DARWIN is set to celebrate when Australia's hottest winter arts festival returns to the city in August for its 40th anniversary year.
This year the Darwin Festival, from August 8 to 25, will feature the Drumming Up The Storm event.
In 1979 the festival emerged out of the destruction of Cyclone Tracy.
The mass log drumming spectactular will be using musical instruments crafted out of the African mahogany trees which were planted post-Tracy and were then felled by Cyclone Marcus in March 2018.
Forty drummers will be playing on 40 drums for the special event in Festival Park on August 24, which is billed as being a "celebration of the community spirit, cultural collaboration and resilience of the people of Darwin".
The drumming spectacular is just one of a packed program of events which will deliver cabaret, theatre, comedy, dance, visual arts, outdoor music concerts and family events.
Highlights include celebrated Indigenous rockers Yothu Yindi, funnyman Nazeem Hussain, iconic Australian singer-songwriter Archie Roach and a night of musical tribute to Quentin Tarantino's '90s cult classic Pulp Fiction in Parap Fiction.
In all, the festival program features 114 events spread across 33 venues, with 596 artists.
For tickets head to www.darwinfestival.org.au
