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Baker Boy
Baker Boy, AKA rapper Danzal Baker, has won Best New Talent at the National Indigenous Music Awards in Darwin. Photograph: Supplied
Baker Boy, AKA rapper Danzal Baker, has won Best New Talent at the National Indigenous Music Awards in Darwin. Photograph: Supplied

Baker Boy, Gurrumul big winners at National Indigenous Music Awards

This article is more than 5 years old

Yolngu hip-hop star picked up best new talent while Gurrumul won three posthumous awards

Yolngu hip-hop star Baker Boy has taken home two National Indigenous Music Awards including best new talent, at a ceremony in Darwin that also honoured the late artists, Tom E Lewis and Gurrumul Yunupingu, who won artist of the year.

Baker Boy, otherwise know as Danzal Baker, also won video of the year for his track, Marryuna.

Speaking to Guardian Australia before the event in Darwin’s Botanic Gardens, Baker said he was finding it hard to not to tell people about the win.

“I’ve got to try and keep my cool and act like nothing’s happened but everyone can see the glow in me,” he said with a laugh.

Baker, who in the past year alone has played at Splendour in the Grass, supported Dizzee Rascal on his Australian tour, and won three NT music awards, said he was excited to see the resurgent popularity of First Nations music in mainstream Australia.

Friday was the first chance many members of his family had to see him perform as Baker Boy.

“I don’t know what words can explain how I’m feeling,” he said. “The family can see me do what I do, how I do my job as a performer as Baker Boy, and represent Yolngu people of Arnhem Land.”

The late Gurrumul Yunupingu won three awards including artist of the year. Photograph: Supplied

Baker, who hails from Milingimbi in Arnhem Land, is a former dancer with Djuki Mala, and raps positive but political lyrics in both English and Yolngu Matha.

“I rap in my language, talking to young black kids about being proud of their own skin and being proud of what they want to do,” he said.

“You keep doing what you do to make your family and your mob proud as an Indigenous person. Also, like Dallas Wood’s lyrics [in the song Black Magic], talking about the awesome role models like Nicky Winmar, Uncle Archie Roach, Cathy Freeman, Eddie Mabo – we want to see more people like that.

“We need more next generation to step up and start doing all that stuff, start representing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people representing Australians, all that stuff.”

For the second year, the late Gumatj singer, Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu, was posthumously honoured at the National Indigenous Music Awards (Nimas), with three major awards including artist of the year.

His recently released Djarimirri (Child of the Rainbow) picked up album of the year and its title track won song of the year at the awards.

Djarimirri was the first Indigenous language album to debut at number one on the Aria charts earlier this year.

“The history he has made taking a true Australian language and heritage to number one proves the strength of the underlying cultural identity of this nation,” Michael Hohnen, creative director at his label Skinnyfish Music said at the time.

On Saturday Hohnen also paid tribute to the sing, songwriter, and actor, Murrungun man, Tom E Lewis, who passed away in May.

Lewis, who appeared in dozens of movies over his career including the Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith, We of the Never Never, and more recently, Goldstone, also released two solo albums and helped establish Djilpin arts to help share culture and art with wider Australia.

Saturday’s event also saw the Koori King of Country, Roger Knox, inducted into the Nimas hall of fame, and a special achievement award presented to the Central Australian Aboriginal Women’s Choir.

Marion Swift, a choir member from Hermannsberg in central Australia, said all but two singers came to Darwin. The choir had recently toured the US. “It’s lovely to be singing in front of our mob, because we’ve never really sung for Aboriginal audiences before,” Swift told Guardian Australia.

Knox told Guardian Australia he was “overjoyed and excited” about his induction.

The country singer said he and other First Nations artists, including those like Baker Boy writing hip hop, were “all telling the same stories”, despite the different styles.

“There’s a lot of young hip hop artists out there. One I got to know from Newcastle, the Last Kinection, until I met them I wasn’t too familiar with it, but the words, what they use to tell stories, they tell through hip hop. It’s the same story.”

The B-Town Warriors from Bourke, NSW, won community clip of the year and a joint prize for NT traditional music went to the Kenbi Dancers and Buku-waṯthunawuy Nininyᶇu Rom.

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