Wirlmarni

Indigenous Walmatjarri elder Kankawa Nagarra (Olive Knight) hails from the remote Aboriginal community of Wangkatjunka, in Australia’s northwestern Kimberley region. She grew up with traditional ceremonial songs but, taken away from her family, she was taught hymns and gospel songs at a Christian mission. Later exposed to both country music and rock, she ultimately discovered blues via a street busker. With her own music becoming a mix of all those genres, Nagarra accompanies herself on guitar, singing in both Walmatjarri and English. Her stripped-back style is reminiscent of early Southern American blues recordings, and while her basic chord strumming and vocals aren’t particularly unique, there’s an undeniable sense of honesty, authenticity and lived hardship in her repertoire. Blues-drenched English-lyric tracks like ‘Tell You A Story’ and ‘Canning Basin Blues’ are complimented by traditional language songs ‘Kurungal Kurungal’ and ‘Yanin Baliju’. And on the title-track, Kankawa is vocally accompanied by Aussie crooner Archer.