In 2024, Emily Wurramara made Australian music history by becoming the first Indigenous woman to win the best adult contemporary album at the ARIA Awards.

Wurramara is a Warnindhilyagwa woman from Groote Eylandt in the Gulf of Carpentaria. She has spent most of her life growing up between Brisbane (Meanjin) and the Northern Territory.

She writes songs in both English and the Anindilyakwa language.

Wurramara released her first EP, Black Smoke in 2016, and her debut album, Milyakburra in 2018.

Her music has amassed more than 16 million streams on Spotify alone.

She has supported the likes of Midnight Oil, Jack Johnson, Michael Franti, Rob Thomas and Mavis Staples.

Beyond her music, Wurramara has dedicated her time to being an advocate. She supports causes that need more awareness, including mental health, youth suicide prevention and environmental issues.

While she has previously performed in Canberra, her show at Belco Arts Centre on 22 March will be her first headline show in the capital.

Tickets can be purchased at belcoarts.com.au/smiths-emily-wurramara

What are you most excited about performing in Canberra? Is this your first time visiting or performing in Canberra?

I’m excited to meet my fans from there! I played in Canberra years ago, supporting Midnight Oil with Jack River. I’m looking forward to doing my headline show and bringing this album to everyone’s ears. 

What does it mean to you to be able to share your culture through your music and performances, as well as songs in the Anindilyakwa language?

To be able to share my language through music makes me proud. Music is such a huge part of storytelling in my culture; we sing stories about the rivers, the seas, the animals, and the stars – there are so many deadly stories. I’m just doing what my ancestors have done for thousands of years. My first album Milyakburra was in both English and Anindilyakwa, and my second album NARA only has two Anindilyakwa words throughout the whole project: yo, which means yes and nara, which means nothing. 

Tell me about the process of putting NARA together.

NARA took five years to create. It was a journey. It wasn’t one where I was “ready” to show it. I just knew in my spirit it was the right timing to finally let it go and release it. NARA has so many incredible collaborations, both musically and visually. A lot of the people involved are my family, my ride or dies as you’d say.

When I first began writing the ideas and planting the seeds for the album all those years ago, I approached each step with vulnerability and an open heart. As time passed, I slowly started to realise just how deeply I would feel around each song, each lyric, and each word. It all has such a heavy weight to it but somehow we managed to capture the feeling of hope, desperation, happiness, and pain all in one record. The process was just as electrifying as the stories, but this is an album I’m extremely proud of.

What can audience members coming to the NARA show expect?

It’s going to be a very intimate show. There’s lots of singing along; I always turn my audiences into choirs and have fun with it – one minute we’ll be crying, and the next you’ll probably be crying because of how OBVIOUSLY funny I am *insert sarcasm here*.

Why was Canberra added to the NARA encore tour?

I’ve never done a headline show in Canberra, so it only makes sense we added it for the encore tour. I want to be able to meet my fans from all across the country and share this live experience of the album with them. I know for a fact community is where it’s at, there’s power and so much love in knowing your people. 

How did it feel to become the first Indigenous woman to win Best Adult Contemporary Album at the ARIA Awards since their inception in 1987?

It makes me emotional. My grandmother came to mind when I won the award, I thought about all the struggles she had to face as a black woman in this country, and how I, her granddaughter, made history in a country that tried to silence her. Now, our family, the Wurramara clan, will be etched into the ARIA history books forever.

When you put it into perspective like that, I feel proud of this achievement, and I hope I’ve inspired young black women around the country and world to never stop believing in themselves and do whatever they want to put their minds to.

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