Barkaa, Thelma Plum and Baker Boy are among the nominations for the National Indigenous Music Awards, while Thelma, King Stingray, Birdz, and Emma Donovan and the Putbacks, will be among the performers at the Darwin awards show, it has been announced.

NIMA creative director Ben Graetz said more than 20 artists had been nominated, with rapper Barkaa, a Malyangapa and Barkindji woman, receiving four nominations, earning candidacy for her songs King Brown and Black Matriarchy, and for New Talent of the Year.

Mr Graet said Yolngu man Baker Boy had three nominations, for his debut album, Gela, and its track My Mind, and he is also up for Artist of the Year.

Already announced artists Thelma Plum and King Stingray will be joined onstage by Emma Donovan and the Putbacks, Birdz and Fred Leone, Yirrmal, and J-MILLA, he said.

“I’m thrilled to see such an extraordinary list of finalists this year and cannot wait for live performances from some of our most powerful First Nations musicians such as Thelma Plum and Emma Donovan and the Putbacks,” Mr Graetz said.

“This year is all about coming together and celebrating as one big community.”

The awards ceremony will be held at the Darwin amphitheatre on August 6. Tickets for the event are on sale now at the Music NT website.

2022 National Indigenous music awards nominations

Artist of the Year
The Kid Laroi
Jessica Mauboy
Baker Boy
Electric Fields
Thelma Plum
King Stingray

Song of the Year
Backseat of My Mind – Thelma Plum
Made For Silence – Miiesha
Milkumana – King Stingray
Sometime – Mo Ju
King Brown – Barkaa
Ball and Chain – Xavier Rudd

Album of the Year
Baker Boy – Gela
Emma Donovan and the Putbacks – Under These Streets
Jem Cassar-Daley – I Don’t Know Who to Call
Birdz – Legacy
Dallas Woods – Julie’s Boy
Archie Roach – My songs 1989 – 2021

Film Clip of the Year
Love Too Soon – Tasman Keith
King Brown – Barkaa
Blak Matriarchy – Barkaa
My Mind – Baker Boy
Automatic – Jessica Mauboy

New Talent of the Year
Barkaa
Jem Cassar-Daley
Lil Kootsie
Tilly Tjala Thomas
Dobby
Dameeeela

Community Clip of the Year
Koori Mob – Our Country, Our Life, Desert Pea Media
Gumbaynggirr Collective – Through the Smoke, Desert Pea Media
Doomadgee, Queensland – Where We Wanna Be, Indigenous Outreach Project
Numbulwar, NT – Loud & Proud, Indigenous Outreach Project
Ballarat, Victoria – Don’t Give Up On Yourself, Indigenous Outreach Project