A performance from Ngaiire and her full touring band melds electronic neo-soul, gospel, and big pop sounds.
Australian-based performer Ngaiire brings a night of multi-genre, transformational music to the Alberta Bair Theater Tuesday, April 25, at 7:30 p.m. The Billings venue is among just five stops on her U.S. tour.
Hailing from the Eastern Highlands and New Ireland provinces of Papua New Guinea, Ngaiire has a career that crosses genre and artform. The recipient of four National Live Music Awards, an FBi Radio SMAC Award for best live act, and the inaugural Australian Women in Music Award for Artistic Excellence, Ngaiire’s albums have been celebrated around the world.
She has graced stages from Glastonbury to Australia’s Splendour in the Grass; toured alongside the likes of Sufjan Stevens, Alicia Keys, Flume, and Leon Bridges; composed for dance companies; and had her work exhibited in art spaces. In 2021, she became the first musician to play in front of the National Press Club in Canberra, became the first Papua New Guinean to appear on ABC’s “Play School” (Australia’s “Sesame Street”), and to be painted for the historical Archibald prize, as well as have her first-ever piece as an artist exhibited at the iconic Art Gallery of NSW.
In Summer of 2021, Ngaiire released third album, which led her to return to her home town in Papua New Guinea for a visual, cultural and musical exploration. The release earned her four ARIA awards (the Australian equivalent to the Grammys).
A performance from Ngaiire and her full touring band melds electronic neo-soul, gospel, and big pop sounds, strained through the lens of a First Nations songwriter. As one of the premiere touring live artists in Australia, Ngaiire is often lauded as possessing the best voice in the country. Her songs have also been selected for use across multiple USA TV shows, most notably the gospel torch song, “Fall Into My Arms,” used in Oprah Winfrey/Ava DuVernay’s TV show “Queen Sugar.” Touring as a six-piece ensemble, Ngaiire’s shows give the audience the full spectrum of live performance: one moment a pop banger, and the next a heartbreaker.
Tickets are $12-$32, and available at the ABT Box Office, by phone at 406-256-6052 and on the ABT website.