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Perth Festival announces contemporary music program loaded with WA acts

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Simon CollinsThe West Australian
Electro-pop artists Your Girl Pho will take part in WA Mixtape for the 2021 Perth Festival.
Camera IconElectro-pop artists Your Girl Pho will take part in WA Mixtape for the 2021 Perth Festival.

Local talent takes centre stage with Perth Festival announcing a contemporary music program celebrating home grown musicians and music.

WA Mixtape will see rising WA stars team with rock royalty to perform originals plus classic tunes from the Triffids, the Stems, Jebediah and Eurogliders at Government House Gardens on February 20.

Presented in association with community radio station RTRFM, the event will see punk rockers Dennis Cometti join forces with grunge rock pioneer Kim Salmon and synth-pop stunned Your Girl Pho paired with former Little Birdy singer Katy Steele.

Local punk rockers Dennis Cometti are set to team with Kim Salmon for Festival event WA Mixtape.
Camera IconLocal punk rockers Dennis Cometti are set to team with Kim Salmon for Festival event WA Mixtape.

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Other local favourites lining up for WA Mixtape include indie outfit Rabbit Island, indie-popster Noah Dillon, award-winning singer-songwriter Carla Geneve, indigenous rockers the Struggling Kings and vocal powerhouse Odette Mercy and Her Soul Atomics, plus the star-studded Bad Ass Gospel Choir.

The concert is the third in the Festival’s series of WA music showcases at Government House Gardens following sold-out events Koort (or Heart), starring WAMAward-winning duo Gina Williams and Guy Ghouse, and The Jazz Line featuring internationally renowned bass player Linda May Han Oh.

Grammy Award-winner Lucky Oceans and the African beat-maestros behind Festival production Black Brass will curate the STC Courtyard Sessions each week at the State Theatre Centre of WA.

Grammy Award winner Lucky Oceans will curate the musical offerings at the State Theatre Centre of WA courtyard.
Camera IconGrammy Award winner Lucky Oceans will curate the musical offerings at the State Theatre Centre of WA courtyard. Credit: Chris Gosfield

And high-energy Congolese guitar band will star at family-friendly Festival closing event Wild Things at Perth Zoo alongside the Perth Symphony Orchestra, children’s authors James Foley and Frane Lessac and more on February 28.

While Perth Festival usually brings over national and international stars for its music line-up, the ongoing coronavirus pandemic forced artistic director Iain Grandage to focus wholly on home grown artists in keeping with the wider program.

Highlights of last year’s gigs at the Chevron Lighthouse music hub included soul legend Mavis Staples, the Blind Boys of Alabama, Weyes Blood, Briggs and Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever.

Gina Williams and Guy Ghouse present Koort as part of this year’s Perth Festival.
Camera IconGina Williams and Guy Ghouse present Koort as part of this year’s Perth Festival.

Other musical treats at the 2021 event include Rachael Dease and the WA Symphony Orchestra’s world premiere of Hymns for End Times, the chamber music series One and Many and Perth-raised but internationally famous performer Tim Minchin’s Kings Park concerts alongside WASO.

Visit perthfestival.com.au for details.

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