Brunswick Music Festival
By Bronwen Beechey
MELBOURNE — The eighth Brunswick Music Festival kicks off on February 28 with Festivals Australia Indigenous Sounds, a weekend dedicated to the indigenous music and culture of Australia.
The event marks the 30th anniversary of the historic referendum of May 27, 1967, when an overwhelming majority of Australians voted for changes to laws governing Aboriginal and Islander peoples.
The weekend features concerts from Tiddas, Vika and Linda Bull, Archie Roach, Thursday Island's Rita Mills (formerly of the Mills Sisters), and exciting new duo Debbie Morrow and Sharin Anderson. There will also be an art exhibition, Identity, and a lecture series including "Unfinished Business", a forum on reconciliation. The weekend culminates on March 2 with the Sydney Road street-party, which traditionally opens the Brunswick Music Festival.
The festival continues until March 23 and features a wealth of local and international traditional, acoustic and contemporary folk artists. Special guests include Irish group Lunasa, guitar virtuoso Tony McManus from Scotland, and in a first for the festival, Indian traditional musicians Deba Prasad Chakraborty and Pradip Paul.
Those wild gals from New Zealand, the Topp Twins (perhaps the world's first out lesbians to have their own TV series) are also making a welcome return to Brunswick after a two-year absence. Well-known artists such as Kev Carmody, Joe Geia, Judy Small, Kavisha Mazzella and Valangu Khoza will also appear.
For programs, bookings and information, call the festival hotline on (03) 9388 1460.