Hailing from the remote community of Ntaria (Hermannsburg), 150km west of Alice Springs, soul-pop singer/songwriter Casii Williams has one of the most powerful voices in the Territory. She won two NT Music Awards in 2023 following the release of her debut EP High and has performed at the Territory’s biggest music festival, BASSINTHEGRASS, and Freedom Festival. She landed spots on the Spotify and Apple Music curated playlists, and this year has performed in the new musical Big Name, No Blankets at Sydney Festival, with national festival dates to follow. Williams grew up in a musical family watching her father, uncle and siblings play and sing songs. She developed her songs and skills through Music NT’s Desert Divas program, and has worked with renowned producers Anna Laverty and Resin Moon. Her tunes have hit the airwaves at Triple J.

Called DJ Koolmatries, DJ Phoenixx and DJ Angel are a mother and daughter Nunga duo from Adelaide in South Australia. DJ Phoenixx (Melanie Koolmatrie) began her DJ career with Balya Productions (a First Nations connector for employment and mentor opportunities in live music, festivals and events). Her daughter, Angel Rigney, caught the DJing bug and followed in her mother’s footsteps. DJ Angel is the youngest First Nation’s DJ in Australia with a residency at the Art Gallery of South Australia (AGSA). Both DJs have performed at various events around South Australia and recently performed in Sydney for the 2024 Yarbun Festival. They will showcase Indigenous artists from around country during their sets at Parrtjima.

Jeremy Whiskey is a renowned Aṉangu musician from Indulkana/Iwantja in the Aṉangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) lands of northern South Australia. After a decade of performing as a solo artist, he launched his debut album Dreamtime in 2022 with the lead single Anger (Mirrpanpa) a bold and furious introduction to the virtuoso guitarist-composer. Whiskey’s music is a soundtrack to the Pitjantjatjara homelands on which he was born and lives. It interprets the dreaming, the seasons and lore through melody, texture and lightning-fast shredding. Jeremy’s incredible talents were honed over a lifetime of dedication to his craft. His nuanced attention to detail and immaculate playing are signatures of one the greatest guitarists in the desert today. He performs live with a talented band of musicians who provide the rhythm and beats that get the crowd moving and the earth shaking.

A proud Mutti Mutti, Yorta Yorta, Nari Nari man, songman Kutcha Edwards is a strong advocate for Aboriginal people, and is dedicated to keeping his traditional Songline alive. His experiences as a survivor of the Stolen Generations and proud Mutti Mutti heritage has shaped his diverse creative output in groups like Blackfire and The Black Arm Band. At the same time, he’s forged a successful solo career combining his ‘Bidgee’ blues with traditional songs of people and country, performing at WOMAD, Port Fairy Festival, BIGSOUND in Queensland and Mona Foma in Tasmania. Now a multi-award winning singer-songwriter Kutcha’s most recent album Circling Time has garnered critical acclaim.

A strong, proud Anangu/Torres Strait Islander woman, Miiesha (pronounced My-ee-sha) has a voice that showcases vulnerability and strength. She sings of her people, her community and her story with the raw emotion of lived experience. Her critically acclaimed debut collection of songs, Nyaaringu, means ‘what happened’ in the Pitjantjatjara language. Exploring the stories and strength she inherited from her late grandmother, the album won the 2020 ARIA for Best Soul/RnB release, a National Indigenous Music Award (NIMA) and Queensland Music Award. Miiesha uses her music to bring people together, inspired by the sounds of R&B, gospel and soul, and the power of spoken word poetry.

Mulga Bore Hard Rock is a six-piece band of brothers and cousins from the remote Central Australian community of Akaye, two hours northeast of Alice Springs. This group of teenagers, aged 14 to 19, brings their own style of hard rock from the heat of the desert. But it’s not just any kind of hard rock: think original songs inspired by the GLAM hard rock of the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s greats such as KISS, Status Quo and Guns N’ Roses, written and performed by lead singer/songwriter Alvin Manfong. Formed at their tiny school of 12 students, the band opened for their heroes KISS – yes, that KISS – on the End of the Road tour. They sing in English and Anmatyerre, and opened First Nations festival Yirramboi in Melbourne/Naarm. They were selected for Music NT’s Bush Bands Bash, have performed at Desert Song Festival in Alice Springs, Share the Spirit Festival and St Kilda Festival in Melbourne, and Mona Foma in Hobart, and have opened for iconic Aussie reggae band No Fixed Address.

Proud Yanyuwa and Wardaman woman Dr Shellie Morris AO is a multi-award-winning singer/songwriter. She creates music and sings in around 17 Australian Aboriginal languages, preserving and promoting culture. A celebrated international touring vocalist, feature performer in Black Arm Band and part of the internationally award-winning musical documentary Prison Songs, she is a varied and captivating artist. She was appointed as an Officer of the Order of Australia in the 2023 King’s Birthday Honours for “distinguished service to the performing arts, to the Indigenous community, and to not-for-profit organisations”.

Warren H. Williams is Central Desert country royalty. An Arrernte man, he was born in Hermannsburg in 1963. Warren H Williams started out in his father Gus Williams’ band in Alice Springs in the 1970s and played on all his father’s five original albums throughout the 1980s. Since then he has carved out a career based on authenticity, integrity and great songs and musicianship. He has released a string of fine solo albums, including his debut Western Wind, and Country Friends and Me, which featured the hit duet with John Williamson, Raining on the Rock. He is a long-serving radio DJ at CAAMA in Alice, an award-winning singer and guitarist and has run for office as a ‘Black Green’. In 2016, Warren H Williams released the album, Desert Water, which features duets recorded in Nashville with the up-and-coming Dani Young.

A proud Western Arrernte man, DJ Karnage (Tristrum Watkins) is from Hermannsburg, 130km west of Alice Springs. He is one part of hip-hop pioneers Karnage n Darknis, who have been writing and performing since 2008. In his spare time, DJ Karnage is a brotha boy music selector playing a wide range of beats and genres.