with Darren Lowe

Stella Savy Avek Frer, Leavers Hotel, Creswick, Friday, February 28 

Stella Savy’s singular blend of funk, soul, reggae and ska is unlike any other performer in Australia.

Her original music is influenced by her Seychelles heritage – the sounds of the islands fused with reggae and ska guitar rhythms.

Her original material showcases her talent as a songwriter and vocalist. Her expressive and soulful vocal style captivates audiences all over Australia.

Stella has been a professional musician for over 20 years. A multi-instrumentalist, Stella is a renowned percussionist and vocalist. 

During the course of her career, Stella has worked with musicians from all over the world and the Avek Frer (with ‘brothers’) line-up is world class – with her musical brothers fully committed to the groove.

Andrew Vincent on double bass and Lesley Fromholtz on drums form a mean rhythm section, Bryn Hills on trombone while Wayne Parker adds pure groove and melody on guitar to Stella’s original roots-based tunes. 

A huge diversity of multicultural music and acts have been announced for this year’s CresFest that’s set to transform the township of Creswick over three days in early April. 

Headliners for the award-winning folk and roots festival happening April 4-6, range from Neil Murray, The Maes and Queenslands’ Joe Geia to Grace Barbe from the Seychelles, Grassy Strings from India and Kofi Kunkpe bringing West African grooves to the mix.

Festival co-directors Judy Turner and Stella Savy say that alongside the many featured concerts, festival-goers will also get the chance to participate in a packed program of workshops.

“Local players will be invited to perform with visiting professionals, in an inspirational two-way collaboration,” Turner says ahead of the multicultural  music feast.

Just before Christmas, the festival secured a $17,000 grant from Festivals Australia.

Festival co-director Stella Savy says the grant will enable a program of music to be taken into each of Creswick’s three primary schools in the lead-up to staging a featured African Extravaganza as part of the festival.

It means local students will be able to learn repertoire with guest artist Ghana’s Kofi Kunkpe and Savy, herself a renown music teacher.

They will then be able to perform, participating in the African Extravaganza set for Saturday afternoon of the festival.

A coming together of cultures, it will also involve local choirs and the Creswick drumming circle as well as the featured African musicians and will “take over the street” Savy says in anticipation.

“We’ve got an incredible line-up of first nations and overseas artists. It’s so exciting.”

Encouraging people to check out the the festival website, Savy says another particularly pleasing aspect is the sizeable component of free community offerings and workshops, with the focus on participation.

In the countdown to the event, Turner says they’re now keen to hear from Creswick locals who may be able to host a muso – or even a group of performers.

She says hosting a performer or group promises to make for a rewarding experience.

It’s a chance to hear the music up close – “getting to understand more of the musician’s life and, of course, getting a free weekend pass for the festival in return for each artist hosted”.  

Ideally host houses will be situated within 5km of the Creswick Town Hall with those interested to know more able to check out the festival’s website and click on ‘get involved’.

And in a new initiative, the visually-minded will have a chance to win an attractive prize by capturing photographic images from the colourful annual event.

Turner says they’re introducing the new competition with festival-goers invited to enter up to three images capturing the festival vibe.

By entering their three top images they’ll be competing to win two day passes or one weekend pass to CresFest 2026. 

“We will be looking for funny, quirky, soulful, heart warming pics we can use in our reporting to partners and in marketing future festivals,” Turner says.

“All good quality images will be considered by a panel of local judges. Phone cameras of course accepted.”

Full conditions and details for the debut photo comp will be announced in early March.

Tickets to CresFest are on sale through the festival website at https://cresfest.com.au/.

Words: Eve Lamb. Images: Supplied

Words: Eve Lamb. Image: Fiona Watson

It’s not a sound you’d generally expect to hear emanating from a little community hall in regional Victoria after dark.

Many voices raised together as they belt out some rhythmic pulsing songs of South Africa, followed by a traditional number or two from the Pacific Islands and chased down with a heart-wrenching Croatian piece – all sung in the languages of origin.

But this is exactly what happens pretty much every Wednesday night – other than term breaks – at the Creswick Neighbourhood Centre Hall.

There, well known Ballarat-based musician, singer and choir leader Stella Savy puts the Creswick Chorus through its paces.

Group members say they themselves sometimes find it hard to believe that they’ve just got their tongues around a song in Zulu or French Creole, for example.

But Stella seems to have a gift for making music happen – in many languages – and for bringing people together.

“Within ten minutes of introducing a song to us Stella has us singing three-part harmony in a language that we’ve never seen before, and we even think to ourselves ‘Gee we sound good!’ and yet ten minutes earlier we couldn’t have imaged it,” says Creswick Chorus regular Julie Moten.

Chorus member, Creswick’s Jenni Sewell says singing in the group tends to be a wonderful confidence and wellbeing booster as well.

“I always like how I feel when we’ve just finished our session. I’m as high as a kite and sing all the way home in the car,” Jenni says.

With an emphasis on world music, they also do quite a few fun songs in English as well including some funky stuff and a bit of Gospel to boot.

There’s also a Creswick Kids Chorus group that Stella leads as well, and right now both the adult and kids Creswick Chorus groups are looking forward to being part of a special fundraising concert coming up in Ballarat on Sunday, September 10.

The Stand By Me concert is being presented by the Ballarat Dementia Alliance and the Bigger Hearts Choir with money raised going towards using music to support people diagnosed with dementia and aphasia, a cause to which the Bigger Hearts Choir is devoted.

The concert will feature singing groups from the Creswick and Ballarat areas with the Creswick Chorus joining forces with Ballarat’s Thursday Night Choir to perform together on the day, something Stella says is a real benefit for choir members.

“Other choirs do things slightly differently and so it’s great when you see choirs coming together and singing together,” she says.

“For all reasons singing is good. It’s good for your health it’s good for your mind, for your sense of connectedness,” Stella says, also mentioning that new members are always welcome to rock up and join the Creswick Chorus.

Ballarat’s Bigger Hearts Choir itself will be among the groups performing at the upcoming Stand By Me concert with tickets (that include afternoon tea) available through Humanitix or at the door.

The Stand By Me concert happens at 1.30pm-3.30pm at Ballarat’s York Street Church of Christ York Street Ballarat, Sunday September 10.

Words: Eve Lamb | Image: contributed

Quite a few will know her as the friendly face up front conducting the Creswick Chorus, Creswick’s
own community choir for adults who like to sing.

Stella Savy is the talented local muso whose unique blend of funk, soul, reggae and ska has won her fans
Australia-wide. Her original music is influenced by her Seychelle Island heritage – the sounds of the islands where her father was born.
Beyond performing with various combos – like Stella Savy Avek Frers – Stella derives plenty of soul food from her role as community choir conductor.

She says the Creswick Chorus formed about this time last year, initially specifically to perform at last year’s
inaugural CresFest.
But after eight weeks of rehearsals and then achieving their goal of performing at CresFest, none of the choir members were ready to see it all end there. So it didn’t.
Instead, Stella says Creswick Chorus now has about 25 regular members and after its term break, has now just resumed weekly Wednesday evening rehearsals (as of earlier this week February 1) as part of the Creswick Neighbourhood Centre program. And it will once again be performing at CresFest that happens March 31-April 2.
“The Creswick Chorus is open to everyone and you don’t need to have experience,” Stella says, also
mentioning the Creswick Kids’ Choir which will also be performing at CresFest this year as well.
Stella has been a musician and teacher for more than two decades and has taught many age groups and people of a wide range of musical abilities all over Australia.
She is an engaging storyteller and teacher and those who participate in her workshops tend to leave with a smile as well as some new musical skill.
Her live performances feature original works with contagious beats and her music career has taken her to
amazing locations around the world, including Africa and the Seychelle Islands, where she facilitates yearly tour groups.
Stella has also worked with choirs for many years, ranging from community – like the keen Creswick
Chorus – to professional, and her extensive skill set includes body percussion, harmony, hand-drumming
and singing.
“The Creswick Chorus is for adults,” she said, ahead of the local choir’s resumption of its well-attended
weekly rehearsals at the town’s neighbourhood centre as of Wednesday evening earlier this week.
“It’s a lovely group of people and it’s really fun. We sing a range of world music, contemporary, a bit of
gospel and a bit of African stuff,” Stella says.
“It’s such a great way to really connect with people in your community.”