Silver Scrolls 2008

I was lucky enough to attend the recent Silver Scroll Awards. The awards recognise songwriting rather than commercial success and are run by APRA, the organisation made up of songwriters and composers that collects royalties on their behalf. As well as being a celebration of kiwi music the annual awards, now in their 43rd year, are a great occasion in their own right. One of the stand-out features of the night is that each of the five finalist songs is performed by another New Zealand artist, often in a extraordinary or unusual form.

This year the five finalists included a number a couple of Counting The Beat favourites - The Phoenix Foundation's 'Bright Grey' and Liam Finn's 'Gather To the Chapel'. Also nominated were Anika Moa's 'In My Dreams', Op-Shop's 'One Day' and 'Baby Come On' by Elemeno P, a song which I've had stuck in my head ever since.

Counting The Beat recorded interviews with finalists Jason Kerrison of Op-Shop, Dave Gibson of Elemeno-P and Luke Buda of the Phoenix Foundation. You'll hear those interviews and some of the extraordinary cover versions on the podcast. Playing those covers you'll hear Bachelorette, The Sami Sisters and King Kapisi. There's also a chat with inductees into the NZ Music Hall of Fame, The Topp Twins and a performance of one of their songs by Reb Fountain and Johnny Barker

And if you've ever wondered what The Chills would sound like with a pipe organ, bell ringers and a choir you've got to take a listen.

Finally a couple of technical notes: Big Pod who host the Counting The Beat podcasts have a limit on the file size I can post. Because this is an extended podcast I have had to post at a lower bit-rate than I normally do. However the recordings from the ceremony are straight from the sound desk and quite reasonable quality so I have also posted the podcast here at a higher bit rate. I have plenty more great material from the ceremony, including cover performances, that has not made it onto this episode, so I will be posting a second installment within the next couple of weeks.

Download the Counting The Beat - Silver Scrolls podcast