The eyes and ears of the music world were focused on Sutherland Shire’s music talent last weekend with the launch of the inaugural Australian Music Week.
The event was held at various venues in the Cronulla CBD, culminating in the HiFi Days concert in Gunnamatta Park on Sunday headlined by UB40 who put on a top drawer performance.
There were 163 artists playing more than 250 shows at 17 venues around Cronulla.
‘‘There was music everywhere and everybody was smiling about it,’’ Australian Music Week organiser, Geoff Trio, of the Brass Monkey, said.
On show were some of Australia’s most promising up-and-coming talent, who had the opportunity to play live in front of leading music industry professionals.
‘‘The scope of the talent was amazing,’’ Mr Trio said.
The success of the music festival means it will ‘‘most definitely’’ be back next year, he added.
‘‘The feedback from all the venues was very positive. 90 per cent of venues came back straight away and said they want to be involved next year.’’
He thanked Sutherland Shire Council for its hard work and support, along with the many businesses of Cronulla who came on board.
Fellow event organiser Jon Howell said a lot of connections were made.
‘‘One local band got booked for New Year’s as soon as soon as they started playing,’’ he said.
‘‘We had an incredible collection of delegates considering it was a first-time event.
Delegates flew in from all states for the industry panel at Cronulla RSL Club.
Industry luminaries attending included Bob Hunka from Los Angeles who worked for years at Sony Pictures and managed Dolly Parton’s music publishing company and Monument Records.
Also attending was Andy McLean who started the North by Northeast musical festival in Canada and who now is head of the East Coast Music Association of Canada.
Local talent scouts included Peter Noble, director of the Bluesfest in Byron Bay.
‘‘It was a great showcase for local bands,’’ Mr Howell said.
Did you go to any of the events? Tell us what your favourites were.
