Three sister acts will take centre stage at the Blue Mountains Music Festival in Katoomba this March.
Australian and New Zealand music legends and sisters – Vika and Linda Bull, the Topp Twins and The Maes – will all perform at the festival, held from March 15-17
For 30 years, the glorious voices of Vika and Linda Bull have comprised one of the most distinctive, versatile and emotionally charged sounds on the Australian music landscape. Since their multiplatinum conquest of pop radio with the Black Sorrows in the late 1980s, the sisters have forged diverse pathways into soul, gospel, blues, country and the island music of their Tongan ancestry.
By turns tender and powerful, their rich solo vocals and instinctive harmonies have spawned eight albums of their own, as well as illuminating studio and concert performances by Paul Kelly, Rockwiz, C.W. Stoneking, Deborah Conway, Kasey Chambers and many more. Their invitation to join Joe Camilleri's Black Sorrows ushered in that band's most successful era: Hold Onto Me, Harley and Rose and Better Times were all triple-platinum albums, and the sisters' prominent vocals captivated massive audiences, here and worldwide.
The sister are currently working on their first full-length album of original material for 17 years and will be playing two shows over the festival weekend on Friday night and Saturday afternoon.
Twin sisters, Jools and Lynda Topp, aka the Topp Twins, are New Zealand’s “national treasures” who have been entertaining audiences with their distinctive brand of original music and character comedy for more than 30 years.
Household names in NZ, they have also enjoyed international success performing at festivals such as Montreal’s Just For Laughs, the Edinburgh Fringe and highly acclaimed seasons at London theatres. They have won a multitude of awards for their music and prime-time TV shows, and a documentary feature film about their lives, The Topp Twins, Untouchable Girls, broke domestic NZ box office records and became a worldwide hit.
Most recently the Topp Twins have starred in a new primetime TV series, Topp Country (TVNZ), released five best-selling children’s audio books and regularly tour Australia and NZ to sold-out venues. The Topp Twins will also be performing twice over the festival weekend, on Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon.
Award-winning Melbourne duo The Maes (formerly The Mae Trio) are sisters Maggie (banjo, guitar and vocals) and Elsie Rigby (violin, and vocals).
Over the last three years the pair have toured extensively, bringing their unique contemporary twist on folk music to audiences in Australia, North America, the UK and Ireland; most recently performing at the legendary Telluride Festival in Colorado.
Their sophomore album, Take Care Take Cover was awarded Best Folk Roots Album 2017 by The Age Music Victoria Award and has received rave reviews at home and abroad with The Australian calling it a “simply superb sophomore album”.
Take Care Take Cover was recorded in Nashville, Tennessee with producer and engineer Erick Jaskowiak (Crooked Still, Tim O’Brien, Darrell Scott, The Waifs). The album follows on from their debut, Housewarming, that earned them the Folk Alliance Australia Youth Award and NFSA Folk Recording of the Year.
The Maes are currently working on a new album, set for release this year and will be performing on Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the festival weekend.
The 24th annual Blue Mountains Music Festival is on in Katoomba from March 15-17. Weekend tickets, single day tickets plus full artist lineup and program information are available via www.bmff.org.au.
