Musician wins Music Month May
Music to make you go mmmmmm ... more NZ music than you think.
Aaron Tokona continues to be a winner in the music field. In 2000, he won Most Promising Male Vocalist at the New
Zealand Music Awards. That same year his band Weta also picked up Most Promising Band. This week Aaron Tokona won Music
Month May.
Music Month May was run by Christchurch City Libraries, and included a competition as well as cards offering the
opportunity to ‘borrow three music CDs or tapes and get the fourth free’
Aaron Tokona won the competition, receiving $200 worth of New Zealand CDs. Five other names were drawn from the 900
entries to win two New Zealand CDs each. The competition came to Aaron’s attention while visiting New Brighton Library
with his daughter Asha. While Asha played with drums in the library’s music display, Aaron took the time to fill in the
competition entry form.
“I often take up to 20 music CDs out at a time, either from my local Papanui Library, or New Brighton Library,” Aaron
said.
Aaron’s band Weta disbanded in November 2000 after touring New Zealand with Shihad and Fur Patrol... Even after the
group disbanded, Aaron, its vocalist and guitarist, was nominated for Songwriter of the Year at the 2001 Tuis, New
Zealand’s Music Awards.
Sue Sutherland, Christchurch City Libraries manager, has hailed Music Month May as a resounding success, “The
competition and our ‘borrow three music CDs and tapes, get the fourth free’ cards have been so popular that we issued
24% more CDs and tapes during the month than we normally do at this time of year. Almost a third of those entering
indicated that they had not borrowed music from the library before the competition.”