By TANIA PHILLIPS
THE winners of the Mullum Music Festival Youth Mentorship have been announced, with this year’s winners hailing from as far afield as Brisbane and as close to home as Byron Bay.
Category winners will receive mentorship by industry professionals and also get to play a 20-minute spot at this year’s Mullum Music Festival.
The music festival is committed to fostering new talent with many performers on the 2013 bill being ex-youth mentorship winners.
Applications came from further afield than ever before with a huge response from young musicians for all the five categories. Young musicians from as far as Townsville, to Caboolture, Coffs Harbour and Lismore applied and according to organiser Tom Whittaker, the quality of the applications was very good. There were also many more online entries this year.
The judges this year were the mentors themselves. A shortlist in each category was created by the festival committee and the mentors chose the artists they resonated with the most.
Stronger applications demonstrated suitability for the chosen category, had a well-presented bio and good quality recordings of strong performances, in a well-packaged format.
The committee and judges carefully considered the applications, in some cases the acts were chosen because it was felt they would benefit the most from the program.
And the winners are …
Singer/Songwriter: Winner: Asha Jefferies (Brisbane) | Mentored by Caitlin Park.
Band: Winner: Function (Byron Bay) | Mentored by Skipping Girl Vinegar.
Vocal: Winner: Emmuna Aloni (Mullumbimby) | Mentored by Aluka.
Under 15s: Winner: Mali Biggin (Ewingsdale) | Mentored by Mr Cassidy.
Bonus Category Saturday performance – Director’s Pick.
Milan Martin (Byron Bay) | Jess Ferronato (Lismore) | Misty Henderson (Mullumbimby).
Aria Llord and Kate Stewart (Murwullimbah).
These up and coming young musicians will join a stellar line-up including Paul Midon, The Basics, Barefoot Divas and Skipping Girl Vinegar.
What: Mullum Music Festival 2013
When: Mullum Music Festival 21-24 November, 2013
Where: Mullumbimby
Interested?: For tickets & info go to www.mullummusicfestival.com | Festival Hotline is 02 6684 6195
