"sing for no one - sing for everyone."
KAVISHA MAZZELLA A.M.
AWARD WINNING SINGER SONGWRITER, CHOIR LEADER and SOUNDHEALER
Kavisha's musical practice has spanned over three decades,
with her musicianship contributing to arts in schools,
teacher education, the community arts sector and arts activism.
"Kavisha Mazzella is an exemplary Australian singer -songwriter whose songs contain deep lyrics
that are often humorous" Tony Hillier Music Reviewer for The Australian 2023
PURCHASE Kavisha's Albums here at Bandcamp the format that trully supports musicians and pays them!
ARIA award winner, songbird and folkloric explorer Kavisha's original song's lyrical ingredients include humour, poetry, social justice and the spiritual. Combine this prowess with the voice of an angel and you have the experience of a Kavisha concert. Singing in English, Italian and other languages, she will take you on an uplifting boundary riding journey of well-crafted stories and songs ringing with echoes of Celtic, Fado and Gypsy influences that will strike a resounding chord within. In 2011 she was awarded an Australia Day Honour for services to music and community. In 2023 she was awarded a Lifetime Contribution Award by Folk Alliance Australia for championing diversity in the folk music scene .
BUY KAVISHA MUSIC HERE DONATE HERE BUY ME A COFFEE !
Photo ©Cole Kelly 2024 Kavisha at Carmel Hall Cygnet Tasmania at Cygnet Folk Festival 2024
REVIEW FROM THE BLOG POST SERENUS BLOOM OF Italian academic CIRO A R Abilitato.
"Kavisha Mazzella is an Italian-Australian singer-songwriter awarded prestigious international awards. She was born in London and resides in Melbourne, Australia. Her mother is Anglo-Burmese, while her father is Neapolitan, originally from the enchanting island of Ischia, the largest of the Phlegraean archipelago, the ancient Pithecusa. Kavisha's lyrics reproduce original songs from the folk tradition of different cultures around the world. Only rarely have I heard a Neapolitan or Sicilian song sung so well even by my fellow countrymen, also due to the attention to accents and diction. Kavisha's songs are authentic lyrical masterpieces, offered with the voice of an angel in various languages: Italian, Neapolitan, Sardinian, Sicilian, French, Spanish, English. These are authentic melodic masterpieces in which Celtic, Fado, Catalan, bardic, Gothic and Gypsy mix lively with truly original effects. Kavisha Mazzella's songs are stories woven of weightless grace and traditional gems that carry within them a great sense of poetry and lyrical depth. This singer possesses the remarkable ability to effortlessly throw her clear and beautiful voice into a microphone, from a meter away, almost like a ventriloquist, and to move from side to side across the stage to fill it with delicate and vibrant sonority. all the surrounding space. Something that really goes beyond words. Her warm and passionate voice conveys emotions that touch her heart. Her energy and love of music are contagious." CIRO A R Abilitato
Kavisha Gig 2024
KAVISHA in WA
FRI APRIL 5th - The Marri Tree Books and Arts presents Kavisha LIVE in concert in The CHAPEL
3 Redgate Rd at Witchcliffe WA with Miranda Aitkin Please BOOK HERE
SUN APRIL 12th 7pm Kavisha in concert with John Reed at Perth Folk and Roots Club at
Lyrics Underground, Basement, 22 Lyric Lane, Maylands WA 6051 WA
FRI April 19th - SUN 21st Join in the big community choir festival at FREMANTLE SONG FEST followed by the
special Peace Service with Rev Gemma Basely at Saint Pauls Church 162 Hampton Rd South Fremantle WA
FRI 3rd -SUN 5th of MAY SACRED EDGE FESTIVAL FESTIVAL OF ARTS and ACTIVISM presented by Uniting Queenscliffe VICTORIA
SAT JUNE 1st BOITE 45tH BIRTHDAY at Collingwood Town Hall
140 Hoddle St, Abbotsford Vic 3067 BOOK HERE Featuring:
Kavisha Mazzella, Misagh Zamani, Rosa Voto, Ria Soemardjo,Vinod Prasanna, Pal Mar and others
SAT June 15th 12.30-4pm mini festival Brisbane "CIAO SATURDAY!"
Kavisha in Concert plus ZUMPA and the Italian Tune Session at
ITS STILL A SECRET 48 Montague St South Brisbane Q Land 4101 BOOK HERE
SUN JUNE 16th Sandgate Town Hall Sandgate , Brisbane - Queensland -
Celebrating 16 years of Music By The SEA Concert BOOK HERE
SEPT 8th and 9th Guildford Songfest WA Wonderful Choir festival held in Historic Guildford Town WA
SEPT 10th - 22nd Lucca , Siena ITALY and surrounding countryside Kavisha and Valdo Michelangeli
lead the 7th famous CANTIAMO popup choir , food and wine tour( sold out )
SHENPEN SOUNDHEALING ( NDIS support is available )
SHENPEN SOUND HEALING
ABOUT KAVISHA'S SOUNDHEALING
During Covid when Kavisha couldnt perform due to lockdowns ,Kavisha studied Integral Sound Healing with SHA Sound Healing Academy International 2018 - 2021 .She expanded her repetoire to now include Soundhealing .She studied in a combination of Online and face to face studies with Anne Ridgeway of Laxmi Soundhealing and Sally Hutchinson of Soundhealing Journeys .
Soundhealing is a beautiful and powerful art where science and traditional knowledge meet.. The soundhealer creates a live musical soundscape to allow one's body to deeply relax and thenmove from the fight /flight sympathetic nervous system to the "rest and digest" Parasympathetic Nervous system .
This shift allows the bodys healing to be activated. Kavisha creates a soundscape with her voice , Wind Gong , Shamanic Drum , Himalayan Bowls , Harmonium and other instruments are also played to create a deep relaxing sound bath In the caring safe environment . Kavisha creates sound with intention which creates a deep relaxation,transformation and healing . Shenpen in Tibetan means of benefit to all .Kavisha is available to give soundhealing to NDIS Clients. Bookings essential ph 0412893355 Group sessions are also available (4 people @$45 per person ) One on one sessions ( $100 )
REVIEWS and TESTIMONIALS
"I highly recommend the use of this modality.
It can go where alot of other healing techniques can't. Kavisha is a natural in this field" A G
"I would encourage people to do soundhealing as it is stimulating on all levels.ones awareness of health is increased through relaxing into the vibrations of sound energy and being immersed in quiet attention "K M
"My levels of stress have decreased and my ability to let go and relax have improved enormously" D W
" I felt more in tune with my true nature.i was seeing my true self more clearly I became more confident to be myself.(i experienced ) Self Acceptance and let go of alot of resistance to my true nature which is a very loving being.It's a necessary experience . Everyone should try it ! " P H
"The healer was empathic,being well caring of the client .I wholly recommend this process and know it will be helpful for clients "L E
NDIS CLIENTS $90 per hour
BOOKING ESSENTIAL 0412893355
LINGUA MADRE ITALIAN language Community Choir 2024
RECOMMENCING MONDAY April 29th 2024 at 7pm for a 9 week term .
Lingua Madre is Italian language choir. Coffee, Biscotti and great songs !
Celebrate Australia's amazing immigrants and all they have bought here
We sing beautiful traditional italian folk songs of work ,love ,death , protest and hope that come from all regions of italy and resonate through 600 years of singing
We learn harmonies , language and community sharing with stories and recipes in a safe caring environment at Saint Marks Community Church 100 Hodgkinson St Clifton Hill Melbourne Victoria Australia
Please note up front TERM FEES APPLY ($20/$16 concession per session )
and scholarship is available for hardship cases
please contact Kavisha 0412893355
GALLERY
Kavisha and Trudy Edgeley ...YES!!!! SEPT 2024
JOYS of the WOMEN 30th Anniversary celebration in Brisbane in July 2023 with Family and Director Franco Di Chiera
Kavisha with Trio Riturnella - NIC LYON and Jack NORTON in Castlemaine
Sam & Dave De Santi , Giri Mazzella at JOYS of the Women 30th Anniversary celebration Brisbane
WARLAYIRTY ARTS CENTRE 35th Anniversary Concert BALGO WA Aug 22 with Giancarlo Mazzella & kids
Collaborating with Kenny Dawson Goondiyandi singer songwriter and visual artist from Yiyili WA
SINGING in Villa Corsano,Ville di Corsano ,Tuscany ITALY Cantiamo Choral Tour 2015
HEARTLPLACE CHOIR FREMANTLE WA 2020 - 2023
At the NATIONAL FOLK FESTIVAL BUDAWANG STAGE 2023
On Tour with the WOODY GUTHRIE SONGS OF FREEDOM SHOW with BRUCE HEARN and the MACCHINISTS Brisbane Powerhouse 2017
Kavisha founded La Voce Della Luna Italian Women's Choir in Melbourne in 1996 and directed them until 2013 LISTEN HERE
EMPTY SKY KIRTAN - Official CD Launch at the MALDON FOLK FESTIVAL 2023!
TESTIMONIAL
"It was such a delight to experience Kavisha’s introduction to Kirtan. It was a beautifully crafted, calming, heart-centred and easy space for people to be in. I think it’s so important that festivals have quiet places where people can restore and reboot. " Jo Cresswell Artistic Director ,2023 National Folk Festival
WHAT WE DO AT EMPTY SKY
The next Empty Sky Session is on SUN April 28th 5 pm at Saint Kilda South Port Uniting Church South Melbourne 325 Dorcas St South Melbourne
LATEST CD EMPTY SKY listen here
In SEPT 2018 I recorded these songs with my good friend veteran world musician Nicolas Lyon in Malmesbury .By March 2019 only 6 months later, it was ready for the world but COVID came along ! Time to lockdown so we never had a chance to launch it properly ! However a few friends got copies and they say it got them through the difficult lockdown which made me so happy that the music was healing and useful .We then launched it 4 years later at the Maldon Folk Festival !
The songs include a soulful version of Jarek Czechowicz's "Love, I call Your Name ", a reworking of the popular "Magnificence" by Peter Makena, my original melodies to traditional wisdom texts the Gayatri Mantra, Heart Sutra, Om Mani Padmi Hum, and the words of the mystic poets such as Kabir and Saint Francis. Finally ending with a rallying call for Mother Earth.
REVIEW by Robbie Greig Melbourne Singer Songwriter ,mentor and music teacher. March 2020
"What a beautiful CD it is! Especially in these distressing times, it has provided a calming and uplifting mood when it was most needed. THANK YOU." Jeannie Marsh- Melbourne singer and choir leader
"What it is ..is it calms me and makes me feel grounded and secure and it talks to a part of me which is beyond words .There's something about being from different traditions on one album that makes it absorbing. It touches different emotions from lament to uplift " Padma Locana ,Yoga teacher Melbourne
REVIEWS
PRAISE for Kavisha’s Music
"Kavisha's new album of centuries-old Italian folk songs is a beautiful thing to hear - a great vehicle for these songs of the heart that have stood the test of time. She plays guitar, mandolin and accordion and the spare production lets her voice naturally shine."
Lucky Oceans ,ABC Radio National Weekly Planet. March 2014
“Riturnella is a beautiful collection of Italian folk songs from the 1400s onwards. Here, Kavisha Mazzella has returned to a collection of songs she heard many years ago on a friends cassette player that ultimately lead to her work with I Papaveri and La Voce Della Luna. These songs of love and loss from all over Italy are rendered starkly and exquisitely with Kavisha accompanying herself with some very fine guitar and mandolin work.”
Paul Barr Readings, Book and Music.****
folk
Love & Sorrow
Kavisha Mazzella
Black Market Music
**** (four stars)
‘TIS a musical match made in heaven, though forged in Melbourne during a break in one of Nano Stern’s tours. Local artist Kavisha Mazzella was destined to collaborate with the talented young Chilean, whose own work also exudes a Latin passion for life and travel, and a predisposition to break down musical and cultural barriers. Subtle multi-instrumental colouring from the album’s producer, allied to an exemplary sound engineering and mixing job by Harry Williamson, has helped convert a batch of characteristically well-crafted songs into Mazzella’s magnum opus. Love & Sorrow certainly has an epic sweep, reflecting the writer’s “travels and misadventures” near and far, the former in the case of the evocative St Kilda Lullaby, which poetically encapsulates the raffish charms of Melbourne’s beachside suburb in lines like: “Luna Park’s mask is grinning and blowing the breeze through the dark / The winos are dancing with shadows and glancing for cops as they sleep in the park”. Gecko Song, on the other hand, captures the velvety ambience of a tropical Southeast Asian night via a combination of Mazzella’s Balinese flute, Stern’s marimba and ukulele, and Williamson’s gamelan gong. Elsewhere, the South American’s nylon-string guitar and harmony singing provide simpatico support to the leader’s emotional vocals in Gethsemane and Magdalena. Charango adds a whiff of Andean air to Green Eyed Songbird. Mandolin and fiddle lend a classic British folk feel to All You Sailors.
Tony Hillier
TESTIMONIALS
"Gene and I agree that when we attend festivals, Kavisha impresses with her supportive attitude to fellow performers" DR TONY SMITH
"Your beautiful warm heart, music and songs were the perfect antidote for us here in Melbourne at present when we are in the midst of so much doom and gloom.The feedback from all the singers has been overwhelmingly positive and grateful for your sessions - and we can't thank you enough!"
Jonathon Welch AM ( Choir Of Hard Knocks Founder) Melbourne International Singers Festival
"Like all great artists, you bring so much joy into peoples' lives and make it possible for them to get out of their noise ... and ... rest with their feelings ... that's a teacherless teaching. "Robert G
******
"What an absolutely fabulous performance you spoilt us with!! Thank you." Margot Leake, Albany Entertainment Centre WA
******
"Just wanted to say a heart felt thank you for the wonderful workshop and concert at Woy Woy last week. It was such fun - the Seven Hundred Rolls song is truly fabulous. You not only sing like an angel, you know how to get other people to sing. What a gift. " Grace - workshop participant
"I have seen Kavisha concerts for years and have her Dvd's so when I heard she had a choir it seemed the one to try. It has met my expectations being an informal fun class but we do learn. My son- in- law mentioned my singing round the house has improved ! You can change anyrhing you want!!!!" Ange Heartplace Choir member
*****
BUY YOUR CDS HERE or PURCHASE Kavisha's Albums of Digital Music on Bandcamp
$20 CD plus $10 postage, you can pay here paypal.me/mazzellamusic
Please write to Mazzella Music WabiSabi House 338 Rathmines St VIC 3122
or email kavisha(at)kavisha.com THANKYOU !
KAVISHA'S CATALOGUE
- EMPTY SKY sacred songs and chants ( 2019 ) CDS and also digitally on Bandcamp
- The Fearless Note (2017) also Digitally available on Bandcamp
- Riturnella (2014 ) Italian folksongs of 600 years also Digitally available on Bandcamp
- Love and Sorrow ( 2010 )also Digitally available on Bandcamp
- Silver Hook Tango ( 2003 )also Digitally available on Bandcamp
- Fisherman's Daughter (1998 ) also Digitally available on Bandcamp
- Mermaids In The WEll ( 1995 ) also Digitally available on Bandcamp
- Canberra Cork Calgary...live (2000) also Digitally available on itunes
Kavisha with long time collaborator Johnny Reed at Kidogo Photo © Claire Moody 2020
MY Youtube Channel
JULY 27th 2023 INTERVIEW with ADA GUGLIELMO of FREMANTLE RADIO about her first choir JOYS OF THE WOMEN reflecting on the 30th anniversary of the film Joys Of The Women by Franco Di Chiera
- July 23 2023 PODCAST / YOUTUBE CONVERSATIONS Kavisha with Canadian musician LEAH ROSEMAN
- VA PENSIERO Kavisha with La Voce Della Luna Italian Choir featuring Kavisha from the album "Luna Yarra" produced by Paul Petran -AS FEATURED IN Australian Filmmaker Aaron Wilson's 2021 accaimed FILM "LITTLE TORNADOES "
- AL GRASSBY'S Grandfather with Neil Adam,Judy Turner and Spanish band from the Asturias FELPEYU
- AMOUR from Love and Sorrow 2011
- ALL GODS BEGGARS from Silver Hook Tango 2003
- ALL YOU FASCISTS with BRUCE HEARN and the MACCHINISTS 2017
- BELLA CIAO di Risaia with I Viaggiatori Italian Folk from Suitcase Serenada 2011
- EMPTY SKY CHANTS and SACRED SONGS session LIVE Aug 2020
- FISHERMAN'S DAUGHTER from Fisherman's Daughter 1998
- GECKO SONG from Love and Sorrow 2011
- INVISIBLE INDIVISIBLE from Mermaids In The Well 1995
- KINDNESS OF STRANGERS Xmas Carol 2016
- LOVE and JUSTICE Choir Women's Anthem with VICTORIAN WOMEN'S TRUST CHOIR 2008
- LOVESWING (Kabir) 2021
- LOVE I CALL YOUR NAME by Jarek Czecowicz from Empty Sky 2020
- NIGRA SUM from MARE PROFUNDO Kavisha ,Irine Vela and Richard Tedesco with Boite Millenium Chorus 2006
- PHILOSOPHY MAN live performance at Kidogo Arthouse Fremantle NOV 2021
- RITURNELLA from Riturnella Italian Folk songs 2014
- ROSE IN THE BONES from Silver Hook Tango 2003
- SHE MOVES THROUGH THE FAIR from Mermaids In The Well 1995
- SING FOR NO ONE from The Fearless Note 2017
- TO THE RIVER co written with Arnold Zable
- TWO GOOD MEN (Sacco and Vanzetti) with BRUCE HEARN and the MACCHINISTS 2017
- THE FEARLESS NOTE from The Fearless Note 2017
- VENEZUELA from Silver Hook Tango 2003
- VULUMBRELLA Italian Folk Song from Mermaids In The Well 1995
- WE ARE ANGELS from Mermaids In The Well 1995
- WEDDING SHEETS from Suitcase Serenata 2010
- WOODY GUTHRIE SHOW from BRUCE HEARN and the MACCHINISTS 2017
INTERVIEWS
Kavisha & Franco Di Chiera with TONY TARDIO on RETE ITALIA May 20 2023
Kavisha & Franco Di Chiera with Magica Fossati from SBS 30 years of Joys Of The Women 2023
Kavisha talks with Vanessa Mills from ABC Kimberly about the Power of Music 2022
Kavisha with Patricia Hamilton of Concious Living TV NOV 2021
Kavisha with Suvas Agam from his Youtube Show SECRETS OF LIFE NEPAL NOV 2020
Kavisha and Franco Di Chiera INTERVIEW about the film The Joys Of The Women 2012
Kavisha Community Xmas play Jesus was a Middle Eastern Refugee 2012
Kavisha Kavisha Community Xmas play Beggars Orchestra play Hava Nagila 2012
Kavisha wins ARIA AWARD for best World Music Album 1998