Inaugural Busselton Songfest to provide a “festival within a festival”

The highly regarded Songfest is continuing to take Western Australia by storm, bringing the festivities to Busselton for the first time as part of the current Performing Arts Festival.

The SongFest event brings together 20 vocal and ukulele groups from around WA, comprising seven concerts and three workshops.

Busselton residents will also have the opportunity to join in the action and perform on stage in the Big Sing events.

Songfest director Matthew Clements said he had high hopes for the festival.

“We are really excited to be bringing what’s essentially a festival with in a festival to Busselton for the first time,” he said,

“We’ve been going for 10 years now, just starting out as a festival for choirs who didn’t have any other means to perform, and it proved to be very popular.

“We got multiple events happening over the weekend so we’re hoping people will come down and get involved.”

Well established in WA, the Busselton event follows previous Songfest success in Kalgoorlie-Boulder, Merredin, Fremantle, Guildford and Dunsborough.

About 200 performers will come together for the festivities, representing a diverse cross-section of the musical spectrum from classical to blues and shanties, with each concert featuring a selection of the groups.

Busselton Songfest will also include local ukulele ensembles for the first time, as well as the choir Voices of the Vasse and Noongar language group Wadan Warangkiny.

Mr Clements described Busselton as “ukulele heaven.”

“It is the first time combining the two and it’s honestly just a whole new flavour which we are really excited to bring to the table,” he said.

With two major concerts on Friday and Saturday nights, headline acts will include Perth-based barbershop quarter The Electric Barbercats, as well as a taster of the various other groups appearing across the weekend.

With one-day and weekend passes available, the full event program and performer information can be seen online at www.songfest.com.au, with tickets available at www.bpaf.com.au.