The Walmatjarri elder and blues musician Kankawa Nagarra has won the $50,000 Australian Music prize (AMP) for her debut album Wirlmarni, seeing off competition from Nick Cave, the Dirty Three and Amyl and the Sniffers.
Inspired by the UK’s Mercury prize, the AMP focuses “entirely on artistic merit” and aims to “financially reward and increase exposure” for Australian musicians who release the best album in a calendar year.
The prize – now in its 20th year – is considered Australia’s most prestigious music award and is judged by a panel of musicians, critics and industry figures. Previous winners include King Stingray, Courtney Barnett and the Avalanches. It often goes to new acts, with 10 of the 20 winners being debut albums.
Also known as Olive Knight and “the Queen of the Bandaral Ngadu Delta”, 80-year-old Nagarra is a member of the stolen generations, having been taken from her parents and sent to a mission where she was immersed in gospel music. She discovered country music and rock on the radio while working on homesteads, but fell in love with the blues after overhearing a busker. She did not buy her first guitar until she was 40.
She sings in both Kriol and English, and has performed all over the world, including touring with Hugh Jackman for his Back on Broadway show.
On Wednesday, Nagarra said she was “thrilled and proud” to win for Wirlmarni, which “has been thousands of years in the making” as it contains sounds of the nature and people in Wangkatjungka, a remote Aboriginal community in northern Western Australia.
“Coming from the remote community of Wangkatjungka, which in the past has been shown in a negative light with the focus on the issues and problems, people don’t often get to see the beautiful and positive aspects of my home,” she said. “And I know this award brings much pride to the people of Wangkatjungka, especially to the school and all the children who I hope to be a role model for.”
She thanked the musician Darren Hanlon, who recorded and produced Wirlmarni; the two musicians are friends and have toured with each other.
“I feel that music is a responsibility,” she added. “Caring for nature is a responsibility, and protecting culture is a responsibility for its holistic wellbeing. All these things are connected, and I make it my life’s work.”
Outside music, Nagarra helped develop the Walmatjarri dictionary in the 1960s and works to raise awareness about youth suicide and substance abuse, particularly foetal alcohol spectrum disorder, within Aboriginal communities.
The AMP founder, Scott Murphy, said the decision to award the prize to Nagarra “wasn’t a quick-and-easy decision to make – there were nine great albums, all quite diverse, all with judge support”, but she was a “very deserving” winner.
Also shortlisted for this year’s award were Amyl and the Sniffers for Cartoon Darkness, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds for Wild God, Grace Cummings for Ramona, the Dirty Three for Love Changes Everything, Dobby for Warrangu; River Story, Hiatus Kaiyote for Love Heart Cheat Code, multi-instrumentalist Audrey Powne for From the Fire and songwriter Rowena Wise for Senseless Acts of Beauty.
Wirlmarni was selected as the winner from more than 600 eligible albums released between 28 October 2023 and 25 October 2024. A judging panel then picked 46 albums as official nominations, before whittling down the selection to the top nine shortlist.
