"WHEN ONE DIES....A LIBRARY DIES...." Old Italian Saying
" It was a joy to see you play at the Adelaide Festival and Womadelaide.I know many people loved your performances" Sophie Brous, Adelaide Festival 2012
"The performance with the Italian Women's Choir in the Victoria Theatre was an absolute highlight of the festival.The feedback received from Sovereign Hill staff and visitors alike was just fabulous." Sovereign Hill Family Day
LA VOCE DELLA LUNA on YOUTUBE and FACEBOOK
"Va Pensiero" at Womadelaide 2012
"Marina Marina" on Australia's Got Talent 2012
"Canzone Della Lega" at Melbourne Festival Of Choirs 2010
"Il lato folcloristico dell'opera e`sostenuto dal coro La Voce Della Luna allestito e diretto dal Kavisha Mazzella, che fa da liason delle scene e da sottofondo allatmosfera chiassosa da trattoria." Gabriella Gomersal- Hubbard Il GLOBO
" The choir echoes the moods of the immigrant experience as the women sing at times joyfully,occasionally hauntingly but always a pleasure to listen,led by musical director Kavisha Mazzella" DANNY GOCS The Australian Jewish News
"The Italian Women's choir, 'La Voce Della Luna"performs Italian folksongs that evocatively and poignantly enhance the storytelling"
Bob Crineen Herald Sun
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C HOIR BIOGRAPHY 1996 - 2013
La Voce Della Luna (The Voice of the Moon) is an intergenerational Italian Women's choir founded in Melbourne in 1996 by Kavisha Mazzella.They are a sassy group of women who sing the Italian popular and folk tradition from a vocal repetoire that traverses the length and breadth of Italy and goes from the 21st century back to the 1500's. Their performance- lyrical and rhythmic,raucous and sweet,earthy and heavenly bring together the harmonies from a group of Italian migrant women who have made Australia their home.Directed by ARIA award winning musician Kavisha Mazzella they also are accompanied by multi instrumentalist Phil Carrol on Accordion . Phil is one of Melbourne's most respected musicians in the World Music scene playing Turkish Ney and silver flute as well.
The traditional songs are of the harvest and factory, from bedroom to the grave,the cradle together with wedding songs , revolutionary songs ,religious and pagan feasts of Old Italy.Whether it's seduction,or waiting for the harvest,protest or lament ,the songs are sung with sweetness and earthy energy. Some examples from the choir's repetoire include : Bella Ciao, Mazzolin di Fiori , Va Pensiero , Angellare`, Maggio ,Vola Colomba amongst many others.
In 2000 Kavisha was awarded the Italia Nel Mondo Award by the Italian Government for her work in promoting italian culture through setting up italian womens choirs " The Joys of the Women" in W.A and La Voce Della Luna in Victoria.In 2004 she was commissioned to write " Tunc Justus" a song celebration for the Italian Women's Choir to sing at the 150th anniversary of The Eureka Stockade Rebellion.This song celebrated italian Raffaele Carbone who not ony wrote the only eyewitness account of the rebellion but was also Peter Laylor's right hand man and translator for the foreign minors on the Ballarat Goldfields. The choir recieved a standing ovation in Ballarat! In 2008 Kavisha was awarded the Multicultural award for excellence in Community Arts by the Victorian Government.
The choir have travelled interstate to play at many music festivals namely Woodford Festival Queensland, The Tasmanian Festival of Voice ,Port Fairy Folk Festival in Victoria, the National Folk Festival in Canberra and recently Womadelaide in South Australia.Their theatre shows include "Emma Celebrazione" , "Mavis goes to Timor", with Playbox Theatre at the Malthouse and "Kan Yama Kan "and" Sing for Water" and The Womens Anthem Love and Justice. They have played for State Premiers , Prime Ministers and they have played at Weddings Funerals and Birthday Parties but their favourite place to to play is for the elderly italians and in hospitals where they continue to heal with their loving renditions and move audiences and share the timeless, raw beauty of their cultural heritage.
In Luna Yarra we sing from a 500- year old tradition of Italian folk music, with much of the music based on actual life events. The music often is often tender and comic but sometimes confronting, even suggestive, and the texts have their own earthy, poetic beauty. We have named this CD after the Yarra River that runs through our home city.