Shellie Morris – Ngambala Wiji Li-Wunungu: The Song People’s Session (2013).

Some albums document culture. Others embody it. Shellie Morris’s Ngambala Wiji Li-Wunungu: The Song People’s Session does both with breathtaking clarity. Released in 2013, this collaboration between Morris and the Borroloola Songwomen isn’t just a record—it’s a bridge, carrying ancient stories into the modern world without losing a single thread of their meaning.

Best known for her work with Black Arm Band, Shellie Morris is one of Australia’s finest singer songwriters and a two-time winner of Female Musician of the Year at the National Indigenous Music Awards [NIMAs]. A powerhouse of voice and spirit, Morris spent years travelling back to country in the Gulf of Carpentaria to work alongside Yanyuwa, Garrwa, Mara and Gurdanji women—custodians of songs that have been sung for countless generations. The result is an album that feels both timeless and contemporary, a cultural treasure wrapped in shimmering sound.

The title translates as Together We Are Strong, and that’s exactly the point. Morris doesn’t dominate these sessions; she weaves herself into them. The Borroloola Songwomen’s voices—earthy, resonant, unwavering—carry the authority of tradition. Morris’s own voice, crystalline and expressive, moves around them like water around stone, creating something far richer than simple fusion.

What makes this album extraordinary isn’t just its cultural significance—though it is monumental. It’s the way it works as pure music. These songs are hypnotic, haunting, and deeply moving whether you come to them as a student of Indigenous culture, a fan of world music, or just a listener hungry for something real.

In an Australian industry that too often sidelines First Nations languages, Ngambala Wiji Li-Wunungu stands as proof of what happens when you centre them instead. It won the 2014 National Indigenous Music Award for Traditional Song of the Year for good reason: it’s not only a work of preservation but also one of innovation, finding new audiences without sacrificing a shred of authenticity.

More than an album, Ngambala Wiji Li-Wunungu is an invitation—to listen deeply, to honour story, and to recognise that some of the world’s oldest songs are still being sung, strong and clear.