Northland musician Troy Kingi is in the running for one of the country's top music awards, after a song he co-wrote and performed was named a finalist in the APRA awards.
Finalists for the APRA Maioha Award include Kingi, Stan Walker and Vince Harder with their soaring anthem in te reo Maori Aotearoa. The song is performed by dream team Stan Walker, Ria Hall, Maisey Rika and Kingi.
Moana and the Tribe are also in line for the award with Upokohue - an electronic masterpiece lamenting the demise of the Maui Dolphin. It was written by Moana Maniapoto along with electronic maestro, Pitch Black's Paddy Free, and Scotty Morrison.
The third finalist for the APRA Maioha Award is Ki Uta/Rngai Maomao, written by Ranea Aperahama and performed by Ranea. The soulful waiata is taken from Ranea's debut album Tihei Mauri Ora, which was released in January this year.
The talented writers will join the APRA Silver Scroll 2015 and "The Lost Scroll" of 1981 finalists for the awards night at Auckland's Vector Arena on September 17 .
The finalists for the 2015 SOUNZ Contemporary Award, celebrating excellence in contemporary composition are:
Expanse - for mezzo-soprano and chamber ensemble, composed by Reuben Jelleyman.
Piano Quintet - for piano quintet, composed by Ross Harris.
Sing songs self - for piano and orchestra, composed by Chris Watson.
The finalists for the 2015 APRA Best Original Music in a Feature Film Award are:
Consent, composed by Grayson Gilmour.
Housebound, composed by Mahuia Bridgman-Cooper.
The Dark Horse, composed by Dana Lund.
The finalists for the 2015 APRA Best Original Music in a Series Award are:
Girl vs. Boy (Series 3), composed by Tom McLeod.
Hope and Wire, composed by Emile de la Rey.
Life Force (Season 2 - Mutant Planet), composed by David Donaldson, Janet Roddick and Stephen Roche (Native Tongue Music Publishing).
The awards for Most Performed New Zealand Works, both locally and internationally will also be presented on the night, alongside the coveted APRA Silver Scroll Award for both 1981 and 2015. As a part of the celebrations Bill Sevesi will be inducted into the New Zealand Music Hall of Fame.
The awards will be streamed live via www.95bfm.com and the APRA AMCOS website: www.apraamcos.co.nz.