Scribe And P-Money Win Coveted Songwriting Award

Scribe And P-Money Win Coveted Songwriting Award

Scribe and P-Money have won the prestigious APRA Silver Scroll Award.

Scribe was presented with New Zealand's pre- eminent award for songwriting for 'Not Many' last night at an exclusive ceremony at Wellington's Town Hall, in front of a who's who of the New Zealand music industry.

" I really didn't think I was going to win" said Scribe after being presented the award by former Silver Scroll winner King Kapisi. " To be held in the same regard as these other songwriters is an honor, this means so much to me"

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’

The anonymous judging panel have admitted it was a tough year to make decisions - with a record number of entries all round and an unprecedented six finalists to choose between.

"All six finalists were strong & often unusual songs, that celebrate a depth

of NZ songwriting across genres: 'Home, Land & Sea' - Trinity Roots' loving

tribute to Aotearoa with its biting political edge, Marshall's brooding and

surprising ballad 'Grey Boy', Betchadupa's rocking 'Bats of Darkwell Lane'

with its quirky lyrics, Dimmer's moralistic 'Getting What You Give' disguised

with big, saucy horns & beats, and goodshirt's utterly beguiling love

song 'Fiji Baby', " says an anonymous Judge.

In what is always a highlight of the APRA Silver Scroll awards evening, the nominated songs are performed and interpreted by their musical contemporaries - the line up kept under wraps until the awards ceremony.

Guests were treated to a rocked up version of "Not Many" by Wellington band Paselode - definitely a standout of the night.

Mahinarangi Tocker and Shona Laing performed an emotional' Home Land and Sea', with other performances by Gareth Farr ( and a drag queen) 'Fiji Baby', ' The Bats of Darkwell Lane' by The Phoenix Foundation, 'Grey Boy" by Minuit and 'Getting What You Give' by Rhombus.

Four other awards were presented last night. 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.