Blues Voice Marlene Cummins and Saltwater Band Announced as 2026 NIMAs Hall of Fame Inductees

The National Indigenous Music Awards (NIMAs) have named blues musician Marlene Cummins and Elcho Island’s Saltwater Band as the 2026 Hall of Fame inductees, ahead of the ceremony in Darwin next month.

Cummins — a Guguyelandji woman on her father’s side and Woppaburra on her mother’s — is regarded as one of Australia’s leading Indigenous female blues voices. Born in Cunnamulla, Queensland, she studied saxophone and songwriting at Boston’s Berklee College of Music and has worked across music, broadcasting, activism, dance and acting.

Her career has included award-winning radio work, the documentary Black Panther Woman, which chronicled her own history within the Australian Black Panther movement, and the song “Koori Woman,” written as a dedication to Indigenous women.

Saltwater Band, from Galiwin’ku on Elcho Island, are recognised for a catalogue that threaded traditional song through reggae and ska-influenced pop, sung mostly in Yolŋu languages. The band’s most prominent member was the late Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu, already a Hall of Fame inductee — inducted by fellow founding member Manuel Dhurrkay — who went on to become the most commercially successful Aboriginal Australian musician in history.

Before co-founding Saltwater Band, Yunupingu played in Yothu Yindi, the internationally recognised group behind the landmark 1991 single “Treaty.” His solo debut Gurrumul (2008) reached No. 3 on the ARIA Albums Chart and won two ARIA Awards, and he sold an estimated half a million records worldwide before his death in 2017 at 46. Saltwater Band earned multiple NIMAs and Deadly Awards across their career, with their album Djarridjarri nominated for the ARIA Award for Best World Music Album in 2004.

The 2026 NIMAs take place at Darwin Amphitheater in Garramilla/Darwin on Saturday, Aug. 8, hosted by Rob Collins and Leila Gurruwiwi. The performance lineup features Baker Boy, Electric Fields, BIG NOTER, Stiff Gins, Bumpy, Casii Williams, South Summit and Zipporah, with more to be announced. The night’s Artist of the Year nominees include 3%, Baker Boy, Birdz and Fred Leone, Bumpy, Jem Cassar-Daley, Miss Kaninna and South Summit.

Ahead of the ceremony, the Blak Loud Showcase — presented by Amazon Music Australia and Awesome Blak — will serve as the unofficial opening night at Darwin’s Bustard Town on Aug. 7, featuring South Summit, Zipporah and Casii Williams. Free RSVPs are available through the NIMA website.