Baker Boy, Gurrumul, take out multi-wins at NT Song of the Year

Baker Boy, the Fresh Prince of Arnhem Land, took out three wins at the NT Song of the Year, held last Saturday night (July 7)in Darwin.

His third single Mr La Di Da Di not only blitzed the major NT Song of the Year gong but also the Youth category.

The 21-year-old rapper, dancer, social worker and activist aka Danzal James Baker, now based in Melbourne, shared his win with co-writers Dallas Woods, Dion Brownfield and Jerome Farah.

Released in April, the song – sung in English and traditional Yolngu Matha – slammed the message that wealth should be measured not in money, but family and friends.

“I don’t need no butlers cleaning cutlery” the song began.

The Baker team had another win with earlier single Marryuna, about the elation of freestyling and dancing without feeling awkward.

Marryuna won the Urban/ Hip Hop trophy.

The song made history when slid in at #17 on the triple j Hot 100 countdown this year.

It was the first Indigenous language track to crack the Top 20 and making him its second-highest ranking Indigenous artist behind A.B. Original.

Baker Boy is currently topping the new music playlists of Spotify and Apple Music as a featured artist on Treaty ‘18 by Yothu Yindi & Gavin Campbell.

Released on Campbell’s Razor label through Liberation last Friday, it also features Yothu Yindi’s late frontman Dr M. Yunupingu’s rapper daughter Dhapanbal Yunupingu (who won the country category last year) and Baker Boy’s collaborator Dallas Woods.

In the meantime, another member of the Yunupingu music royalty clan, Gurrumul and his collaborator Michael Hohnen, also had two wins in Darwin on Saturday.

Djarimirri won the Folk section and Waak for Pop.

Their win comes as the widely-acclaimed Djarimirri album is released this week in the US, where the film has received several screenings.

Another multi-nominee team-up was by Darwin-based Matthew ‘Muxy’ Lim and August Alsina for their song My Day.

It took out the APRA People’s Choice and Native Tongue awards.

The Native Tongue win allows them to attend the independent publisher’s songwriting workshop this year.

The Tourism NT Territory Song of the Year, awarded for the third year to a composition “deemed to have most accurately portrayed the culture and vibrancy of the Northern Territory” went to Paul Djolpa McKenzie’s Red.

McKenzie is a musician and educator from Maningrida in the Arnhem Land. He fronts reggae, rock, dub and funk band Wild Water, sings in Brarra, Kriol and English and was a member of the Black Arm Band.

Other wins on the night were:

Country: Our Own Backyard – Melanie Gray.

Blues & Roots: I Won’t Sleep – Caiti Baker, Greg Baker, James Mangohig, Michael Hohnen.

Rock: Bininj Kunborrk – Ritchie Guymala, Dillon Guymala.

Electronic/Dance: Not The Same – Rachel Younger.

“The awards celebrated songs that have captured the nation in 2018, from Baker Boy to Dr G,” said Mark Smith, executive director of MusicNT which ran the awards.

“The NT is represented on stages and radio stations across the nation and MusicNT is proud to honour some of the most exciting songs in the country.”