Ripple Effect Band are a band who break boundaries and make history by simply playing. The saltwater rock artists are the first women in their community to form a band, and were in Victoria last month for a run of shows celebrating the release of their debut album Mayawa. The album is a dynamic and evocative journey, in which the artists weave stories of womanhood, community and Country across the track list.  

 
Tell us a little bit about Ripple Effect Band and how you came together to make this album..

Ripple Effect Band is the first all-women’s band from West Arnhem Land. They originally started at Maningrida High School in the early 2000s as the Front Street Girls, winning an NT Music Award for best emerging band in 2006. 

Since then, the women have graduated from school and had families and got jobs. They reunited with their old music teacher, Jodie Kell, when she travelled to Maningrida for her PhD research with the Sydney Conservatorium of Music in 2017. At that time, the women who were keen and available to make a band joined together to form the Ripple Effect Band, singing in 4 Indigenous languages, Kune, Na-kara, Burarra and Ndjébbana as well as English. 

Jodie Kell:

“Getting the band back together was a bit like the Blues Brothers – finding the women and starting to rehearse was pretty exciting, and then driving in my old Land Cruiser through river crossings to our first gig in Arnhem Land. The crowd loved the band so much and it has grown from there.” 

Their first gig outside of Maningrida was at Bakbidi’di Festival in Raminginging community in 2017 where everyone thought they were a choir until they got on stage and rocked the instruments, making them superstars in the Northern Territory Indigenous music scene. 

Since recording an EP with Paul Mac and Clint Bracknell in 2017, released in 2018 as Wárrwarra, they have toured nationally and their music played across radio and television, building audiences who love their energy and West Arnhem culture and stories. 

What was the inspiration behind the title Mayawa, and how does it reflect the themes of the album? 

Mayawa is a Na-kara language word for ‘the beach’. Na-kara is a highly endangered language with only about 50 speakers, and yet it is also a strong and proud community of people whose traditional homelands are to the east of Maningrida. We spent a lot of time on Na-kara Country, hunting and fishing and sitting around campfires and this inspired the creation of the album, bringing us together as a band. 

The album cover also features a photo of crocodile tracks from the beach at Na-kalamandjarda on Na-kara Country as well as a weaving by Mary Na-balangkarra, Rona and Jolene Lawrence’s grandmother and Na-kara elder.  

We wanted to honour the Na-kara people and to show how the Country is a big part of our music and story. 

Can you describe the creative process for this album? 

The album took a long time to make but this gave us a chance to take control of all aspects of composing and production, and we are very proud of this. 

We started songwriting in 2019 with a Creative Australia Grant which helped us to spend time on Country with our communities and elders, and with Jodie Kell, our non-Indigenous guitarist and producer, so the songs emerged from Country and from community.  

Rona Lawrence:

“My song Na-kalamandjarda came to me in a dream after we were camping out on my Country. I came back into town and that night dreamt the song, sending it in a text to Jodie so I wouldn’t forget it. The song is about how Country is my life, my heart, my future and my past and I dedicate it to my children and all children.” 

The album was produced by Jodie Kell and Tara Rostron. Tara is a Kune woman from West Arnhem Land and she is the first woman from the region to produce an album. The process took time starting with storytelling and time on Country, composing songs, building guide tracks and finishing the arrangements with synths and overdubs in Newcastle NSW.   

We write our songs together and swap instruments, so each woman has a chance to step forward and sing in her own language. Not one lead singer, rather supporting each other to express culture in different languages. 

Were there any particular challenges you faced while recording Mayawa, and how did you overcome them? 

Firstly, we are the first women from our community to make a band, play instruments, write songs and produce an album and this has meant the women in the band have to be strong and they are amazing role models for other young women and Indigneous youth. We have been supported and encouraged by our community, including other male musicians. 

Stephanie Maxwell James:

“I follow in the footsteps of my father Anjwartunga Maxwell from Letterstick Band who sang traditional Diyama songline as well as rock music. He encouraged me and before he passed away in 2017, he came with us to play with us in Ramingining and set our band on this path for the future. He always said, Never give up music, and I will never give up” 

Which track on the album holds a special significance for you, and why? 

We all love ‘Cyclone’ as it tells the story of the 2006 Cyclone Monica which nearly destroyed Maningrida. It was heading straight for Maningrida, the biggest wind event to ever cross the Australian coast. People were scared but Rachel Thomas’s mother, who is a djungay (cultural manager) for Maningrida called out to the sacred Djómi spirits. The swam out together to face up to the big wind, and at the last minute the cyclone turned to the west and crossed where no people live. This saved all the people in Maningrida. 

The song is on the album Mayawa, a stirring rock song and today it has been released as the Cyclone Stereogamous Remix, a collaboration with Sydney dance producer Paul Mac.  

Rachel Thomas: 

“I wrote Cyclone for my mother and for the Dhukurrdji clan and their Dreaming, the Djómi. Now Paul has made a remix and I hope you like it and all want to get up and dance.” 

How do you hope your music will resonate with listeners, especially those experiencing the messages conveyed in Mayawa? 

We hope they love our songs and join with us to celebrate our connection to Country. Singing in our languages makes us and our community proud. 

Mayawa is more than just a collection of songs, it is a celebration of Ripple Effect Band’s stories as mothers, daughters and sisters, sung in the languages of their people. Each track resonates with the echoes of traditional ceremonies, capturing the raw beauty of their heritage and the dynamic pulse of their present. On this record, Ripple Effect Band invite listeners on a journey through time and space, where every note and lyric is a bridge connecting past and future generations. 

Tara Rostron: 

“We are so proud of our music and our album Mayawa. We want to inspire other women to feel confidence and to express themselves.” 

Keep up to date with The Ripple Effect Band here.