Budding songwriters find success

Gisborne Girls’ High School won School of the Year for having the most finalists in the Play It Strange songwriting competition this year. Play it Strange supports and encourages young New Zealand songwriters to write, record and perform their own songs. Pictured here is Hinerauiri Cotter-Luke.

There is no shortage of creative songwriting talent coming out of Gisborne Girls’ High School this year with six of its Year 13 students being chosen as finalists in the Play It Strange song writing competition.

This makes them first equal in the School of the Year for having the most finalist songs for 2023 along with Papatoetoe High School in Auckland.

The winners in this year’s competition are Te Whaiororangihuia Webster for Don’t Understand Me; Hinerauiri Cotter-Luke for Good Young Days; Siseliani Grant for He Pounamu; Grace McVey for Never be the Same; Lisa Nepia and Pila Crick for Peace of Mind.

“The frequency of original songs submitted by students attending Gisborne Girls High is extraordinary,” says Play it Strange chief executive Mike Chunn.

Their head of music Jane Egan’s belief in songwriting as a truly worthwhile creative pursuit of the imagination adds impetus to the development of talent throughout the entire school, Mr Chunn said.

“It has a really powerful effect and the songs that are entered in all our songwriting competitions are wonderful.

“The lyrical focus of many of the songs is a mirror of the lives the students lead and the merging of each individual ‘story’ to their music finds a clarity which is an engaging parade of songs.

“Every year the songs achieve much success in the Play It Strange competitions,” Chunn says.

“It’s awesome for the students to have the opportunity to record with a top engineer and producer, and realise the full potential of their compositions,” says GGHS head of music Jane Egan

The genre of the compositions include electronica, techno, r’n’b, pop, and acoustic rock, right through to contemporary te reo and folk.

This will be Siseliani and Te Whaiororangihuia’s fifth professional recording, and Hinerauiri’s third.

The tracks will be produced by Jol Mulholland, who is a frequent visitor to GGHS to record tracks.

“All in all — the energy of Jane Egan along with the self-belief in the capability of words and music by the students — well, it is a wonderful experience for the judges here at Play It Strange,” says Chunn.

“For many years GGHS has been making successful inroads in songwriting and Play It Strange is privileged to play a role in that and in bringing the recordings of the successful finalist songs to the world via the various streaming/downloading platforms.”

Listen to the recordings by going to the Play it Strange website.