Kavisha Mazzella - Official website

Andrián Pertout speaks with Kavisha Mazzella about her beginnings, and multi-culturalism in Australia.

Fisherman's Daughter

In 1981, Kavisha forms the trio ‘I Papaveri’ (The Poppies), performing traditional Italian songs from the 14th and 15th centuries, which ultimately leads to the formation of the Italian Women’s Choir in 1990, ‘Le Gioie Delle Donne’ (The Joys of Women), and an ABC documentary film celebrating the event.  This is subsequently followed by the ‘La Voce Della Luna’ project (The Voice of the Moon) that is established in 1995.

What was the music that initially inspired you to be a musician?

KM: “I suppose the whole folk thing.  When I first went out to hear music, I went to folk clubs.  And there was a little folk club called ‘Stables’ in Perth, run by a Welsh guy called Stan Hastings, and he encouraged a lot of singers.  And there was a real vibe, it was a fantastic vibe.  People used to climb up this ladder, into this tiny little loft and crowd in, and it was just excellent fun, it was just so great. I was listening to Steeleye Span and Fairport Convention, all that kind of stuff, and I was really inspired to sing by Sandy Denny.  I didn’t think that I’d be a musician or anything, I just wanted to sing.  I then went to art school, and I played music in a little bar around the corner from Claremont Art College, so I could pay for my paints basically.  Yeah, so I was painting and just sort of singing at this place once a week to also cover my rent.  That was in the days when rent was twenty-seven dollars a week by the way (Laughs).  So it was really like, you could do it, it was possible.  So yeah, it took off from there.”

How would you say that your Irish, Scottish, Burmese and Italian lineage has made an impact on your life?

KM: “I was always reminded of it when I was a child, because we’d be walking in the street and people would always come up just to say, ‘Oh, what nationality are you?’  You know, so we’d go through the whole thing, ‘Burmese, Irish, Scottish and Italian’ (laughs).  So we were so aware of that, just on an everyday level, you know, people asking this strange question, ‘What nationality are you?’ when we were in fact Australian.”