Audiences are invited to a joyful evening of percussion, dance and world music when Pulse Project hits Burleigh in July.

Words by Natalie O’Driscoll

Would you like to experience different colours of World Percussion and Dance?

Would you like to enjoy a global tour from Africa to the Middle East?

The Pulse is a multicultural percussion project, which blends all world percussion under one umbrella, and in July, a celebration of beats, dance and music from different parts of the world including Middle Eastern, African, Latin, Turkish and Balkan will be taking over Mo’s Desert Clubhouse.

“As I struggled a lot in my music journey after being a self-taught musician who learned most of the things alone, I don’t want others to struggle. So I bring light on their path,” says Atman Okyay, creator of Pulse Project and show producer.

With that in mind, he has set about creating holistic drumming communities, full of eager students who participate in classes that cover international rhythms and percussion. The culmination of these classes is a public event that will feature a variety of performances.

“I encourage beginners to commit to learning drums by including them in the performance,” says Atman.

“The performance will contain different acts from flamenco guitarist to gypsy folk bands, from Middle Eastern music to African drumming.

“We will play an hour set with our Pulse Project students and teachers, merely rhythm compositions. For example, we will play a Middle Eastern rhythm composition for 15 minutes. After that, we thought of playing another rhythm composition for about 15 minutes. Other 30 minutes will be on African drums and we will be playing an African composition to pump up the party and let people dance!

“For the entire set our students will be playing with us.”

Also on the lineup is Luna Junction, a lively gypsy folk band with diverse influences, and a Pulse Collective music team, featuring Atman himself, Bart Stenhouse on flamenco guitar and Shani Forrester on vocals, flutes, mandolin and trumpet.

The evening will feature music from around the world, and the Pulse Project will rock the night with world beats from the Middle East, Turkey, Latin America and Africa.

Bellydancer Carlotta Menna will mesmerise the crowd with her stunning performance.

Pulse classes run on Gold Coast and in Logan, and the students of both will come together for the July performance.