Nabarlek are an Indigenous Roots band from Manmoyi, a tiny community in Arnhem Land, 215 kilometres from the remote community of

Gunbalanya Gunbalanya (also spelt Kunbarlanja, and historically referred to as Oenpelli) is an Aboriginal Australian town in west Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia, about east of Darwin. The main language spoken in the community is Kunwi ...

. The band formed in 1985 as a group of singers and dancers with a couple of busted guitars and flour tins for drums. The members are Bininj (the indigenous people of West Arnhem Land) and they sing in the

Kunwinjku The Kunwinjku (formerly written Gunwinggu) people are an Australian Aboriginal people, one of several groups within the Bininj people, who live around West Arnhem Land to the east of Darwin, Northern Territory. Kunwinjku people generally refer t ...

language and in English, trying to reach across the cultures. Their songs are traditional songs of the Kunwinjku people of western Arnhem Land with a rock/reggae arrangement. They call themselves the garage band that never had a garage. They have performed with the Darwin Symphony Orchestra and

Yothu Yindi Yothu Yindi ( Yolngu for "child and mother", pronounced ) are an Australian musical group with Aboriginal and '' balanda'' (non-Aboriginal) members, formed in 1986 as a merger of two bands formed in 1985 – a white rock group called the Swam ...

, supported Midnight Oil and played with

Silverchair Silverchair were an Australian rock band, which formed in 1992 as Innocent Criminals in Newcastle, New South Wales, with Ben Gillies on drums, Daniel Johns on vocals and guitars, and Chris Joannou on bass guitar. The group got their big bre ...

and

Powderfinger Powderfinger were an Australian rock band formed in Brisbane in 1989. From 1992 until their break-up in 2010, the line-up consisted of vocalist Bernard Fanning, guitarists Darren Middleton and Ian Haug, bass guitarist John Collins and drumme ...

on their '' Across the Great Divide'' national tour. They played at many music festivals, including several Darwin Festivals, the Adelaide Festival in 2000, and Womadelaide, the Port Fairy and Brunswick Music Festivals in 2001. They played for six weeks at the International World Expo in

Hanover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

in 2000. Their album ''Bininj Manborlh'' was nominated for the 2002

ARIA Award for Best World Music Album The ARIA Music Award for Best World Music Album, is an award presented within the Fine Arts Awards at the annual ARIA Music Awards. It was inaugurated in 1995 as Best Folk/World/Traditional Release. The ARIA Awards recognise "the many achieveme ...

. They also received a nominations for Deadlys in 2001, 2002 and 2007. They are the subject of ''From outstation to out there. Nabarlek a music industry case study'' a DVD created by Gillian Harrison.NLA
From outstation to out there. Nabarlek a music industry case study

Discography

Awards and nominations

ARIA Music Awards

The ARIA Music Awards is an annual awards ceremony that recognises excellence, innovation, and achievement across all genres of Australian music. They commenced in 1987. ! , - , 2002 , ''Bininj Manborlh / Blackfella Road'' ,

, , ARIA Award previous winners. , -

National Indigenous Music Awards

The

National Indigenous Music Awards The National Indigenous Music Awards (NIMA), also known as the NT Indigenous Music Awards from 2004 to 2008, are music awards presented to recognise excellence, innovation and leadership among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander musicians in ...

recognise excellence, innovation and leadership among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander musicians from throughout Australia. It commenced in 2004. , - , 2004 , Nabarlek , Excellence in Music Industry Training , , - , 2005 , Nabarlek , Band of the Year , , - , 2006 , Nabarlek - ''Nabarlek on Tour'' , Best DVD Release , , - , rowspan="4", 2007 , rowspan="2", Nabarlek - ''Manmoyi Radio'' , Album of the Year , , - , Artwork & Design of the Year , , - , Nabarlek - "Bushfire" , People's Choice - "Song for Country" , , - , DVD/Film Clip of the Year , Nabarlek - "Brownbird" ,

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nabarlek (Band) Northern Territory musical groups Indigenous Australian musical groups Musical groups established in 1985 1985 establishments in Australia