By Abbey Cannan
Two local teen singing sensations are preparing to shake the stage at Sunshine Sounds Festival with their stunning voices.
The all-ages, family friendly music festival on Friday 29 and Saturday 30 July boasts a line-up featuring Katie and Tyrone Noonan of george, ARIA-winning Clare Bowditch and band, Asha Jefferies, Hatz Fitz and Cara, Deline Briscoe, JaZZella, Lyndon Davis and the Gubbi Gubbi Dancers, Andrea Kirwin and the Yama-Nui Social Club, Band of Frequencies, and the up and coming local artists, Layla Barnett and Zara.
Layla Barnett is a 13-year-old First Nations singer songwriter who lives on the Sunshine Coast.
She started singing in 2020 when she auditioned for a scholarship for the Eumundi School of Rock and was successful.
The program was where she had her first singing lessons and found the love of performing on stage.
Since then, she has been mentored by five-time ARIA Award-winning artist Katie Noonan.
They have performed together at Woodford Folk Festival 2020, Powerhouse Theatre Brisbane, on local radio and Katie’s local concerts.
“Katie has been the best mentor ever,“ Layla said.
“She has helped me so much with all of my music and given me so many opportunities that I am extremely grateful for.
“She has inspired me and given me the one dream that I have always wanted from when I was little, to be able to sing for an audience and show them what I love to do.
“Katie has had a massive influence on me and my music and I am so fortunate to be mentored by her.“
Layla has more recently started songwriting lessons with ARIA Award winning and national jazz award winning composer/saxophonist Zac Hurren. In the brief time they have been working together, Layla has written some great songs.
She is also learning guitar and strives to improve her guitar skills to accompany her songwriting and vocals.
In April 2022 Layla performed at the National Folk Festival in Canberra.
She performed a duet with Uncle Archie Roach and also performed Bapa by Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu.
Layla said she was just as excited to see the other artists perform at Sunshine Sounds as she was to get on stage herself.
“I am so lucky that I have been asked to play some of my original songs and I’m grateful that my friends and family can come to watch because it’s local,“ she said.
Layla recently won the Gill Rees Promising Young Musician Award.
Her style of song writing is from the heart and mostly about people in her life that inspire her.
“I loved the Sunshine Sounds Festival last year because it brought everyone together and showed the amazing community that we have in the Sunshine Coast and I am looking forward to this year’s festival,“ she said.
Layla’s ambition is to have a career as a singer song writer, and she is enjoying the journey, learning music and performing her own original songs.
The second artist to keep an eye out for is Zara, a 16-old-singer who is known for singing with her whole heart and soul and has found her home on stage both individually and with her bandmates.
Zara also plays piano, using it to create beautiful harmonies when writing her own music or to make covers her own.
She said her favourite songs to perform were her originals, but she has a long history with the song My Immortal by Evanescence.
“Not only does it have beautiful harmonies which makes it great to perform but it is a powerful song that I found a connection with when I first started singing it five years ago when I did an audition with it,“ Zara said.
“I feel like it has evolved and grown with me as my vocal and piano skills have developed.“
Zara said she would be singing two completely different, contrasting songs at Sunshine Sounds, one playing guitar and the other keyboard.
“My hope is to connect with my audience and move them with my performance,“ she said.
“I love when an audience is feeling the power and emotions behind a song that I am singing, and giving them goosebumps.“
Zara attends Young Con at the Conservatorium of Music and it is her dream to study there full time after high school.
Sunshine Sounds Festival is being presented by Kin Music, a production company run by superwoman songstress Katie Noonan, who calls Eumundi home and is passionate about all things community.
For further festival info, visit sunshinesoundsfestival.com
