KAVISHA MAZZELLA & ROSARIO DE MARCO with LINGUA MADRE (Italian Folk Choir)

'A Joyous Celebration of Italian Song'

Saturday 30 August, 2.30pm

CASTLEMAINE PREMIERE

Lingua Madre (Mother Tongue) Italian Folk Choir is an Intergenerational Italian diaspora choir based in Melbourne. This choir is young! Born in 2023, the choir seeks to keep folksong traditions alive and also sing of their own experiences as immigrants to Australia through the new arrangements and compositions by Choral Director Kavisha Mazzella AM.

Kavisha Mazzella

Kavisha Mazzella is an ARIA award winning singer songwriter who does not believe in world music. It's just music!! Music unites us and creating imaginary titles such as world music is silly! She enjoys crossing musical boundaries and create community experiences in her shows.

Kavisha first came to national attention with her appearance in the Franco Di Chiera documentary ‘Joys of The Women’ in 1993. Drawing on her rich multicultural heritage she creates contemporary songs with haunting melody and lyrical depth.

While her early influences come from the singer songwriter tradition of the likes of Sandy Denny, Joni Mitchell and Leonard Cohen, over time due to her passion for Italian regional folksong, she has absorbed influence from the East with its modal tones and ecstatic singing styles of Indian, Arabic, Southern Italian and Gypsy influenced song and links these with western folk music influences. Other influences that have made an impression on Kavisha's music are her interest in meditation and mysticism through the teachings of Osho, Sufi, Tibetan Buddhist Masters and Advaita teachings.

Rosario De Marco

Mediterranean sound without borders. Rosario De Marco is a gifted musician and composer. A master guitarist who also has the capacity to compose. His music captures the warmth and passion of the Southern European lands, taking elements from jazz, classical, folk and popular music.

With regular performances around Melbourne, residencies in numerous venues, Rosario has established himself as a household name in the local music scene.

His performances include opening act for Italian international super star Zucchero at The Palais Theatre, Melbourne. Rosario also supported Omara Portuondo at the Melbourne Concert Hall (Portuondo sang duetting with Ibrahim Ferrer on the album Buena Vista Social Club) and Ladysmith Black Mambazo choral group from South Africa, (who rose to worldwide prominence as a result of singing with Paul Simon on his album, Graceland).

Rosario has performed live on national TV and radio. He has released a number of CDs, including ‘Light and Shadows’, ‘Roots’ and ‘Intuition’.

Kavisha Mazzella & Rosario De Marco

Kavisha Mazzella & Rosario De Marco