Nabarlek Band

Nabarlek are an Indigenous Roots band from Manmoyi, a tiny community in Arnhem Land, 215 kilometres from the remote community of Gunbalanya. 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 language and in English, trying to reach across the cultures and to pass their knowledge from one generation to another. 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, supported Midnight Oil and played with Silverchair and Powderfinger 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, Germany in 2000.

Their album Bininj Manborlh was nominated for the 2002 ARIA Award for Best World Music Album. 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.

In 2001 the group featured in the Nganampa Anwernekenhe series, in an episode titled Nabarlek, produced by Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association (CAAMA) Productions and directed by Beck Cole.

In 2011 and 2013 they participated in Regional Arts WA’s First Nations contemporary music tour, Sand Tracks. They toured central Australia with supporting act the Sunshine Reggae Band (also known as Tjintu) from Ikuntji in the Northern Territory in 2013, and with Sandridge Band from Borroloola in 2013.