Vector Arena lit up last night during the APRA Silver Scroll Awards celebrating New Zealand songwriters.
For Māori music, the single ‘Aotearoa’ took out the Maioha Award, written by Vince Harder, translated by Te Haumihiata Mason and performed by Australian Idol 2009 Stan Walker, award winning singer-songwriter Maisey Rika, Bay of Islands local Troy Kingi and NZ soul/hip hop star Ria Hall.
Te Kāea informed Te Haumihiata Mason this morning of the Maioha Award win as she was unable to attend last night’s ceremony.
Her response was, “ OMG i had no idea?”
Mason is considered one of Māoridoms national treasures in terms of the revitalisation of Te Reo.
She encourages more Māori songwritters to continue and push boundaries within composing, but also recommends that song writters “keep it simple.”
Other Silver Scroll awards included:
Brothers Ruban Nielson and Kody Nielson who won the 2015 APRA Silver Scroll Award for the Unknown Mortal Orchestra song Multi-Love.
The 1981 APRA Silver Scroll Award the ‘Lost Scroll’ went to Phil Judd, Wayne Stevens and Mark Hough for ‘Counting the Beat.’
Ella Yelich O’Connor (Lorde) and Joel Little took out the Most Performed New Zealand Work Internationally for ‘Royals.’
Matiu Walters, Marlon Gerbes (Six60) and Priese Board won the Most Performed New Zealand Work in New Zealand for ‘Special.’
Electro-accoustic musician Chris Watson won the coveted SOUNZ Contemporary Award for his composition Sing Songs Self.
Prodigious songwriter, musician and composer Grayson Gilmour won the APRA Best Original Music in a Feature Film Award and Tom McLeod won the APRA Best Original Music in a Series Award for the second year in a row for his work on ‘Girl vs Boy’ (Season 3).