She Society were privileged to share an intimate evening with two of Australia’s best female voices, Vika and Linda Bull. On their tour of Australia, Vika & Linda arrived in Brisbane to perform a concert accompanied by longtime collaborator, Cameron Bruce on grand piano.
Their soaring voices delighted the full house, and they welcomed the colourful Multicultural Mosaic Choir to the stage to join them in several songs. This one-off concert was in aid of HEAL – a charity which provides expressive arts therapies to young people from refugee backgrounds in Queensland.
Vika and Linda have a long history with Queensland having first performed here for World Expo ’88. We’ve all come a long way from there. These proud Tongan/ Australians were brought up in Doncaster, Melbourne where their rich culture valued music, dance, family and faith. In 1988 the sisters joined The Black Sorrows, who had a string of hits at that time. I still have their CDs at home. They stayed with the band until 1994 when they decided to go it alone as a duo.
At that time, they released their self titled album. Recently the 2020 anthology album, ‘Alikotoa’ was their first number one album.
They won an Order of Australia for their services to the performing arts and have worked with many great Australian musicians
including – Kasey Chambers, Paul Kelly, Mark Seymour, Deborah Conway and Archie Roach.
But tonight was all about the music and those brilliant soaring voices which lit up the Concert Hall, QPAC. Favourites for us included new songs ‘That’s How I Pray’ which shared the sisters love of swimming and ‘Grandpa’s Song’ which made us cry. A cover of Etta James ‘At Last’ had us feeling all the feels. I also loved hearing one of my favourite Black Sorrows hits, ‘Never Let You Go’. A powerful version of ‘Raise Your Hand’, a song written by Kasey Chambers, was enhanced by the choir at full voice.
The sisters were dressed in sharp suits, signature flowers in their hair and they regaled us with stories and memories between the songs, which of course are stories in themselves.
Cameron was sensational on piano. The concert showcased the rich beauty of Vika and Linda’s voices as they meshed together showcasing snippets from their back catalogue plus sneak peeks of songs that have not yet to be released. I felt honoured to be in the same room as Australian music royalty.
Adding to the occasion was getting to know a little about HEAL. This school-based charity provides art – based therapy and mentors to help refugee children in Queensland schools. At the moment it encompasses four schools with hopes to expand. HEAL is a targeted early intervention response for students from refugee backgrounds, supporting them to navigate their trauma recovery, improve wellbeing, and bridge the gap of their disrupted schooling. We sat with some of these wonderful young people and could see the fruits of this important work.
The packed concert hall rose as one at the end of the concert, all knowing we’d been a part of something special. Happiness floated on the air, and you know which albums I’ll be playing on repeat this week. It’s not often you get Brisbane people out of the house on a cold Tuesday night but everyone who left humming their favourite tunes were very happy that they had rugged up and braved the elements. An Evening with Vika & Linda brought sheer joy and it was a delight to be in the company of these exuberant sisters who shared their amazing gifts with us all. May they keep on making music!
SheSociety is a site for the women of Australia to share our stories, our experiences, shared learnings and opportunities to connect.
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