Intellectuals, academics and more set to speak at this weekend’s Denmark Festival of Voice

Creatives and intellectuals will share their stories at this weekend’s Denmark Festival of Voice.

Established in 2003, the event is one of only two dedicated vocal festivals in Australia and includes storytelling, the spoken word, poetry and experimental performance.

Delivered by a team of academics and artists, the performances include workshops, concerts and free events.

“The Denmark Festival of Voice is not your average music festival,” manager Kaiya Ashworth said.

“This festival offers something for everyone. Whether you’re an avid music lover, a poetry enthusiast or an outside thinker.”

One of the headline acts will be multi-talented academic and thinker, Tyson Yunkaporta.

Yunkaporta is a senior lecturer and scholar at Deakin University, and an award-winning writer whose book Sand Talk: How Indigenous Thinking Can Save the World, has received global acclaim.

Sand Talk is a study across many subjects including cosmology, cooking, sex, science, spirits and templates for living.

Yunkaporta will be speaking at the Civic Centre from 4pm on Saturday before participating in a panel discussion from 1pm on Sunday at the Butter Factory.

While it was hoped that he could attend in person this year, he will be appearing via Zoom due to the current lockdown in Victoria.

“Tyson looks at global systems from an Indigenous perspective and asks how contemporary life diverges from the pattern of creation,” Ms Ashworth said.

“Tyson will (also) be participating in the panel discussion of Indigenous Ways of Knowing via zoom, alongside Noongar Elders Joe Northover, Carol Pettersen and Dr Noel Nannup.”

While Yunkaporta is one of the festival’s main attractions, there are other exciting things happening throughout the weekend.

Kavisha Mazzella, whose songs include humour, poetry, social justice and the spiritual, will perform at the Friday night opening concert.

A voice collector experience will also feature, using attendees’ responses to questions on climate catastrophe to make music.

Ms Ashworth said that part of the joy of attending the festival lies in discovering these unexpected acts.

“The festival is a world-class event, and it’s often not the acts people think they’re coming for that move them the most,” she said.

“This year, four festival rooms have been created to host special audio and live performance and story projects. People can choose how they do the festival — dipping in and out across a weekend, or immersing in everything there.”