Deadly Nannas (Nragi Muthar) is a musical group from Murray Bridge, South Australia, founded around 2016. The group of singer-songwriters is composed primarily of

Ngarrindjeri The Ngarrindjeri people are the traditional Aboriginal Australian people of the lower Murray River, eastern Fleurieu Peninsula, and the Coorong of the southern-central area of the state of South Australia. The term ''Ngarrindjeri'' means "belo ...

women (with two ''kringkri ma:dawar'', or white sisters), and performs as a

vocal ensemble A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which sp ...

with a backing track. The group was formed in 2017 with the goal of writing and performing songs in

for the preservation and promotion of that language and culture. The women have all have completed a tertiary course in learning an endangered Aboriginal language, which helps them to use a fusion of Ngarrindjeri and English. Several of the Aboriginal members of the group grew up speaking their language at home, but not being permitted to speak it anywhere else. Some of the group were affected by the family break-ups caused by government policies, known as the

Stolen Generations The Stolen Generations (also known as Stolen Children) were the children of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent who were removed from their families by the Australian federal and state government agencies and church miss ...

. The group's spokesperson is Georgina Trevorrow, with the other members as of 2020 being Diana Murphy, Vicki Hartman, Lena Rigney, Pauline Walker, Bec Gollan, Vicki Cummings and Phyliss Williams. They have performed at a range of cultural events, including Mii Pudnanthi at the

Adelaide Showground The Adelaide Showground holds many of Adelaide's most popular events, including the Royal Adelaide Show. The Showground (also popularly known as the Wayville Showgrounds) is located in the inner-southern Adelaide suburb of Wayville, just so ...

, and travelled around Australia. In March 2021 they performed at the

Adelaide Fringe The Adelaide Fringe, formerly Adelaide Fringe Festival, is the world's second-largest annual arts festival (after the Edinburgh Festival Fringe), held in the South Australian capital of Adelaide. Between mid-February and mid-March each year, i ...

, and in 2019, the group was a finalist in the Premier's NAIDOC Award, a South Australian award presented during

NAIDOC Week NAIDOC Week ( ) is an Australian observance lasting from the first Sunday in July until the following Sunday. The acronym NAIDOC stands for National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee, which was originally National Aborigines Day ...

. As of 2019, the group had released three CDs, including their debut ''Ngarrindjeri Lullaby'' (2017) and self-titled ''Deadly Nannas'' (2019). In March 2020, the Deadly Nannas released their first music video, for the song "Celebrating Culture", which was dedicated to one of the group members who had died before the video had been completed. , the Deadly Nannas are taking part in a South Australian school singing program, in an effort to boost the numbers of Ngarrindjeri-speakers from the 312 reported in the

2016 Australian census The 2016 Australian census was the 17th national population census held in Australia. The census was officially conducted with effect on Tuesday, 9 August 2016. The total population of the Commonwealth of Australia was counted as – an incre ...

. For Ngarrindjeri children, connecting to language is part of an effort to boost their social and physical well-being, by connecting to country and culture.

References

External links

* Indigenous Australian musicians Musical groups established in 2017 Living people Year of birth missing (living people) 2017 establishments in Australia {{Australia-band-stub