Lost in the Groove Community Music Fiesta

Thanks to all who came to our 2023 event!  What a weekend!  Heartfelt appreciation to the East Gippsland Shire Council and the Australian Government for supporting the event.  We’ll be back June 16 & 17, 2024.  Look for us at the East Gippsland Winter Festival.

 

Lost in the Groove is a free community music fiesta where the audience are the participants!  Bring your instrument or just yourself and enjoy the free singing and instrumental workshops, building up to a colourful street performance to conclude the day with  pizzazz and fun.  And then enjoy listening or participating in the evening jam sessions, Irish-style!

 

What’s On

Kids’ Singing  2pm – 2:40pm each day

Calling all primary-school aged kids (younger siblings also welcome!) to create music together with singing and some quirky percussion instruments.  Show off what you’ve created in the street band performance later on!

Sing & Strum 3pm – 4pm each day

Musicians and singers of all ages, this is for you!  We’ll put together an arrangement or two of songs and instrumental backing, ready for the street parade.  No singing experience necessary. All instruments welcome.  This is for everyone!

Music on the Street 4:10pm – 4:50pm

Bring some colour and feel-good vibes to town with music-making on the street (starting just outside each venue).  Be the band, and encourage onlookers and passers-by to get involved too!

Jam Sessions each evening

Celtic players, instrumentalists, singers, punters – we invite you to join our evening jam sessions for some shared tunes, songs and maybe a touch of music mayhem! The sessions will be mainly Irish & celtic in format and played by ear rather than sheet music. These sessions are open to musicians of all genres, and ages.  You are welcome to participate or simply enjoy listening.

Friday March 10, 8pm – 10pm – Opening Night Jam Session  – Waterwheel Beach Tavern, Lake Tyers

Kick off the weekend of music with a jam session at the gorgeous Waterwheel Beach Tavern, 577 Lakes Tyers Rd, Lake Tyers (close to Lakes Entrance).  Enjoy a meal there first, or pop in at 8pm for a stomping jam!  Want to join us for a booking at dinner?  Email: judy.quasitrad@icloud.com.

Saturday March 11

Paynesville Neighbourhood Centre
55 The Esplanade, Paynesville

2pm – 2:40pm Kids’ Singing
3pm – 4pm Sing & Strum – all welcome
4:10 – 4:50pm Music on the Street

Swan Reach  Hall – opposite the General Store
8pm – 10:00pm free concert & jam session
BYO refreshments

Sunday March 12

Orbost Exhibition Centre
8 Clarke St, Orbost

2pm – 2:40pm Kids’ Singing
3pm – 4pm Sing & Strum – all welcome
4:10 – 4:50pm Music on the Street

7:30pm – 9:30pm jam session Sailors’ Grave Brewing
7 Forest Rd, Orbost.

Monday March 13

Lakes Angling Club
1 Bullock Island, Lakes Entrance

2pm – 2:40pm Kids’ Singing
3pm – 4pm Sing & Strum – all welcome
4:10 – 4:50pm Music on the Street

Musicians

Lyndal Chambers and Brian ‘Strat” Strating are this year’s guest musicians, making the magic happen.  With over thirty years of experience as multi-instrumentalists, singers and songwriters, Strat and Lyndal have carved a niche as top community music facilitators. Together they are more than the sum of the parts. They have the capacity to get a room full of reluctant participants fully engaged in music and arts making.

Highly in demand for their range of skills in music making, Strat and Lyndal  lead performing street bands: ‘Invy Horn Jam’ and ‘Boomulele’, perform as a duo, deeply discuss community music making, run music camps, present workshops, lead parades and find time to play on the porch! For many decades they have had the enormous pleasure of having led and participated in innumerable street and festival parades. They have learnt that community parades are a powerful and inclusive way of developing a sense of group identity and common purpose through participation and sharing. With their wealth of experience, Lyndal and Strat are guaranteed to facilitate all of this and more…they’ve got the colours, they’ve got the moves, they’ve got the sounds and they’ve got the experience to get everyone involved!

Read more about Strat and Lyndal on their website

About the Lost in the Groove Fiesta

A free Community Music Fiesta in East Gippsland

This is an initiative from Crashendo!East Gippsland QuasiTrad Music to bring community music activities to small remote towns that have very few music opportunities. The event relies on funding to make it happen each year.  We give our heartfelt appreciation to Brave Arts, East Gippsland, and Regional Arts Victoria for having supported the 2021 and 2022 events.

In 2022 (rescheduled form 2021 due to covid restrictions) we ran Lost in the Groove in the towns of Buchan, Orbost and Bruthen March 12 – 14.   Top Victorian musicians Andy Rigby, and Strat and Lyndal, brought out the musician in young and old alike! We offered pre-school programs, and children’s workshops in music-making and quirky instrument-making.  We also had instrumental and singing sessions for all ages, and invited everyone to be part of the afternoon street band performance in town, to bring some colour, feel-good vibes and no lack of hilarity to the day.  In the evening, the artists gave free performances, and we finished on a high note with some lively and hugely enjoyable jam sessions with local and visiting musicians.

In 2020 we were set to run the program in March… when we were faced with the first of many lockdowns.   We managed to swing into action and run a mini-version of Lost in the Groove online.  This was extremely innovative at the time, because very few people had heard of Zoom, let along used it!  We taught participants how to use the application, and gave them enough confidence to join in, with great success.

We hope to be able to keep running this fiesta.  If you are interested  in Lost in the Groove coming to your  town, or in sponsoring this event, please get in touch.  Crashendo!East Gippsland is a registered charity and can offer tax-deductible donations.

See our Gallery Page for a glimpse at previous Lost in the Groove fiestas.

 

I just wanted to write a thank you to Quasitrad and partners for hosting this event in East Gippsland. What an excellent event it was with high quality musicians  who  were extremely encouraging and managed to get great involvement from the attendees. I think it would be fair to say that all who attended really enjoyed the event. This is a great model for a community event where people become involved rather than just observing. Please come again Quasitrad!

Patrick

My son and I loved the kids’ music session. It’s wonderful to sing and play different instruments together.  We’re looking forward to next year!

Hannah

I loved being part of this program.  Things like this are so important for community well-being too. 

Belinda

quasitrad Orbost jam session
quasitrad Orbost jam session
quasitrad Orbost jam session

For more information about Lost in the Groove contact:

Judy at QuasiTrad judy.quasitrad@icloud.com +61 422 868 680

The Lost in the Groove Team

This community event is a collaboration by CRASHENDO!East Gippsland and QuasiTrad Music Melbourne, and relies on funding.  We are extremely grateful to our previous sponsors, Brave Arts East Gippsland and the Australian Government. 

 

CRASHENDO! EastGippsland is  part of an international social change program providing music tuition resulting in life-enhancing experiences for children, families and the community.
Crashendo! Bairnsdale is an incorporated, not-for-profit charity with T.C.C. and Deductible Gift Recipient status. To make a tax-deductible donation, you can make an EFT to our bank account and email crashendo.bairnsdale@gmail.com for the receipt. Please reference your surname and initial or business name.

Account name: Crashendo East Gippsland
BSB: 633 000
Account no: 152 546 834

QuasiTrad Music Melbourne was founded in 2014 by Judy Oleinikov to actively encourage participation in celtic musical traditions in Australia. QuasiTrad hosts workshops, concerts, dances, jam sessions and camps in metropolitan Melbourne and regional Victoria. QuasiTrad events are unique, because we combine a small, friendly, customised experience with some of the biggest names in celtic music from overseas and around Australia.  QuasiTrad has worked with a stellar line-up of international and local artists, including Liz Carroll, Pascal Gemme, and Laura Risk, and has collaborated with The Boite, Community Music Victoria, the National Celtic Festival and Cygnet Folk Festival.

Get Connected

Facebook

Twitter

Instagram