It's a story that begins in the ramshackle tin rehearsal sheds of the remote Red Centre, and more than 40 years later, finds new life onstage in the Northern Territory's Top End.

A stage musical telling the story of the Warumpi Band is being performed in the territory for the first time as part of the opening celebrations for the 2024 Darwin Festival.

The Warumpi Band forged history after bursting from the remote NT in the mid-1980s with songs such as Blackfella/Whitefella, Waru (Fire), My Island Home and Jailanguru Pakarnu, which was a breakthrough in its combining of Luritja language with thumping rock and roll.

For some of those involved in the new show, titled Big Name, No Blankets, its arrival in Darwin marks a triumphant homecoming to a place where the band's legacy still looms large.

Yolŋu actor Baykali Ganambarr hails from Elcho Island, the same island in Arnhem Land where Warumpi Band singer George Burarrwanga would spear fish with his family.

"Growing up and watching them as a kid, they were captivating," Ganambarr said.

"And not just knowing them just as an artist, but also knowing them as family."

Rachael Maza, the show's co-director, said the project differed from other versions of the band's history – such as a semi-autobiography by founding member Neil Murray – as it was told from the perspective of its Aboriginal band members, the Butcher brothers from Papunya.

"One of the parameters about the show from Sammy Butcher, who we worked with, was that it's a positive show – and they were a positive band," Ms Maza said.

Brothers' story shines light on love of country

The talented Butcher brothers had a pivotal and complex role in Warumpi Band folklore.

The guitarist and drummer are often cited for their reluctance to leave their traditional country in Papunya at a time when the band's national fame was peaking.

Big Name, No Blankets seeks to show how the pull of their cultural responsibilities as fathers and, later, elders in their communities ended up outweighing their ambitions with the band.

"[They] chose family over fame," Ms Maza said.

"And that's kind of basically the message of the piece – at the end of the day, as a blackfella on this country, you are your country, and need to be on country and with your community, which is ultimately where they needed to be, and it meant having to step off the band."

The production also aims to go deeper than the classic photographs of Warumpi Band as four or five men clutching their guitars and drumsticks.

With two women co-directing the production – Ms Maza and Sammy Butcher's daughter Anyupa Butcher – they wanted to make sure their portrayal included the important women in the Warumpi Band's journey.

"We've woven in the women's story because that was a major priority," Ms Maza said.

"It'd be very easy to get blindsided by the very male side of the story, but there's that whole other side of the story, which is critical to what this play is ultimately about.

"It's that calling to be back on country, to step into your beautiful father role with your family in your community, and Sammy's role and his brother's as elders."

Big Name, No Blankets will perform in Darwin this week, before heading to remote communities around the Northern Territory.