Milena Luna .
About Milena Luna
Milena Luna, award winning singer-songwriter, who lost her home in bushfires on New Year’s Eve 2019, has risen with lush, intimate songs of hope and recovery.
Performing to acclaim nationally for over a decade, festivals include The National, Maleny Music Festival, Cobargo, Alice Springs Beanie Festival and Merimbula Jazz Festival.
Milena Luna holds a host of awards including top ten finalist ( twice) in the World Songwriting Awards 2022 and Top Thirty finalist for the Australian Songwriting Contest 2022.
"Milena Luna's music exudes happiness... Milena Luna is a talented and versatile guitarist".
From Paul Marshall, one of Australia's foremost session jazz guitarists
"saw the fabulous Milena Luna last night, highly studied classical and jazz guitarist. Catch up with her if you can. Well worth it".
From Geoff Kluke, one of Australia's foremost jazz bassists and Jazz Lecturer at VIC college of the arts.
It was amazing to hear Milena Luna in action. Of all the acts we saw at the Merimbula Jazz Festival, Milena radiates joy when she sings..so beautiful to watch and more beautiful to listen to.."
Melita Simmonds
About Milena Luna
Milena Cifali ( Milena Luna) is an Australian award-winning singer-songwriter, classical guitarist, poet and author known for her creative contributions to both music and writing, particularly work that blends artistic expression with personal and community-wide experience.
Milena Cifali is an Australian singer-songwriter, poet, classical guitarist and author who was directly affected by a major bushfire event — the 2019–20 East Coast/Black Summer bushfires:
Bushfire loss: On New Year’s Eve 2019, her home in Mallacoota, Victoria, was completely destroyed by the catastrophic bushfires that swept Australia’s east coast. She and her partner lost their home, musical instruments and beloved parrots in the inferno. She later wrote about this experience and its emotional aftermath in her memoir Mallacoota Time: The Lost Summer 2020.
Following the bushfire trauma and relocation, Milena also experienced a serious injury that resulted in a physical disability:
Accident and disability:
In 2021 (two years after the bushfires), while visiting the area to seek some closure, she was involved in a severe accident when a parked car began rolling and ran over her. She was trapped under the vehicle for about 20 minutes. The accident broke her hip and caused extensive leg injuries, requiring three weeks in hospital. She returned home initially using a wheelchair and now continues to rely on crutches for mobility.
Together, these events — the loss of her home in a devastating bushfire and the subsequent life-altering injury — have shaped her lived experience and her creative work on recovery and resilience.
Music career and impact
Milena Cifali performs and records under her own name and also the artistic name Milena Luna as a performing artist.
She has released music such as the album This Is Now (credited to Milena Luna / Milena Cifali), blending jazz, folk and original songwriting styles.
Her songs often explore themes like loss, hope, love and nature, and she’s been recognized in national and international songwriting contests and performed at various Australian music festivals and events.
Cifali collaborated with other Australian poets and artists — for example setting poetry to music on joint projects such as Whose Broken Is This?, where her guitar and vocal work helped bring literary poetry into musical form.
Through her music, Cifali contributes to Australia’s independent and folk/jazz music scenes, connecting emotionally with audiences and other artists and helping sustain smaller community-focused music events.
Impact on the Arts Scene
Milena Cifali’s impact lies in how she bridges multiple forms of creative expression to speak to both individual and shared experiences:
Music as emotional storytelling: Her songwriting and performances channel personal narratives and broader human themes, contributing to community arts and festival programming.
Literature as solace and connection: Her memoir-poetic work serves as artistic documentation of disaster and healing, resonating with readers beyond purely musical audiences.
Cross-disciplinary influence: By integrating music, poetry and memoir, Cifali encourages connections between musicians, writers, communities affected by loss, and the broader cultural conversation around resilience.
Writing & Literary Contributions
Cifali is the author of the book Mallacoota Time: The Lost Summer 2020, an autobiographical and poetic account of her experience losing her home, instruments, and beloved birds in the 2019/2020 Australian bushfires and finding resilience through art.
Her writing combines poetry, lyricism, photography and narrative, aiming to offer healing and connection to others affected by natural disasters and loss.
The book has been published in print, audiobook and other formats, reaching audiences interested in creative memoir, environmental engagement, and artistic reflection on tragedy and recovery.
Summary:
In summary, Milena Cifali is a multi-faceted artist whose work enriches both the music and writing landscapes, offering heartfelt expression that connects artistic practice with lived experience and community healing.
