A project working with high school students in the birthplace of musical group Yothu Yindi is putting Indigenous female rappers in the spotlight — and they are doing it in their own language, Yolngu Matha.

Key points: A group of high school girls have recorded a music video where they rap in Yolngu Matha

A group of high school girls have recorded a music video where they rap in Yolngu Matha It's part of a project to help Indigenous women after a traumatic period in north-east Arnhem Land

It's part of a project to help Indigenous women after a traumatic period in north-east Arnhem Land School attendance shot up during the time the music video was filmed

The song Shine and an accompanying music video is the result of a two-week workshop with high school students in Yirrkala in north-east Arnhem.

Speaking through an interpreter, student Leanne Maymuru described the project as "dancing, singing and rapping".

The project was commissioned by the local Rirratjingu Aboriginal Corporation (RAC) to start a conversation with the young women after a traumatic period in north-east Arnhem.

Last year, several young people died by suicide and there is increasing concern about youth abusing drugs and alcohol.

Performer and Yolngu woman Elena Wangurra led the project.

She said while many of the teenage girls started out quite shy, the workshops turned into a safe space as they navigated themes — like petrol sniffing — to include in their song lyrics.

"My job … is to just draw out [creativity] and make them feel comfortable and once we did that there was no stopping them," Wangurra said.

Yolngu woman Elena Wangurra grew up near Yirrkala. ( ABC News: Emilia Terzon )

"It just goes to show once you create a space of encouragement and safety, that this can be the end product.

"I really wanted an end product that was a positive representation of young women in communities and especially young women in Yirrkala.

"So that's what the song is about: women having a voice."

Fans of Baker Boy

Ms Maymuru is a huge fan of Baker Boy — a musician from the region who shot to fame a few years ago for rapping in Yolngu Matha and was named Young Australian of the Year in 2019.

Baker Boy's goal was to be Australia's first Aboriginal artist to rap in an Indigenous language. ( ABC News: Clare Sibthorpe )

Wangurra said rap and hip hop was clearly popular in the region but it was less common to see women take the stage.

"There's definitely a larger platform and space for young men and that's why we chose to do this program and do it specifically with young women, and use rap as the vehicle," she said.

"And they just took to it like I can't even explain. I don't have words for it.

"That just goes to show they're just as hungry and just as passionate [about] this particular style of music and delivery as the boys."

She said the high point was when the young women filmed an accompanying music video of them dancing in front of the camera.

"I went from being the person in the background facilitating the program to being the fangirl in the background screaming them on," she said.

The project also had education outcomes.

High school students in Yirrkala behind the scenes of the making of their video clip, Shine. ( ABC: Emilia Terzon )

Shine's singers are also participants in a national project called STARS, which aims to keep young women in high school.

One of the students' mentors, Emma Atkinson, said school attendance amongst participants "shot up" during the two weeks Wangurra was working with them.

"One girl, her attendance wasn't the best last year, and through being part of this program with Elena, she was at 100 per cent attendance and she's been here every week since then," she said.

Hayden Rickard from the Rirratjingu Aboriginal Corporation said they hoped the project would start a wider conversation.

"In trying to give these young girls a voice, and finding the confidence to speak their messages or sing them in a music video, we're hoping those conversations carry on in the playground or at the dinner table or around the campfire," he said.