A CHINWAG WITH… EMILY WURRAMARA

When did you first decide you wanted to be a muso? I always knew from a young age that music was what I wanted to do. Everything I did revolved around music since my family are also very musical – my uncles played in bands, and my family and I would listen to them play from my grandmother’s verandah on Milyakburra. I think I must have been the melody of the wind in my past life – or a bard. What was the first song you ever wrote? I wrote a song when I was six called “Over the Seas”. I wrote about playing with mermaids and dolphins in the ocean. What music did you love as a kid? My parents listened to a wide range of music, but a few stand-out artists to me growing up were Saltwater Band, 2Pac, Aaliyah, Charley Pride, Lauryn Hill, Slim Dusty, The Real Thing, UB40, Alpha Blondy, The Doobie Brothers and Bob Marley. In a sentence, how would you describe your sound? What you’d hear after stepping into another universe. Who are your biggest music inspirations? M.I.A., Nina Simone, Billie Holiday, Corinne Bailey Rae and India Arie. Aside from music, what other creative interests do you have? I love scrapbooking. It’s very therapeutic and something I try to do with my daughter, and she loves it too. She’s better than me, that’s for sure! If you could collab with any artist, dead or alive, who would it be? Probably Tracy Chapman, because her songwriting is so honest and pure. I watched her GRAMMYS performance with Luke Combs and bawled my eyes out. Where is your happy place? At the beach, especially when it’s just me and my family watching the sun go down.