With the Baaka running through her veins and fury in her flow, BARKAA has dropped one of her most potent tracks yet.
Titled “Ngamaka” — the Barkindji word for “mother” — the track is a stirring tribute to Country, a deep well of cultural pride, and a blistering call to action for the protection of the Murray-Darling Basin.
Featuring respected Barkindji elder Uncle Leroy Johnson and produced by Jaytee Hazard, “Ngamaka” is built on ancestral rhythms and sharp lyricism, blending old language with new flows, and ancient stories with razor-focused modern resistance.
“The river is our heartbeat as Barkindji people,” BARKAA explains. “The translation is river people. Our river is our mother; our water is our mother and heartbeat. Whenever the river is depleted, we feel down as people.”
Across generations, “Ngamaka” sings for the survival of a system under threat. Climate change, corporate greed, irrigation overuse — they’re all draining the Baaka dry. “Can’t even fathom the way they mistreat her,” BARKAA raps. “Leave her with nothing and suck dry our river.”
For Johnson, the pain is deeply personal — and spiritual. “Nhaampa Puka means Bony bream dead. The Bony Bream is my totem,” he says. “It was millions of those fish that died in the Menindee fish kills. I wrote that through the eyes of our old people and tried to describe the devastation we saw through song.”
More than just a song, “Ngamaka” is a woven tapestry of grief, pride and protest. And for Johnson, being able to share that message through music — and with his niece — means everything. “Using our mother’s language was the only way I could properly portray the sadness of what is happening to our river,” he says. “BARKAA is such a powerful ngunku (woman), so when she puts out a song people take notice.”
Love Music?
Get your daily dose of metal, rock, indie, pop, and everything else in between.
Their connection runs deep. BARKAA says the writing process with Leroy was one of her proudest moments. “It was emotional, I did cry when I was writing it — but it’s the power that comes from it. And I feel very proud. One of my proudest moments.”
The music video, which drops alongside the single, was filmed on BARKAA’s Barkindji Country and directed by Kieran Mpetyane Satour with cinematographer Ryan Andrew Lee. Shot where the Baaka flows, it’s both haunting and breathtaking — an immersive visual that lets the river speak for itself.
“Shooting the music video on Country was so beautiful and special,” BARKAA says. “It was one of the most monumental moments in my career… I think the music video will speak for itself.”
Johnson agrees. “Of course, I am biased, but it is the most beautiful spiritual place on earth. I’ve never been in a music video like this, and the way it shows our country is inspiring. I hope it shows people our place and how important it is for us to protect it.”
It’s been a massive 12 months for BARKAA. From releasing her second EP Big Tidda, to selling out Vivid at the Sydney Opera House, to sweeping awards like NIMA’s Artist of the Year, she’s not just riding a wave — she’s creating her own tide.
She recently performed live to a packed MCG crowd as part of the AFL’s Sir Doug Nicholls Round, joining fellow Bad Apples titans BRIGGS and Kobie Dee for an unforgettable show of Blak excellence and hip hop mastery.
Now, she’s gearing up to take the VIVID stage once again for Bad Apples’ 10-year anniversary ‘Big Sis’ event — a celebration of First Nations women, power and music.
But “Ngamaka” might be her most potent offering yet.
“This song came really naturally,” she says. “Speaking of home, having Leroy have the skeleton of the track, it was really adding onto what my family and cousins are expressing… It’s a light song, the instrumental is beautiful, it’s very ancestral, especially as it’s sung in Barkindji and Leroy sounds like an old ancestor.”
As always, BARKAA isn’t just making music — she’s telling stories. She’s holding space. She’s echoing the old ways into new ears.
“It’s important for me to be a storyteller and pass down stories and songlines through music,” she says. “It’s something we as Blakfullas have done for many generations.”
And she hopes this one will reach far and wide, especially with younger listeners. “We have so many climate change activists who are young people, so I hope young listeners will connect to the words. But it’s for everyone.”
“Ngamaka” by BARKAA featuring Uncle Leroy Johnson is out now via Bad Apples Music/UMA.
