APRA’S Silver Scroll Award 2004 Winner

APRA’S Silver Scroll Award 2004 Winner

Scribe and P Money have won NZ’s most prestigious music award - The APRA Silver Scroll.

The award, for the song ‘Not Many’, was presented tonight to Malo Luafutu (Scribe) and Peter Wadams (P-Money) at an exclusive awards ceremony at Wellington’s Town Hall.

“It’s difficult to define what a great song is, but this really is one,” says APRA’s Director of NZ Operations, Anthony Healey.

“In a great year for NZ music, 'Not Many' just stands out as something special. It demands our attention; it’s confident, it’s honest, it’s arrogant but always respectful.”

The Silver Scroll Award, presented since 1965, is the pre-eminent award for song-writing in New Zealand. The anonymous judging panel consider only the creative distinction of the song, assessing both the musical and lyrical content in equal proportion. The commercial success of the song is irrelevant.

"The winner was a stand-out, from the killer opening bars to the brattish
bravado of the chorus. As songwriting goes, it ticks all the boxes: a hip hop
track that people who don't get hip hop have latched onto; a testosterone-
laden sermon that girls love chanting; a young man's verbal diahorrea that
middle-agers rock to," says one of the judges.

"It's not just hip hop - Not Many is a poetic spoken word celebration of
youthful excitement. The answer to that question ("Not many, if any") has
entered the NZ lexicon and will stay there for many, many years."

With a record number of entries received this year, the judges nominated an unprecedented six finalists for the award. The five other nominees were -

Shayne Carter, Andy Morton and Ned Ngatae (Dimmer) for ‘Getting What You Give’

Liam Finn (Betchadupa) for ‘The Bats of Darkwell Lane’

Rodney Fisher, Murray Fisher, Michael Beehre and Gareth Thomas (Goodshirt) for ‘Fiji Baby’

Warryn Maxwell (Trinity Roots) for ‘Home Land and Sea’

Marshall Smith (The New Freedom) for ‘Grey Boy’

A unique aspect of the APRA Silver Scroll Award evening is the performance of the finalists songs by other artists, under the musical director ship of composer Vicotria Kelly. The invite- only audience at the Town Hall enjoyed interpretations of ‘The Bats of Darkwell Lane’ by the Phoenix Foundation, ‘Home Land and Sea’ by Mahinarangi Tocker and Shona Laing, ‘Getting What You Give’ by Rhombus, ‘Not Many’ by Paselode, ‘Fiji Baby’ by Gareth Farr and ‘Grey Boy’ by Minuit .

Four other awards were presented this evening. They were -
2004 Most Performed Work in New Zealand - Brooke Fraser for ‘Better’

2004 Most Performed Work Overseas - Neil Finn ‘Don’t Dream it’s Over’

SOUNZ Contemporary Award (recognising creative excellence by a NZ composer): John Psathas, 'Piano Concerto'

Maioha Award (presented for the best Maori waiata of the year) :
Hareruia Aperahama, 'E Tae'

APRA is a non-profit service organisation administering the rights of the world’s composers, songwriters and publishers in Australasia. APRA represents over 35,000 writers and publishers through direct membership, with close to 5,000 NZ members, and nearly 2 million writers and publishers throughout the world under reciprocal agreements with other service organisations.

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