KAVISHA MAZZELLA, Nic Lyon

Plus LINGUA MADRE (Italian Folk Choir)

Saturday 12 September at 7.30pm

Kavisha Mazzella, who won the 2024 Folk Alliance Australia Lifetime Achievement Award, is a special guest!

We’re so excited to have Kavisha back at The Coolroom. She was born in the UK to Italian and Anglo-Burmese parents and moved to Australia when she was young. This mix of cultures has always been important to her. As a singer-songwriter, Kavisha is warm, engaging and thoughtful. She really enjoys getting her audience involved in her concerts. Since the 1990s, she’s been a valued part of the Australian Folk movement, and her motto is ‘Sing For No-one, Sing For Everyone’. Kavisha Mazzella is the 2024 Folk Alliance Australia Lifetime Achievement Award winner.

Lingua Madre (Mother Tongue) Italian Folk Choir,

“A Joyous Celebration of Italian Song”

The Lingua Madre (Mother Tongue) Italian Folk Choir, a lively choir for all ages in Melbourne, is full of energy. They started in 2023 and are committed to keeping folk traditions alive and sharing their unique immigrant stories in Australia through creative arrangements and songs by Choral Director Kavisha Mazzella AM.

About Kavisha Mazzella

Kavisha Mazzella, an ARIA award-winning singer-songwriter, sees music as a universal language that connects us across all styles. She thinks music brings us together, and calling it ‘world music’ doesn’t do it justice. Kavisha loves diving into different musical worlds and creating amazing experiences for everyone at her shows.

She really made a name for herself in Australia in 1993 when she appeared in the Franco Di Chiera documentary Joys of The Women. Using her rich cultural background, she writes modern songs with catchy tunes and deep meanings.

Even though her early inspiration came from the singer-songwriter style of Sandy Denny, Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen, Kavisha’s love for Italian regional folk songs has also influenced her. She mixes the modal sounds and joyful singing of Indian, Arabic, Southern Italian and Gypsy music with Western folk music. Plus, her interest in meditation and mysticism, inspired by Osho, Sufi, Tibetan Buddhist Masters and Advaita teachings, adds another layer to her music.