Festivals Update

Image: Nas (villunderlondon / Flickr Creative Commons)

NAS, CHAMBERS ADDED TO BLUESFEST

Five weeks out, and Bluesfest Byron Bay keeps adding more names. US hip hop icon Nas and New Orleans-based guests The Soul Rebels will play an Australian exclusive at the festival.

Also added to the bill are Kasey Chambers (making her 10th appearance at the event), Busby Marou fresh off their ARIA #1, Australian-based South African Grammy winning flautist and composer Wouter Kellerman, Australian folk grunge duo Little Georgia and Byron Bay’s Lucy Gallant who’s set to play her third Glastonbury this year.

Next week, Bluesfest will announce the bill for the Boomerang festival which is once again held at its site.

CMC SELLS OUT IN 10TH ANNIVERSARY YEAR

CMC Rocks Queensland has sold out, in the tenth anniversary of the CMC Rocks brand. It will draw a record over 15,000 over three days to see a bill with Dixie Chicks, Little Big Town, Kip Moore, Lee Kernaghan and Morgan Evans.

A greater camping area, more entertainment just for campers and more food and beverages for them, has increased capacity by 2000. Last year’s attendance was 13,000. Promoters say that not only does this make CMC Rocks the biggest country and roots festival in the southern hemisphere but the only country music festival to ever sell out in Australia.

CMC Rocks is held March 24 –26 at Willowbank in Ipswich.

Read more about the festival’s big news week here.

QMF OFFERS MENTORING FOR FEMALE VOCALISTS

The Queensland Music Festival will, with the backing of the Queensland Government, hold a new music mentoring program called Songs That Made Me to help emerging female singer-songwriters from the state’s regional areas.

QMF Artistic Director Katie Noonan explained that Songs That Made Me (named after her 2014 album) was created in response to the low percentage of female musicians identified in APRA AMCOS statistics, which highlighted a female membership of only 21%.

“I am committed to continuing Queensland Music Festival’s mission to transform lives through music and am particularly passionate about empowering female musicians,”Noonan said.

“I hope Songs That Made Me will help launch the careers of talented artists from regional Queensland.”

Noonan was joined at the launch in Brisbane by Minister for Women Shannon Fentiman who said that Songs That Made Me was one of the initiatives receiving the support of the Government. Others included those “that focus on social cohesion, youth engagement, community revitalisation and empowering women.”

Mentors as Noonan, Deborah Conway, Clare Bowditch and Hannah Macklin will work with young talents in initially Gladstone, Mackay and Mount Isa. Local mentors Megan Sarmardin, Hayley Marsten and Kristin Berardi will also be involved.

Applications can be submitted onlineby Friday May 19 May and finalists in each region are expected to be announced in late May. They will participate in a mentorship and performance program.

Songs That Made Me culminates with concerts in July in Mount Isa (11), Mackay (13) and Gladstone (15), and a concert finale at The Tivoli in Brisbane on July 16.

The scheme will cover Townsville, Longreach and Cunnamulla in future years. “I’ve got big dreams for Townsville for 2019,” Noonan said.

FIRST ARTIST ANNOUNCEMENT FOR NATIONAL CELTIC

National Celtic Festival (June 9-12, in Portarlington Victoria) announced its first round of acts.

International tourists are Welsh five-piece Calan, Irish/US combo Kevin Crawford (flute), Patrick Doocey (guitar) and Colin Farrell (fiddle), and Scottish singer-songwriter Paul McKenna. Out from Ireland is traditional musician and teacher Dáire Mulher, and Scottish Gaelic arts school Feis Rois also feature.

Those representing the local Celtic circuit include folk storytelling icon Eric Bogle, and much loved The Bushwackers. Melbourne’s Gavin siblings, An Gabhain will also play, alongside acoustic duo Anna & Jordan, Brisbane based The Barleyshakers, The Melbourne Scottish Fiddle Club, and singer-songwriter Damien Leith.

The festival also has dance, theatre, comedy, literature and instrumental workshops included in the diverse range of activities on offer. Community arts project Lantunda will be one of two national theatre groups performing at the festival, bringing together a mix of shadow puppetry, stories and music focused on themes of place, belonging and Gaelic traditions in Australia.

PORT FAIRY FOLK REACHESOUT TO CALGARY FOLK

Port Fairy Folk is holding talks with the 30-year-old Calgary Folk Music Festival in Canada to set up a sister-event relationship and work on an artist exchange problem.

Port Fairy’s current director Caroline Moore and former director Jamie McKew will work with Calgary festival’s artistic director Kerry Clarke. McKew and Clarke met at a music conference ten years ago.

INAUGURAL CITY LIMITS A SELLOUT

The inaugural City Limits in Perth was a sellout success, with a capacity 1200 squeezing themselves into the Badlands Bar and car park (as the mercury soared to 36º) to see 14 bands. These included blitz-out sets from Jebediah, Gyroscope, The Love Junkies, Downsyde and Pat Chow as well as imports from Victoria, Bodyjar and Alex Lahey.

The event also gave a prominence to emerging worthy acts Money War, Rag N’ Bone, Boat Show and Verge Collection.

STRONG SUPPORT FOR INAUGURAL ESOTERIC

The Maitreya festival might have grumpily headed off to Byron Bay after altercations with the local council over permits and paperwork (or lack of thereof) However, the event had drawn a huge audience (15,000) and injected a healthy dose of new money into the local income.

As a result, the inaugural Esoteric, a three-day festival in Donald in the north-western of the state, is being staged with mostly local money on March 11-13. Organisers are reporting a strong support, especially to the “mate at the gate” scheme (turn up with a ticket with your best mate, and they get in for free) –enough for the event to this week announce another international act, Nick Sentience.

On Saturday after 5pm, the audience is asked to gather around the main stage “for a Galactic Maya blessing and prayerformance[sic].”

INDIGENOUS ACTS HIT THE FRINGE

After drawing 10,000 to the Sydney Opera House, the Koomurri dance troupe hit Adelaide Fringe, joined for the first time ever by Kuma Kaaru Indigenous Dancers’ Jack Buckskin for a didge, song and dance season between March 8—11 at Live At The GC in the Studio (The German Club) in Flinders Street.

The name Koomurri is derived from a combination of the two main east coast Indigenous nations, the Kooris (NSW/Vic) and the Murris (Qld), who have long-held cultural ties through songlines.

WHITE NOISE BALLARAT DRAWS 40,000

The inaugural White Noise Ballarat drew crowds of 40,000, organisers said. Under Artistic Director and Executive Producer, David Atkins, the stunning architecture of the Victorian gold town was turned into a splash of colour.

More than 45 free events including projections, exhibitions, street performances, film, music and dance delighted and thrilled audiences throughout the night in a celebration of culture and art. Mayor Samantha McIntosh reported that the streets reached capacity by 9.30 pm (so much so the festival was closed at 4 am rather than the advertised 7 am, much to the annoyance of those who came in the wee hours to avoid the crowds), and it seems the event may return next year.