On the 1st of June 2019 – 40 years to the day that the first Boîte concert was hosted in Melbourne in 1979 – around 600 people came together for a special musical event to celebrate this milestone birthday. Hosted in the Sacred Heart Courtyard at the Abbotsford Convent, the home of the Boîte since 2016, the concert featured performers with both a historic association with The Boîte as well as newly arrived artists.
Alejandro Vargas, original member of Andean folk band Apurima who performed at the first Boîte concert, provided a beautiful accompanying guitar to his daughter Tash’s vocals. Other artists drew on musical traditions as diverse as Greek, West African, Japanese, Balkan Brass, Chilean, Latin American, Persian and Klezmer violin.