More Artists appearing at CresFest 2023
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Even more great performers appearing at CresFest 2023
Ballarat Scottish Country
Ballarat Scottish Country Display of traditional and modern Scottish Country Dance in a group of 8 people. Ballarat Scottish Country Dance Group was formed over 60 years ago by migrants from Scotland. The group keeps going on like a good Scotch Whisky. We teach and practice these fun and traditional social dances each Monday night in Ballarat.
Bec Matthews
As an artist who crosses musical and stylistic boundaries, Bec’s original compositions infuse influences reflecting her extensive global travels and diverse musical collaborations. Her original songs allude to Bec’s personal journey and worldview, echoing her extensive studies with West African musical masters and travels through remote Australia and beyond.
Blackberry Jam
Blackberry Jam have been performing to the delight of Victorians of all ages, for over 25 years! Be ready for an abundance of energy, fun and dance music and calling expertise. We've played together for over 30 years and love bringing joy to others.
Brandragon Morris and Clog Red Raven Morris, Bearbrass Sword
Colourful, rambunctious, riotously noisy dance involving, at various times, stick-bashing, hanky waving, twiddler twiddling and bell-shaking. Traditionally danced at festivals and special events, in streets and marketplaces and outside pubs and in breaks during bush dances/ceilidhs.
Brian Strating & Lyndal Chambers
Lyndal Chambers & Brian “Strat” Strating, Inverloch based singer/songwriters and multi instrumentalists who have performed and taught in the Australian music scene for many years. Strat & Lyndal lead the colourful and vibrant Invy Horn Jam (Bass Coast based street band) and have years of experience facilitating street bands and festival parades. They are passionate promoters of community music participation, having established multiple, ongoing community music groups in Melbourne and regional Victoria.
Cat Canteri
Showcasing her stunning voice and cutting edge songwriting, Cat Canteri intertwines bold acoustic guitar playing with poignant and poetic lyrics to create music that’s both fragile and life affirming. With a disarming stage presence her songs document real life situations and experiences with a brave, personal and candid honesty.
Coral Reid
Coral Reid is a fiddle player and dancer from the UK, teaching English tunes, step clog dancing, and rapper sword dancing, a tradition weaving dancers into knots!
Elemento One
Dancing workshop focus on Latino rhythms. Mainly Salsa dance from Colombia A unique experience full of energy, positivity, music, culture and dance from Latino America, aiming to share our enthusiasm and good vibes. Dancing & Performing during the parade.
Etta Lane
Etta Lane shares snippets of personal narratives in contemporary yet vintage-flecked nostalgic folk. With satirical honesty reflecting on past-self and experiences, her “pretty songs for ugly feelings” are a tangle of growing pains and bittersweet hindsight - a catalog trickling honey-soaked vocals with sepia-toned introspection.
Freya and
Tom McGowan
Freya and Tom are a daughter/dad duo from Ballarat. Influences are on the folk/country side and include Dolly, Patsy & Joni. Freya is a highly accomplished & experienced vocalist for a 12 year-old and Tom is a long-time guitarist who enjoys creating thoughtful arrangements and evocative guitar patterns.
Havana Palava
A roving streetband that plays a range from circus, eastern European, trad jazz, and pop tunes.
Graham McDonald
It Was in Tune when I Bought It - Lecture/ demonstration on stringed instrument maintenance. Graham Mcdonald has 40 years experience building and repairing stringed instruments.
Gusto Gusto
Gusto Gusto is West Preston's Best Dressed Band, playing music to make you dance. Oddly Australian music with a hefty dose of self-deprecation, our music is loud, happy and guaranteed to fill the dance floor. Come shake off your feelings with our own unique brand of foot stomping.
Hotclub of Hepburn
The unstoppable duo Pepita Emmerichs and Theodore Barnard (Scotland) join Mickey O'Donnell for a cavalcade of all things mandolin, fiddle, guitar, harmony vocals, bluegrass, oldtime, swing, tunes and songs. From delicate arrangements of traditional Celtic tunes, to wild improvisations on hot jazz standards, their sound is both new and old, unique in it's instrumental wizardry and musical integrity all at once.
Invy Horn Jam
A 14-16 piece brass, woodwind and percussion street band, Invy Horn Jam perform lively and infectious tunes on the street.
Kyneton Street Band
Kyneton Street Band combines horns and drums with our unique mobile marimbas. We perform African, Latin, Balkan and original music, with a few cheesy covers thrown in. The KSB can play "on the run" or in a fixed setting.
Apolline
Apolline provides a unique experience of genre-bending folk, drawing on Celtic, nordic, jazz and classical styles to create bold new arrangements. The group combines numerous instruments and voices in original songs and tunes, as well as reinventing old classic.
Mack and Kate
Joyful jigs, raging reels and arguable alliterations - this is exciting Celtic music duo Mack and Kate! Together they play an alluring (and dangerously addictive) mix of Irish, Scottish, French-Canadian and above all Australian tunes. This raw, high energy act is sure to get your toes tapping!
Michael the Balloonologist
A fixture at festivals, fairs and functions for over twenty years,from single balloon animals to multi-balloon creations, Michael enthralls his audience whatever their age.
NJ Rijs
NJ Rijs is a Melbourne based musician from Tatura, Victoria. Rijs plays an acoustic set of folk and blues, interweaving lyrics and melodies, creating an earthy contemporary performance.
Pepi and Friends
Pepi & Friends is the euphonious collaboration between Pepita Emmerichs (Oh Pep!) and Theodore Barnard (Wire & Wool) and their love of all things mandolin, fiddle, guitar, harmony vocals, bluegrass, oldtime, swing, tunes and songs. Spanning originals to arrangements of classics and gems of rarities you wish you had discovered earlier, their sound is both new and old, unique in it's instrumental wizardry and musical integrity all at once.
Perambulating Percussion
Interactive Perambulating Percussion featuring bells, chimes, cymbals, drums with other musical effects. Join in with your own rhythms or simply watch and listen. Inaugural member of Kyneton Street Band playing marimbas then promoted to percussion - Percussion Pram has evolved over recent years.
Sean Kenan
Sean plays Irish fiddle and tenor banjo and enjoys playing in Irish tune sessions. He teaches Irish fiddle in Maldon and plays fiddle on the street in Castlemaine and Daylesford.
Slim Pickens
Chris Ellis, a singer and songwriter who is performing with Mark Wardle and Adam Burke has been performing as a soloist to a full bluegrass band. He's a finger-style guitarist with a passion for Americana genres. As High & Lonesome, they have been part of the Victorian Folk Scene for over two decades.
Suzette Herft
Winner of the 2019 Folk Victoria Award, Suzette Herft is a Sri-Lankan born, Melbourne based, contemporary troubadour from the folk/singer-songwriter tradition. She has a sublime voice and shines with a natural grace and soulful presence that lights up any stage. "Suzette sings from her soul, she glows when she sings... every song is plucked with precision from her heart" Mundy (Ireland).
The Martini Set
The Martini set is a very cool swing ensemble comprising double bass, piano, vocals/guitar & drums. The band is highly styled with top end presentation and vintage flair. The showmanship is finessed. The repertoire features uptempo swing & quirky songs with broad audience appeal.
Leo Dale and Vinod Prasanna
Vinod Prasanna, a Bansuri player extraordinaire, will team up with a saxophonist Leo Dale to coordinate “One Note” - a participatory event where audience members are encouraged to bring an instrument to join in a meditative exploration of vibration of a single note. The essence of the event is for everyone to play one note for up to three hours on the same pitch (in different octaves) as a way to tune up and tune in, to a deeper appreciation of music.
Big Fiddle Little Fiddle
Big Fiddle Little Fiddle is eclectic fiddling styles, driving rhythms, soaring melodies, and joyful performances. Trad tunes interwoven with contemporary Australian tunes in inventive arrangements.
Čekor Macedonian Dance Company
A traditional Macedonian dance company that showcase our culture through traditional folk dances and costumes from Macedonia.
Thieving Magpies Trio
The Thieving Magpies Trio roam the musical world picking up pretty tunes wherever they find them - Scandinavia, the Balkans, the Middle East, the British Isles and a smattering of originals. Sweet flute, raucous banjo and vibrant accordion combine in a trio of unexpected delights!
U3A Ballarat Celtic Band
The Celtic Band performs an eclectic mix of traditional music both instrumental and song from Ireland and Scotland and introduces more contemporary pieces from artists like Imelda May , Briege Murphy and Gerry O,Beirne. Tunes are arranged to give the wide range of instruments opportunity to perform their distinct qualities with solos and harmonies.
Zampoñistas
The Zampoñistas act is unique. The haunting tones of the Andean panpipes and a heartbeat of percussion create a swirling, syncopated, high energy chorus of sound, the sounds of the Inca realm. They bring joy and delight wherever they play.