Kavisha Mazzella

Early life and education

Mazzella was born in London to an Italian father and an Anglo-Burmese mother. In the 1960s the family moved to Perth, Western Australia. As a child, Mazzella learned from her mother to play piano and guitar and joined school choirs.

Mazzella graduated from Mercedes Girls College in 1976 and was accepted to study Arts at the University of Western Australia but soon dropped out She earned a Diploma of Fine Arts, majoring in Painting, at Claremont School of Art in Western Australia instead.

Career

In 1981 through researching her Italian heritage Mazzella formed I Papaveri with brother Giri Antonio Mazzella and Sanjiva Gianni Margio playing Italian folk from the 14th century onwards. They released a cassette “Flowers in the Desert” in 1981.

In 1987 after returning from busking in Europe Mazzella formed the band Rich’N’ Famous with Lee Buddle, Gary Burke, Reuben Kooperman, Peter Grayling including John Reed. Rich ‘N’ Famous played shows mainly in Fremantle and various festivals such as Woodford, Port Fairy and Brunswick Music festival.

In 1989 Mazzella founded the Fremantle Italian women’s choir “Joys of the women” with Italian immigrant women. This was documented by Franco Di Chiera’s film “The Joys of The Women”, which received a national television cinema release in 1993.

In 1996 Mazzella formed the Melbourne Italian Women’s choir “la Voce Della Luna” (The Voice of the Moon); in 2000 she was awarded the Italian Government award Italia Nel Mondo for her work in promoting Italian Culture in Australia. She directed la Voce Della Luna until 2013. In 2004 the Victorian Government commissioned Kavisha to write “Tunc Justus” a choral work celebrating Raffaello Carboni, the famous Italian translator and assistant to Peter Lalor in the Victorian Goldfields and the Italian connection in the Eureka Stockade. This was premiered at “Echoes of Freedom” festival in Ballarat celebrating 150 years of the Eureka Stockade. In 2007 Mazzella was commissioned by the Victorian Women’s Trust to write the women’s Anthem “Love and Justice” to celebrate one hundred years of women’s suffrage in Victoria. This premiered with 462 women singing the anthem at the BMW Edge in Federation Square. In 2008 she won the Multicultural Commissions Award for Excellence for her work in community music.

Kavisha has performed at festivals in Canada, Ireland, USA, Hungary, Slovenia, New Caledonia, Singapore, China and Malaysia.

Mazzella collaborated with Angela Chaplin, the theatre director in Deckchair Theatre Company in Fremantle for many years writing and composing music for shows. In 2002 Mazzella together with co-writers Katherine Thomson and Angela Chaplin won a Helpmann Award for Best New Australian Work for Mavis Goes to Timor.

In 2009 she composed music for Journeys in Time as part of the Festival of the Arts in Queensland.

Advocacy

Kavisha has also worked with indigenous communities teaching songwriting and has also been an advocate for refugees through performance such as Kan Yama Kan with author activist Arnold Zable, theatre director Robin Laurie, musician Alice Garner, Dursan Acar and teacher-writer Carmel Davies and others. Kavisha also collaborated with Arnold Zable in “Anytime the Wind can Change” a storytelling and song show reflecting true stories of indigenous, refugee and migrant populations of Australia.

In 2011 Kavisha was awarded an Order of Australia for her services to singing songwriting and reflecting the experiences of refugees, indigenous and multicultural communities through performance.

In 2014, Mazzella contributed a composition, "May I Be a Raft" to the compilation CD Reclaim your Voice, an album of songs about refugees and asylum-seeking.

Discography