work explores themes of personal and collective history, racial inequality, environmental catastrophe, and American identity. Born into the harsh reality of Jim-Crow era Alabama, Holley’s early life was defined by transience, cruelty, and economic hardship. Separated from his family as a young boy, Holley spent three years at The Alabama Industrial School for Negro Children, a brutal state institution that has been called a modern-day slave plantation. Growing up impoverished, Holley made do with what he could find, often the broken and discarded objects of human consumption – materials he refers to as, “trash, garbage, and debris.” His ability to combine these objects into beautiful and socially resonant works of art made Holley a leading figure in the long-overlooked movement of Black Southern visual artists. Holley’s work has been exhibited internationally and can be found in major museum collections including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Smithsonian American Art Museum, National Gallery of Art, and many others.

Yasmina Sadiki

Australia

Despite Yasmina Sadiki’s humble discography, she is a veteran within Sydney’s live music scene. This independent artist who is returning from her sold out VIVID 2025 show at The Sydney Opera House, has been pioneering a genre that has no boundaries.

Yasmina shares truthful art that contemplates womanhood, love and philosophies that are drawn from her own life, she is a genuine visionary. Her captivating performances are never the same and all who witness the magic know it to be a seductively cinematic experience.

Yasmina supported disco & psych-jazz legend Asha Puthli at her headline show in Sydney in 2024, but she has connected with many producers, artists and musicians from Sydney and beyond. Early in her career, she was featured on a track with The Kid Laroi by diamond producer HAAN.

Yasmina is a respected and frequent performer, bringing her music around a multitude of Sydney venues. In 2023 she was nominated for an FBI SMAC Award, ‘Best Live Act’. Yasmina has also featured in TedXYouth, has been FBI’s Independent Artist of the week and has been a featured speaker in the Committee for Sydney’s panel discussions Gig Economy 2023 and Bankstown+10 2024. Yasmina was also a Converse All Star in 2025.

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Lonnie Holley with Yasmina Sadiki

Lonnie Holley

Yasmina Sadiki

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