BARKAA | Vivid LIVE

BARKAA is one of Australian music’s most powerful voices. Since her explosive breakthrough in 2020, the Malyangapa and Barkindji rapper, musician and activist has become a galvanising force for the Blak nation, speaking truth to power – and dropping a blistering succession of bangers – in a country rocked by division. After show-stealing appearances at Sydney Opera House’s Barrabuwari concert in 2021 and Astral People’s 2022 anniversary celebration, hip-hop’s irrepressible Blak matriarch returns to make her solo debut at the Drama Theatre for Vivid LIVE.

Raised in South West Sydney/Gandangara Land, BARKAA began rapping in high school, taking her stage name from the Barkindji word for the Darling River. A teenage mother, she spent time incarcerated and battling addiction, experiences that would inform her potent, politically charged music. In 2020, her debut singles 'For My Tittas' and the incendiary 'Our Lives Matter' became cultural sensations, the latter adopted as the unofficial soundtrack to Australia’s Black Lives Matter movement. 

After signing to Briggs’ Bad Apples label, BARKAA released her critically acclaimed EP Blak Matriarchy, a tribute to First Nations mothers past, present and future that was nominated for two ARIAs and won a National Indigenous Music Award for Song of the Year. In the wake of last year’s rejection of the Indigenous Voice to Parliament, BARKAA unleashed 'Division', an uncompromising address to a splintered nation that confirmed the rapper as one of the country’s most vital artists.

This will be an unmissable performance from a fearless and ferociously talented star.