Accomplished singer-songwriter Emily Wurramara, the first Indigenous woman to win the ARIA Award for Best Adult Contemporary Album, is on an encore tour promoting her 2024 release 'NARA', an album that traverses styles and sounds to tell the story of an unlikely heroine.
Her first step on the 'NARA' encore tour was The Workers Club in Fitzroy, Melbourne, on Saturday (7 February). The support was set to start at 9pm, and by 8:50pm there was a line snaking from the band room door all the way through the pub.The crowd seemed to be mainly women between the ages of 25-60, and there was clearly excitement in the air. We managed to get through the doors at 9pm just as Yorta Yorta woman Madi Colville-Walker began her supporting set. Accompanying herself on guitar, Madi wore an incredible dress covered in silver-grey feathers.
Starting out strong with a classic Chet Atkins tune called 'How's The World Treating You', Madi treated us to a selection of originals and country covers. Her original tune 'Pretty Little Lies' was a standout in terms of its energy, and her final tune, another original entitled 'Hooked', received an especially warm response with its catchy chorus.
Madi's high range was enchanting, evoking the vibrato and tone of Cleo Sol. A perfect support act for Wurramara, Madi owned the stage and showed us she has a lot of potential as an up-and-coming singer-songwriter.
At 10:30pm on the dot, there was a huge round of applause and whistling as Emily and her band – consisting of bass, drums and electric guitar – appeared. Decked out in a satin green shirt, a silver headscarf and copious jewellery, Wurramara described her look as 'blak tinkerbell', flashing her iconic gap-tooth smile.
Starting out with an acknowledgment of country, Wurramara welcomed the "spirits that have decided to join us". Picking up her ukulele, Wurramara told of the band's "chaotic day", explaining that many of them had been up since 1am waiting for a flight. Despite this, the band seemed chirpy, and swiftly kicked off the show with 'Lady Blue', the first track from Wurramara's 2018 album 'Milyakburra'.
Moving onto another tune off the same album, 'Yimenda-Papaguneray (Turtle Song)', Emily described her childhood on Groote Eylandt, swimming and looking for turtles with her family. The audience loved this tune with its innocent melody and bouncing island feel.
Now focussing on songs from the new album 'NARA', Wurramara and band played the reggae-feel 'Boom Biddy Bye' and then the ballad 'Midnight Blues'. Introducing the song, Emily divulged it was inspired by experiences with post-natal depression. The ending of this track was particularly impressive – it seemed like Wurramara was using some sort of harmoniser effect on the mic.
Moving on to the soulful and sultry 'It's You', the band stripped back to just Emily on acoustic and her guitarist on electric. The pair also played the pensive 'Verandah', a tune that Wurramara had started writing over 10 years ago when she visited her great-grandmother's house and slept on the verandah, witnessing beautiful sunrises and sunsets.
After moving to Tasmania five years ago, she finished the song on her own verandah, a touching full circle moment. Bringing the energy up, the drummer and bassist re-appeared for 'Magic Woman Dancing', an ode to Emily's first 'girl-crush' that walked the 'line between jealousy and inspiration'.
With the rollicking feel of an Irish pub classic, ‘Magic Woman Dancing’ had the crowd moving and singing along in no time. This laid the perfect ground-work for Wurramara and Tasman Keith's dance-pop track 'Lordy Lordy', which examines a post-No-Vote Australia. While the album's version of this tune is highly produced, the driving energy of the live bass and drums created a convincing disco-house sound.
Despite the upbeat energy in the room, Wurramara took a moment to tell the crowd about her community's fight against the destruction of sacred land and songlines by mining companies. Appealing to the audience's humanity, she asked "what are you doing for country?".
To follow this question the band played an old single called 'Ngarrukwujenama' that she wrote about her community's struggle to protect their land. Performing it in a reggae style, she asked the audience to join in on the chorus, the band dropping away to hear the voices of the crowd singing together. It was a beautiful moment of unity, clearly inspired by Wurramara's openness and warmth.
Before playing her last tune, Wurramara thanked the crowd "for showing up for music and for art". Despite being proud that 'NARA' had won an ARIA Award, she reassured the crowd: "I didn't make it for awards, I didn't make it for the charts, I made it for the people."
The last song of the set needed no introduction. 'Black Smoke', one of her breakout tunes from 2018, was given an anthemic spin that really brought the house down. Across the crowd, people were clapping along, smiling and swaying. It was clear Emily had captivated their minds and hearts.
As the song ended with an a cappella chorus, a roar of appreciation emanated from the humble Workers Club crowd. This reaction was so intense that shouts of "more" were not even necessary, and almost instantaneously, the band was gearing up for an encore.
For this, they chose the bold 'STFAFM', with its upbeat country sound and impassioned chorus. Finishing to another furious round of applause, the band took a bow together and promptly left the stage, leaving us energised and inspired.
Wurramara's path from underdog singer-songwriter to ARIA Award-winning and touring artist is no surprise given her wonderful knack for storytelling and her striking stage presence. While she described it as an "honour. . . to tell these stories", it was truly an honour to hear them.
