Music Industry News

As part of the celebrations for the 20th anniversary of the Pacific Music Awards, the Pacific Music Awards Trust announced their significant legacy project, nurturing the creation of new songs in Pacific languages, Hiva Folau Vaka – Vaka Carrying Music. With this project the Trust wants to positively contribute to Pacific communities and the revitalisation of Pacific languages through music.

This project will utilise a workshop format and will embed a Fonofale Village framework, a facilitated, collaborative approach that incorporates peer support and a mentored experience for artists to write and record new songs in Pacific language. The workshop gatherings will be held at a recording studio, to facilitate the writing and recording process; and creative and professional support will be provided by language experts, cultural consultants and the support team.

For the first phase of the project the Trust are looking to engage Pasifika artists who would like to create songs in the languages of Vagahau Niue, Te Gagana Tokelau and Te Reo Maori Kuki Airani. The project is open to Pasifika artists of all genres and experience, with the outcome to have completed recordings ready for release. Each gathering will involve 5-10 artists, held over 3 days and are currently planned for the following dates and locations:

Early December 2024 – Big Fan, Auckland
Late February 2025 – Wellington
Mid-May 2025 – Auckland

Expressions of Interest

As places and time is limited for this project, we are calling for Expressions of Interest for Pasifika artists to take part in this project. Please email The Trust on: pacificmusicawardstrust@gmail.com to confirm your interest and the Trust will send you the application details, which will need to be submitted by Friday 15 November. Within the application artists will be asked to share information about themselves, the details for the song they wish to create, which language(s) they will include; what support they require; and their release and promotion plan. The Trust will then confirm the successful participants that will take part in the project.

The Trust are initially looking for participants for December, but we are also open to receiving details from anyone that would like to participate in the project next year as well. The response from artists will also help us develop the project and tailor each gathering.

Hiva Vaka Folau has been made possible due to the support of NZ On Air and the partnership with the Centre for Pacific Languages. The Trust also acknowledges support from Big Fan in Auckland, where we will host our first gathering.

Revitalising languages is a collective responsibility and requires a collective approach. We acknowledge all the existing work that individuals and organisations are doing across Aotearoa, to support the development of Pacific languages. We are aiming to compliment and contribute to the movement, with Hiva Vaka Folau.

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In 2004 the Pacific Music Awards Committee (PMAC) was formed to realise a vision and the inaugural Pacific Music Awards debuted at Pasifika Festival in March 2005. Encouraged by the success of the awards the PMAC set about developing an annual event as a significant highlight of the New Zealand music industry calendar. The awards committee formed a Charitable Trust to organise and host the awards, and are driven by a simple core objective: to create and manage an event that acknowledges the success of Pacific artists, celebrates and promotes excellence in Pacific music and encourages young Pacific musicians to aspire to a higher level of achievement.