Performing at Fusion on Saturday night, Kardajala Kirridarra is an all-female band celebrating culture, womanhood and respect.
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Wagga woman Beatrice Lewis found herself a place in the band after a six year journey working in the desert.
"I was working for Music NT and running a program called Sister Sounds which took you out to lots of remote communities and collaborated with the women and elders out their to do music workshops," Lewis said.
"I feel very lucky that that period of my life happened, I feel so privileged to have experienced it and to have been on their country and have them teach me about their culture."
It wasn't until Lewis travelled further north when she crossed paths with the women of Kardajala Kirridarra, which translates to 'Sandhill Women'.
"I was going to give the desert a bit of a break, I wanted to start writing my own stuff a bit more and then I met Ellie and I thought, 'I have to work with you and these amazing women'," she said.
"So I was out there for another two years working with the three girls."
Eleanor Dixon, Janey Dixon and Kayla Jackson make up the band alongside Lewis, based in the community of Malinja in the Northern Territory.
Unfortunately, Lewis will be absent at Kardajala Kirridarra's performance this weekend, currently touring America with her second band, Haiku Hands, formed in Melbourne.
Also doing DJ work and solo projects, Lewis' passion for music began early.
"In Wagga I was getting guitar and piano lessons and learning music then, but it was definitely in later high school where I really became obsessed," she said.
"My friend Sophie who I went to Scotts College boarding school with in Albury brought a tape back from her friend in Melbourne that had all this amazing music on it that I'd never heard before, and it really inspired me."
From more acoustic routes, Lewis has moved into an electronic focus with her music, but the meaning behind the sounds are where she feels the passion lies.
"Kardajala Kirridarra's music looks at women's connection to country, women's spirituality, family, relationships to the land and to each other, and celebrating women in all stages of life," she said.
"To me Eleanor drives this meaning as the main singer-songwriter alongside the other girls, and I support them with the music."
Despite travelling the world to share her music, Lewis said Wagga will always have a special place in her heart.
"We just pulled over on the highway here in Texas where we are staying and into a Wild Buffalo Wing place for some dinner, and it's just so crazy, America is extra, extra everything, so I'm looking forward the chill nature of Australia when I come back at the end of the month," she said.
"Wagga is one of my favourite places in the world and such an important part of my life."
With the summer off, Lewis hopes to get back to the desert to write the second album for Kardajala Kirridarra, with a pit stop for Christmas in Wagga.
The band will perform with a stand-in for Lewis at Wagga's Fusion Festival this Saturday night on Baylis Street.
"I'm so sad that I can't be there, I really am devastated but it will be a fantastic show and everyone should go," Lewis said.