- artist:Ngulmiya (Australia)
- event type:WOMEX 22 Showcase - Official Selection
- date:21 Oct 2022
- time:21:30 - 22:15
- city/area:Lisbon
- venue:Theatre Stage
- country:Portugal
- event posted by:Piranha Arts
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Iconic ceremony and cultural leader, songman, dancer and educator, Ngulmiya Nundhirribala, is the leader of the traditional dance group Red Flag Dancers and the group Yilila, director of the Numburindi Festival, and collaborator with the Australian Ballet and Bangarra Dance Theatre. In his project with contemporary classical composer and pianist Luke Howard, he performs ceremony songs and Dhumbala (Red Flag) songs and stories, rooted in centuries of his family's long relationship with Makassan traders from SE Asia. His powerfully expressive voice transcendently improvises over Howard's shimmering arrangements played by the 40-piece Budapest Art Orchestra. It's the point where traditional music from Arnhem Land, as sung in isolation for millennia, organically develops into high art, which Ngulmiya intends will “show young people in Arnhem Land that you can sing this traditional style with any other culture.”