SATURDAY
Ngulmiya Nundhirribala is an iconic and highly respected Songman and Ceremony leader from the remote traditional homelands of Arnhem Land, Northern Australia. Ngulmiya’s traditional singing style has developed over thousands of years, mainly in isolation, with later influence from the Makassan traders from SE Asia. He has an incredible ability to improvise and collaborate using his traditional vocal style and language. His stunning virtuosic singing ranges from pure beauty, to soul stirring calls to his ancestors, to evocative god-like power and raw emotion. Ngulmiya is spearheading a new style of traditional music, the songs he sings are still private ceremony songs, normally sung with didjeridoo accompaniment, but arranged and performed with global artists, sung like they have never been heard before, or will be again. This is the point at which high art traditional ceremony music from Arnhem Land, breaks away, and becomes high art on a world scale. Ngulmiya, although spending most of his time performing for ceremony in remote parts of Arnhem Land, has previously collaborated with artist like Zakir Hussain, Bangarra Dance Theatre, the Australian Ballet, Luke Howard, The Budapest Art Orchestra, Yothu Yindi, the G20 Orchestra and his band Yilila.
