| Mildura Country Music Festival | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Country music |
| Dates | Late September to early October |
| Location(s) | Mildura, Victoria |
| Website | milduracountrymusic |
The Mildura Country Music Festival was an annual Australian country music festival based in Mildura, Victoria. The 1994 event was held in October, which the Australian Country Music Ambassador, Kelly Tassone felt was "fast becoming a favourite festival with performers." [1] In 2005 it was sponsored by Telstra Countrywide. It focused on independent country music artists (about 95 percent of performers in the Australian country music industry). [2]
This festival has been virtual since 2020.
Much of the Festival is free and a live concert and radio presentation of the Australian Independent Country Music Awards, recognising the achievements of independent recording artists. Previous Independent Country Music Awards finalists and winners include:
Performers have included:
Country is a music genre originating in the Southern and Southwestern United States. First produced in the 1920s, Country music primarily focuses on working class Americans and blue-collar American life.
The music of Australia has an extensive history made of music societies. Indigenous Australian music forms a significant part of the unique heritage of a 40,000- to 60,000-year history which produced the iconic didgeridoo. Contemporary fusions of indigenous and Western styles are exemplified in the works of Yothu Yindi, No Fixed Address, Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu and Christine Anu, and mark distinctly Australian contributions to world music.
Sara Bettine Storer is an Australian country music singer-songwriter and former teacher. She won a record breaking seven Golden Guitar awards in the Tamworth Country Music Festival in January 2004, and as of 2017, she has won 21 in total. Three of her six studio albums have reached the top 30 on the ARIA Albums Chart, Firefly, Lovegrass and Silos. Silos also won Best Country Album at the ARIA Music Awards of 2016. Storer has been a member of a country music trio, Songbirds (2007–09) alongside Beccy Cole and Gina Jeffries. Her older brother, Greg Storer, is also a country music singer-songwriter and the siblings have recorded and performed together.
Mildura is a regional city in north-west Victoria, Australia. Located on the Victorian side of the Murray River, Mildura had a population of 34,565 in 2021. When nearby Wentworth, Irymple, Nichols Point and Merbein are included, the area had an estimated urban population of 51,903 at June 2018, having grown marginally at an average annual rate of 0.88% year-on-year over the preceding five years. It is the largest settlement in the Sunraysia region. Mildura is a major horticultural centre notable for its grape production, supplying 80% of Victoria's grapes. Many wineries also source grapes from Mildura. It is very close to the New South Wales border.
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The Arts in Australia refers to the visual arts, literature, performing arts and music in the area of, on the subject of, or by the people of the Commonwealth of Australia and its preceding Indigenous and colonial societies. Indigenous Australian art, music and story telling attaches to a 40–60,000-year heritage and continues to affect the broader arts and culture of Australia. During its early western history, Australia was a collection of British colonies, therefore, its literary, visual and theatrical traditions began with strong links to the broader traditions of English and Irish literature, British art and English and Celtic music. However, the works of Australian artists – including Indigenous as well as Anglo-Celtic and multicultural migrant Australians – has, since 1788, introduced the character of a new continent to the global arts scene – exploring such themes as Aboriginality, Australian landscape, migrant and national identity, distance from other Western nations and proximity to Asia, the complexities of urban living and the "beauty and the terror" of life in the Australian bush.
Beccy Cole, also known as Beccy Sturtzel, Rebecca Diane Albeck and Bec O'Donovan, is an Australian country music singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. She has released ten studio albums, with six reaching the ARIA Albums Chart top 40, Little Victories, Preloved, Songs & Pictures, Great Women of Country, Sweet Rebecca and The Great Country Songbook Volume 2. Her video album, Just a Girl Singer, peaked at No. 6 on the ARIA Top 40 DVD Chart. Cole has received nine Golden Guitar trophies at the CMAA Country Music Awards of Australia. During December 2005 to January 2006 she performed for Australian Defence Force personnel in Iraq. Her related single, "Poster Girl ", expresses her support for the troops. It won the 2007 Song of the Year at CMAA awards, and its music video was listed at No. 1 on Australia's Country Music Channel. In March 2015 she published her autobiography, Poster Girl.
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The Mildura Sculpture Triennials took place between 1961 and 1988. Inaugurated in 1961 as the Mildara Prize for Sculpture sponsored by the Mildara Winery, the next event was renamed the Mildura Sculpture Triennial. It was the first event in Australia that promoted large scale contemporary sculpture and incorporated site-specific installations and performance art in an innovative and often challenging program.
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