APRAP WEB June 2005..

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A WORD FROM ANT The Gold Guitar Awards, the NZ Country Music Awards and the MLT Songwriters Awards – they all happen in the traditional home of country music, Gore. The weather was cold but the welcome could not have been warmer and the music was excellent. We were there, Arthur Baysting and I, together with Mahinarangi Tocker and Australian country singer Dianna Corcoran, for the aptly named Freeze Ya Bits Off busking competition, the songwriting seminars and workshops, the school visits and all the Awards. Congratulations to Kylie Harris for winning the inaugural APRA Country Music Song of the Year Award for her song “Give Me Something to Go On” and the Tui for Best Country Music Album for her album Kylie Harris. Also congratulations to Aaron Jury for winning the Mataura Licensing Trust Songwriters Awards for his song “Wyre Street”. Interest this year in NZ music month was bigger than ever. Major (L TO R): CATH ANDERSEN, ANT HEALEY, PM HELEN CLARK, JUDITH TIZARD, RICHARD THORNE AT THE MUSIC MONTH LAUNCH. corporates, sponsors, the media, politicians and most importantly the public all getting in behind NZ music. As a celebration of NZ music, music month in May is far from a washed up idea. The 8,000 people at the Shihad launch concert, the 5,000 that bought NZMM T-shirts at Hallensteins or the many PHOTO: JASON HAILES thousands that listened to, watched or rocked to the many music month events certainly didn’t need convincing. Check out the photos on pages 8 and 9. Well done to all those that helped out in all the events up and down the country. There is a feast of information and inspiration for young and old inside APRAP. We feature young composer Gin Wigmore and the not so young but equally amazing composer, Willow Macky. We also mark the passing of three influential APRA members with tributes from their family and friends, on page 15. Anthony Healey Director of NZ Operations 1 THE MAGNIFICENT “HANDS OF FAME” GOLD GUITAR MONUMENT WAS OFFICIALLY OPENED AT THE START OF GORE’S COUNTRY MUSIC FESTIVAL 2 AARON JURY 3 THE BLIND STONED COWBOY, A PREVIOUS WINNER OF THE GORE FREEZE YA BITS OFF BUSKING COMPETITION, PERFORMS IN THE MAIN STREET WITH HIS DOG RINGO. IT HAILED DURING THE CONTEST AND THE NEXT DAY IT SNOWED 4 GOLD GUITAR GUESTS MAHINARANGI TOCKER AND DIANNA CORCORAN PERFORM WITH BEN SHEA (CENTRE) AT HERIOT PRIMARY SCHOOL. 1 2 4 3 PHOTOS: 1, 3 ,4 ARTHUR BAYSTING The Silver Scroll Awards 2005 Auckland Town Hall - September 12 1975 1965 1985 4 decades of happy times at the Scrolls 1995 APRAP June 2005 CONTENTS ISC 2004 Grand Prize Winner: Gin Wigmore........................................3 Member Services..................................................................................4 From The Heart ....................................................................................6 Tuwhare................................................................................................6 Music Month.........................................................................................8 Tessarose...........................................................................................10 Willow Macky......................................................................................10 Chris Chetland....................................................................................11 Australian News..................................................................................12 SOUNZ...............................................................................................13 Pasifika Festival ..................................................................................14 Phil Fuemana, Karlos Quarter, Paul Hester.........................................15 2 COVER PHOTO: GIN WIGMORE PHOTOGRAPHED BY SPID
ISC 2004 GRAND PRIZE WINNER: GIN WIGMORE Virginia (‘Gin’) Wigmore’s astonishing win at the 2004 International Songwriting Competition (ISC) shows the value of taking your chances when opportunities beckon. Gin heard about the ISC through her sister, (who discovered it through NZ arts website ‘The Big Idea’). Rikki Morris, who’d produced and recorded Gin’s demos, told her “it’s a long-shot, but you’ve got to be in to win.” Never has a truer been word been spoken. The 18 year-old beat over 11,000 entrants from 77 countries to take the ISC Overall Grand Prize for her song “Hallelujah”, receiving $40,000 (US) in prizes. Gin also won the Teen Category with her song “Angelfire”‚ and in July she’s off to Boston to attend Berklee College of Music’s Summer Performance Program. When she received a call from the ISC judges, director Candace Avery slyly first advised her of her Teen category win. “I had seen other New Zealanders on the list of finalists and hoped a New Zealander would win the Grand Prize, so I asked if they could tell me who’d won. Candace started talking to the other judges in the room – they had me on speaker-phone – I heard her saying ‘shall we tell her?’ and Macy Gray laughing while everyone told her to shut up. Then they told me I was the Grand Prize winner!” It’s a big accolade for one who was unsure about devoting herself to a musical career. In fact, her ISC Teen Category winner “Angelfire” was the first song she’d written, at the age of 14. She was performing at open mic nights at The Temple in Auckland while still attending Takapuna College – Finn Andrews from The Vines was there at the same time. Around then Gin did her first recordings with another Devonport local Rikki Morris. She had $150 to put 12 songs down “to get them out of my system”, but Rikki was convinced Gin was a natural. Describing herself as “dabbling in about a million things” Gin went to Argentina for her final year of high school, had a stint working as PR assistant for Universal Records on her return and then pursued a BA at Victoria University. However the biggest challenge to her songwriting was the death of her father; Gin didn’t write for a year afterwards. When she did write again, she produced “Hallelujah” about her relationship with her Dad. Writing has continued to be a personal, solo affair: “I always write in a quiet place. The bathroom has got great acoustics, it’s the best place to write and sing. We’ve got a tiny bathroom, an ensuite. I trundle my little stool in and sit in front of the shower with my guitar and play. Friends come over and find me in the bathroom with music spread everywhere round the sink and the shower!” “We’re amazed at the consistently high level of song-writing coming out of New Zealand in the last few years.” - Candace Avery, ISC director. This domestic method recalls the practice of one of her favourite artists, David Gray, who she admires for his “down to earth” quality: “He writes really nice songs, keeps things simple. White Ladder was recorded in his bedroom - that shows how simple it can get.” By the time she entered the ISC last year, Gin was studying to become a high school teacher at AUT. Not surprisingly, the win changed her plans: “now I’ve won this award I want this to be my thing. It’s given me the opportunity, the push, to do it. Being a songwriter is such a hard road, you’ve got to dedicate all your time to it. You’ve got to surround yourself with people who have faith in your work. The ISC has done that for me in a big way.” Gin is building up her support network. When she flies to the US she’ll also be meeting with music industry figures in Nashville, New York and London: “I am a bit wary of America, of the pressures. That they’ll see me as a dollar sign. But my mum is coming to Nashville with me. She’s a business-minded woman, and calls a spade a spade. So it’ll be good to have her there.” In the press release announcing the ISC results, Candace Avery drew attention to New Zealand’s musical success: “Songwriters from 77 countries participated in the 2004 competition, and remarkably, New Zealand had winners in four out of 16 categories. We’re amazed at the consistently high level of songwriting coming out of New Zealand in the last few years.”* Gin is insistent that NZ should be listening to Avery: “The help I got from the NZ music industry was bugger-all. Rikki Morris and I tried to get funding from Creative NZ - $2000 to do demos. We tried with NZ On Air. Instead Rikki did the recordings out of the goodness of his own heart. So many musicians struggle, and give up because they need to pay their bills… We need more showcase PHOTO: SPID nights, more open mic nights, more scouts out there. We need venues that are not being ripped down and made into carparks or apartment blocks… Now I’m more inclined to take it overseas.” Whether she stays offshore or not, it’s clear Gin has ties that’ll keep her returning: “I’d like to repay Rikki for all his help and do an album with him one day. There’s still this view that nothing can be done as well in NZ as in the US or UK. It’d be good if musos had the power to say ‘I want to do it here, come over here’.” * All NZ finalists received placings or honourable mentions: Ruia Aperahama; David Dallas, Malo Luafutu, Demetrius Savelio and Pete Wadams; Opetaia Foa’i and Malcolm Smith; Derek Soloman. Catherine Langabeer APRAP June 2005 3
Page 1: aprap June New Zealand Publication
Page 5 and 6: PERFORMING LIVE? REPORTING TO APRA?
Page 7 and 8: PHOTO: ROBERT CATTO/WWW.CATTO.CO.NZ
Page 9 and 10: 4 5 MUSIC MONTH PHOTOS: 1 - 9 AND M
Page 11 and 12: APRAP talks to Chris Chetland about
Page 13 and 14: New Zealand’s Bio and Musical div
Page 15 and 16: OBITUARY OBITUARY OBITUARY PHIL FUE

APRAP WEB June 2005..

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