The inaugural Creswick Music Festival in Victoria is set to lift the pandemic blues, writes Jonathan Alley.
Creswick is old Victorian goldmining country, snuggled between the regional centres of Ballarat and Daylesford. The very first Cresfest is the brainchild of several local businesses, arts organisations and community voices that have already presented several one-off events and created a new street band project, the Creswick Brass Band. The challenges presented to regional Victorian and the live music sector broadly have impacted Creswick as severely as anywhere else, but it was also inundated with flooding in January. Cresfest has happily come into being as a springboard to getting the town back in business; what better way than with local live music? Convenor Judy Tanner tells Rhythms the town has “200 musicians practising, primping and preparing to put on the best show they can” in preparation for the weekend event that takes place April 1-3.
The heavily Australian-leaning bill is certainly diverse: vocal powerhouse Emma Donovan is appearing, supported by Lucy Wise and Stella Savy (from the Seychelles) and her Creswick Kids’ Choir, with acts appearing from Iran (Zoj, comprising Teheran born choir director Gelareh Pour and Victorian musician Brian o’Dwyer). There’s also a tip of the hat to Bollywood, with several events and workshops throughout the festival, and appearances from Parvyn Singh (The Bombay Royale), Sapphire Bollywood Ensemble, and a Brass and Bollywood Extravaganza to help close out the festival on the Sunday evening. Scottish folk vocalist Fiona Ross appears with Melbourne guitar legend Share o’ Mara local cosmic country star Freya Josephine Hollick makes one of her always-anticipated live appearances.
Tanner says that a bill that reflected all kinds of different musical and cultural experiences was a priority for the festival in its first year.” We have an incredible line up of strong women of diverse backgrounds at our opening gala: we were very set on showcasing the excellence of female performers – we had great early help from Liv Hally of Oh Pep fame – who set us on an artistic path which saw more than 50% of the programmed headliners being women”. Rising stars Kee’Ahn and D’Arcy Spiller are also joining the bill.
Cresfest is also keen to give young people who are just tipping their toes into musical waters a platform, in the form of ‘blackboard concerts’ where young people take pot luck putting their names down online, to play gigs during the festival “There might be a P.A, or there might not be. There might be someone to M.C, or there might not be” says Tanner. “There might be an audience or there might not be – you sometimes have to ‘earn’ your own audience by being good and drawing people in”.
Understandably, the debut Cresfest had its share of pandemic uncertainty with initial sales being very slow before picking up later in the game. Tanner says the festival has held its nerve.
“Holding our ground while many other festivals were cancelling has been nerve-wracking, even two weeks out we were still unsure what might happen. The famed ‘covid hesitancy’ has meant ticket sales were very slow for a long time. Which is in stark contrast to the enthusiasm for musicians who are so (justifiably) hungry for gigs. So, there has been an underlying anxiety in the district, but everyone now seems ready to party.”
The old colonial town and its goldrush era buildings are also set to star, so if the weather gods smile, Cresfest is perhaps set to join the already impressive roster of regional Victorian music festivals worth making the trip to attend.
Cresfest happens in Creswick, Victoria April 1-3
See more at www.cresfest.com.au