Kumanjayi Murphy, who died in Adelaide last month, was well known as the front man of his band, The Nomadics.

He also wrote hundreds of songs in English, Warlpiri, Kayetye and Alyawarre languages, many of which told of his love for his people and country.

Some of the most popular songs included Uluru, People of the Dry Sea, Walagu and Four Different Tribes.

Kumanjayi’s fellow band members, AJ, Elvis Kidd, Lennie Nelson and Brendan Hines led the concert at the Civic Hall last Friday night.

They were joined by other bands including the Winanjjikari Allstars, the Warrabri Country Blue Grass Band, Ali Curung Band, Lander River Band and the Phillip Peterson Band.

Hundreds turned out to be a part of the emotional tribute.

Good friend and fellow band member, AJ, said Kumanjayi wrote beautiful songs.

“He was very talented at songwriting and was a good singer and musician as well,” he said.

“He also spent a lot of time teaching young people to play instruments and getting them into music.

“I was taught by Kumanjayi, he showed me everything about being in a band and I’ve got a lot out of that over the years.”

Kumanjayi, who hailed from Ali Curung, spent his teenage years with a Territory magistrate, Tim Hinchliffe who went on to become a Supreme Court judge in Papua New Guinea.

When he returned to his home country he formed a band and started writing songs.

Jeff McLaughlin from the Winanjjikari Music Centre described Kumanjayi as the Bob Dylan of the outback.

“Except he had a much better voice than Dylan,” he said.

“He made a huge impact on the music scene here and his legacy is a library of songs which captures the beauty of this country and the culture of his people in way which is unprecedented.”

Kumanjayi’s funeral will be held at the AIM church in Standley Street next Wednesday, 28 July, at 10am.