Music has a way of taking us somewhere else. A song can return us to a particular place, person, or moment in our lives. It can carry memories across decades and become part of the stories we pass on to others.

Vinyl Stories: an exploration of sound waves through storytelling and song brings three distinct Territory perspectives together to explore those connections through music, storytelling and the simple act of listening.

Presented at the 2026 Darwin Fringe Festival, the work has been selected as the inaugural recipient of the Artback NT Fringe Touring Award, supporting the team to develop a professionally coordinated tour in 2027.

At the centre of Vinyl Stories are three Northern Territory artists with very different relationships to music.

Melanie Mununggurr is a Djapu mother, poet, storyteller and performer, and the 2018 Australian Poetry Slam Champion for her poem I Run.

Shalom Kaa is a performer, director, singer and comedian whose roots lie in a large Māori musical family.

John Rawnsley has spent his life between the Centre and Top End of the Territory and, as DJ Spinaf-X, draws on those experiences through vinyl and DJ culture.

Together, the poet, the singer and the DJ each select records that have shaped them, playing songs in full and sharing the stories, people, places and experiences attached to them.

The result is part performance, part storytelling and part collective listening experience.

For Artback NT Tour Producer Tahlia Biggs, who attended 10 of the 16 productions that self-nominated for the Touring Award at this year’s Darwin Fringe, it was the meeting of these three very different perspectives that immediately stood out.

“Each of them connected with music in their own way, and those different forms flowed into each other really naturally,” Tahlia said.

“It felt like a reminder of how powerful music is in connecting us through time, bringing back memories and nostalgia, but also helping us understand other people and their experiences in a different way.”

The work also reflects on what happens to the music that matters to us as generations change.

“I really loved the idea that we have a responsibility to keep sharing music with the next generation, because the songs and stories that mean something to us become part of what we pass on,” Tahlia said.

Perhaps one of the simplest elements of Vinyl Stories is also one of its most unusual: audiences sit together and listen to an entire song.

In a time when music is increasingly encountered through snippets, reels, advertisements and algorithms, the experience deliberately creates room to hear a record from beginning to end.

“There was something really special about the way Vinyl Stories made us slow down and actually listen,” Tahlia said.

“We sat together and heard full songs from beginning to end. We don’t really do that anymore, sit with music and experience it together.”

“For me, that’s part of what made it such a strong choice for the inaugural Fringe Touring Award. It’s a show that celebrates where music has come from but also reminds us to be present with it and with each other.”

The Artback NT Fringe Touring Award was established to identify a work presented at Darwin Fringe Festival with the potential to reach audiences beyond its original season, and to provide practical support and mentoring to help make that next step possible.

We will work with Melanie, Shalom and John towards a tour in late 2027, taking the work beyond Garramilla / Darwin and into at least three venues.