Chart-topping superstars Vika & Linda (OAM) announced at the 2023 Whitsundays Songwriter Festival and Residency
Vika & Linda were awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in 2022 for their service to the performing arts. The Melbourne sisters will be continuing their service as part of the 2023 Whitsundays Songwriter Festival. Image by Tania Jovanovic.
The Whitsundays Arts Festival is thrilled to reveal the final addition to this year's Whitsundays Songwriter Festival and Residency. Airlie Beach will be graced with the presence of Vika & Linda OAM from August 31 to September 4. Joining them on the line-up are Emmy award winner Toni Childs and APRA award winner Mark Sholtez, both of whom were announced last month.
Vika & Linda will take part in the Whitsundays Songwriter Festival and Residency as part of the Songwriter Residential Retreat (31 August - 4 September) at Yangaro Resort completing the line up alongside Toni Childs, Mark Sholtez, Francesca de Valence, and Karen Jacobsen. The Residency offers the opportunity for collaboration across genres, co-writing, and the creation of new works.
These new compositions will then be performed by Toni Childs, Vika & Linda, Mark Sholtez, Karen Jacobsen, and Francesca de Valence in an intimate performance on the Airlie Beach foreshore on Saturday 2 September. Set in Paradiso’s open-air restaurant, this evening event, ‘Concert & Conversation,’ promises a rare occasion to listen to the stories of these songwriters. Fans of these accomplished artists will have the unique chance to get up close and personal.
Vika & Linda have enjoyed a remarkable musical journey over their three decades of making music. After three classic albums with The Black Sorrows in the late 80s and early 90s, Vika & Linda went on to release eight studio albums, two live albums and a chart-topping anthology. They have also sung on number one albums by Paul Kelly, Kasey Chambers and John Farnham, played gigs for the Dalai Lama, Nelson Mandela, and the King of Tonga, and been nominated for six ARIA Awards. Vika & Linda made their own history in 2020 when their career anthology, ‘Akilotoa, entered the Australian charts at number one – their first chart-topping album and the first number one album by an Australian female duo. Three months later, Vika & Linda’s gospel collection, Sunday (The Gospel According To Iso), debuted at number two.
In 2022, Vika & Linda were awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in the Queen’s Birthday Honours, for their service to the performing arts. The OAM was recognition of more than three decades of making music.
Vika & Linda also join the professional faculty as mentors in the Emerging Songwriter Workshop on Saturday 2 September at Yangaro Resort. The workshop is presented in partnership with the I Heart Songwriting Club, an online community with over 1,200 songwriters in 23 countries, created by Whitsundays Songwriter Festival co-founder Francesca de Valence. Aspiring songwriters and musicians will learn practical ways to overcome songwriters’ biggest barriers including writer’s block and perfectionism, tools to craft lyrics, and have the chance to ask questions from the award-winning mentorship team. The one-day workshop is all inclusive and has extremely limited places.