Kavisha Mazzella: Building Community and Finding the Fearless Note
Conversations with Musicians, with Leah Roseman
07/15/23
•98m
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I have in-depth conversations with a fascinating diversity of musicians worldwide, and I hope these personal stories highlight the incredible breadth and depth of a life in music for listeners everywhere. Like all my episodes, you can listen to all this on your favourite podcast player, watch the video, and read the transcript, all linked here: https://www.leahroseman.com/episodes/kavisha-mazzella Kavisha Mazzella is a renowned Australian songwriter and singer who has won both an ARIA award and an Australia Day Honor. We talked about her work through the lenses of social justice, community building, and the search for deeper meaning and connection. This is a personal, in-depth conversation with lots of beautiful singing in both Italian and English. You can use the detailed timestamps to jump to a song or a topic, but I encourage you to listen through and listen to the stories behind “The Fearless Note”. I’m an independant podcaster who needs my listeners help to keep this huge project going; every dollar helps: https://ko-fi.com/leahroseman Kavisha Mazzella website: https://www.kavisha.com/ Timestamps: (00:00) Intro (02:09) Italian songs, “The Joys of the Women” (10:34) Italian song: “Mamma Mia Dammi Cento Lire” (15:13) emigration, Kavisha’s family’s migration stories (25:13) Kavisha’s childhood and music, I Papaveri, “The Joys of the Women” (28:23) Kavisha’s projects with refugees, children, Musica Viva (33:14) song: “My Brown Yarra” by Frank Jones, dealing with sadness and trauma through music (35:26) I really do need my listeners’ help: Ko-fi link in description (35:42) learning confidence as a performer (38:29) intro to “Philosophy Man” (40:42) “Philosophy Man” by Kavisha Mazzella (45:39) teaching singing to community groups (52:11)experiences of the benefits of meditation, Empty Sky album and performances (59:32) art school and why Kavisha turned to music full-time (01:04:08) ARIA award Fisherman’s Daughter, Mick Thomas (01:05:23) intro to Sing for No One, Sing for Everyone (01:07:24) Sing for No One, Sing for Everyone by Kavisha Mazzella (01:11:07) Kavisha’s song-writing process and influences from Italian songs (01:15:18) Linsey Pollak (01:17:42) Women’s Anthem “Love and Justice” commission The Victorian Women’s Trust (01:23:21) great advice from Liam Clancy, Luka Bloom, Ronan Ó Snodaigh (01:28:36) “The Fearless Note” by Kavisha Mazzella (01:34:41) the importance of community
Previous Episode
Kelly Thoma is a Greek musician who plays the Cretan lyra player and this episode has beautiful music and a wide-ranging conversation including Kelly’s personal story of becoming a musician after training as a dancer, Cretan culture, the influence of Ross Daly and the Labyrinth Musical Workshop which he founded in 1982. Kelly speaks so eloquently about her love of music and collaboration; I really appreciate this opportunity to have in-depth conversations with my musical guests; please use the timestamps if you want to jump to any topics or music, but I hope you’ll take the time to listen to the whole episode on your favourite podcast player or the video on my YouTube. Show notes and transcript linked here as well: https://www.leahroseman.com/episodes/kelly-thoma
Please support this series! I really do need my listensers' help and every dollar is appreciated: https://ko-fi.com/leahroseman
Timestamps:
(00:00) Intro
(02:12) Crete, the lyra, Ross Daly
(12:13) lyra duo Kelly with Ross “Anamkhara”
(18:49) how Kelly discovered the music of Ross Daly and changed her life
(33:24) learning and teaching music
(43:34)cellist Mayu Shviro
(44:43) duo with Mayu Shviro “Kontylies”
(51:04) Mayu Shviro
(53:29) “Flutter” Kelly Thoma quartet from the album Anamkhara. Mayu Shviro, Paavlos Spyropoulos, Kirill Osherov
(57:28) TOKSO quartet
(01:01:18) TOKSO compilation video clip
(01:06:24) different bowed instruments I’ve featured on this series
(01:07:52) Cretan culture, history, food, language
(01:18:28) tours to Australia, Linsey Pollak, Tunji Beier, Philip Griffin
(01:28:52) the pandemic, teaching online
(01:33:27) the importance of performing and why Kelly stopped studying dance
(01:40:42) the importance of performing for music students
(01:45:41) Labyrinth Musical Workshop opportunites to study in Crete
Next Episode
Sandro Morales-Santoro: award-winning Film Composer from Venezuela
July 22, 2023
•104m
This episode features the Venezuelan composer Sandro Morales-Santoro who composes for film, tv and new media and is based in L.A. In this episode you’ll hear lots of music and our in-depth conversation during which Sandro tells the inspiring story of how he learned to read and write music while attending law school in Venezuela, then was accepted into the Berklee college of music, and was awarded their achievement scholarship, then how moved to L.A. and created community both professionally and personally. Sandro is on the Executive committee for the Composers’ Diversity Collective and we talked about biases in the industry and increasing exposure for composers from diverse backgrounds. Sandro is the fourth film and tv composer I’ve featured so far on this podcast, please take a look at my complete catalog of episodes to check out episodes you may have missed. Like all my episodes, this is available wherever you listen to podcasts, is also a video on my YouTube channel, and the transcript is also linked: https://www.leahroseman.com/episodes/sandro-morales-santoro
I've included detailed timestamps below.
Please help me with a tip: https://ko-fi.com/leahroseman
Sandro Morales-Santoro Website: https://www.sandromorales.com/
Composers Diversity Collective: https://www.composersdiversitycollective.org/
Timestamps:
(00:00) Intro
(02:25) Sandro’s start in music and family’s resistance to his aspirations
(07:27) studies with Angel Balan to learn composition, getting into Berklee after law school
(18:33) The Shadow of the Sun
(19:04) music clip Slices of Bread from The Shadow of the Sun
(23:16) using Venezuelan traditional styles, different South American instruments, various influences
(30:07) music clip A Decent Job from The Shadow of the Sun
(32:12) process of writing music for The Shadow of the Sun
(34:08) music clip Late for Work from The Shadow of the Sun
(35:14) Vela, Dayana Gauthier, emigration experience
(41:50) trailer to Vela
(42:57) the making of Vela
(45:39) prejudice, and the founding of the Composers Diversity Collective
(52:04) please help support this series with a tip! Ko-fi link in the description
(52:20) Composers Diversity Collective, Michael Abels, Amanda Jones
(57:30) learning about the film industry, making Vela, the role of the film composer
(01:05:07) writing for orchestra, use of synthesizers
(01:11:20) benefits of modular synthesizers
(01:13:19) demo of Eurorack synth
(01:16:56) feeling and expressing emotion in music and acting, The Shadow of the Sun
(01:22:07) creating community
(01:28:26) Restaurants at the End of the World, including 3 music clips by David Benjamin Steinberg and Sandro Morales-Santoro, National Geographic Disney+
(01:40:09) reflections on different careers in music, other film composers
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