With Australia’s Indigenous people so vastly underrepresented in its thriving music scene, the Northern Territory’s MusicNT development programs Desert Divas and Sista Sounds cannot be overstated in their importance. Launching in 2010, the program seeks to highlight some of the fantastically talented Aboriginal women in the Northern Territory with songwriting and performance workshops, festivals and showcases allowing voices and stories that might otherwise go unheard to shine on their own stage.
The first compilation album Desert Divas Volume I was released back in 2012 and this week, the Desert Divas project has announced that record’s long-awaited follow-up Desert Divas Volume II. Featuring eight tracks, each highlights an individual artist who found themselves working with mentors like Nai Palm of Hiatus Kaiyote, Leah Flanagan and Helpmann Award winner Ursula Yovich among others, with the project being overseen by producer Anna Laverty who has worked with names like Florence And The Machine, Courtney Barnett and Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds.
With Desert Divas and its affiliated programs constantly expanding their reach across regional and remote Northern Territory, talents like the ladies on this latest compilation won’t be going undiscovered anymore, a cause the entire music industry in Australia should throw its full support behind with all proceeds from the sale of the album going straight back into supporting MusicNT’s Aboriginal women’s music development programs.
Desert Divas Volume II is out March 17th
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