Nawārra is the new artist moniker of Magan-djin based artist (vocalist, songwriter, musician, producer), performer and educator Hana Macklin (nee Hannah Macklin, MKO/Sun). With almost twenty years of performance and education experience throughout Australia and internationally, Hana has maintained a strong focus on community, collaboration and creativity.
Hana blends her diverse musical language - drawing from jazz, classical and world music idioms - with poetic lyricism and hip-hop production sensibilities to create songs which spring from the cosmos and converse with Mother Nature, drawing forth imagery of environmental wonder and personal transformation.
Vocally, Hana has been described as “transcendent” and “virtuosic”, cutting her bell-like upper register with rougher mid-tones and never shying away from exploring the full spectrum of vocal possibilities. Hana enjoys bending her tuneful voice to find microtonal nuances and employs the use of Indian Classical vocal stylings such as gamakas, as well as sounds referenced from nature (especially the Australian bush) to evoke moments of melodic storytelling, which she integrates into her naturally soul/R&B approach.
Nawārra (نوارة) is an Arabic feminine given name meaning flower blossom, light and radiance. In Aboriginal Australian languages it is spelled Nguwarra (or Ngurra, Ngurrara) and means home, camp, country and a sense of belonging.
Hana performs with a variety of collaborators and band lineups designed to suit each individual performance.
Beginning her original live music career at the age of 20, Hana has performed at a huge number of venues and festivals across Australia and overseas over the last 18 years, including:
Hana has played support slots for Hiatus Kaiyote, Peaches (USA), Ibeyi (USA), Ecca Vandal (AU), Cody ChesnuTT (USA) and Fatima (UK).
Hana has accrued an extensive list of collaborators in both studio and live contexts, including: Regurgitator, Emma Donovan, Holy Holy, BIGYUKI (USA/Japan), Sampology, Allysha Joy, Barney McAll, Dheeraj Shrestha, Tom Thum, Jaala, Laneous, Tommy Sexton & The Suggestions, Paul Mac and Karaikudi R Mani.