Northland's Troy Kingi up for prestigious songwriting award

Northland musician and actor Troy Kingi is one of five finalists in the 2018 APRA Silver Scroll Award for his song 'Aztechknowledgey'.

Award-winning Northland musician and actor Troy Kingi is in line to add more silverware to his cabinet after being named a finalists in the prestigious Silver Scroll Awards for best song.

Kingi has been nominated for his song Aztechknowledgey, from his album Shake That Skinny Ass all the Way to Zygertron.

The finalists for New Zealand's top songwriting award recognising excellence in songwriting are: Aztechknowledgey, written and performed by Kingi; Future Me Hates Me, written by Elizabeth Stokes and performed by The Beths; Hunnybee, written by Ruban Nielson, Kody Nielson and Jacob Portrait, performed by Unknown Mortal Orchestra; Laugh It Off, written by Chelsea Jade Metcalf and Bradley Hale, performed by Chelsea Jade and Nobody Gets What They Want Anymore, written by Marlon Williams, performed by Marlon Williams featuring Aldous Harding.

In the past few years Kingi has captivated New Zealand as both a musician and actor, with brilliant roles in films like Mt Zion and Hunt For The Wilderpeople, and two acclaimed albums of psychedelic party blues.

He's a first time finalist for Aztechknowledgey, a cosmic jam about ancestry and our connection to the past and future.

His Silver Scrolls nomination is the continuation of strong success by Northland musical acts in the past few years.

Kingi was also awarded the Best Maori Pop Artist and Best Maori Male Solo Artist awards at the Waiata Maori Music Awards last year.

At the same awards, Far North soul sensation Teeks has won his first Tui, taking out the Te Mangai Paho Best Maori Artist award at the NZ Music awards.

The Te Mangai Paho Best Maori Artist award was always going to go to a Northland artist, with the other finalist Waipū teen thrash metal band Alien Weaponry.

Alien Weaponry were nominated in part for their te reo Maori heavy metal anthem Raupatu.

The APRA Silver Scroll Awards is considered one of the most coveted awards in New Zealand music and has previously been awarded to artists such as Ray Columbus, Hammond Gamble, Shona Laing, Dave Dobbyn, Don McGlashan, Neil Finn, Chris Knox, Brooke Fraser, Tami Neilson, Unknown Mortal Orchestra, Thomas Oliver, Lorde and Joel Little.

The other awards presented on the night are APRA Maioha Award, celebrating exceptional waiata featuring te reo Māori; SOUNZ Contemporary Award, celebrating excellence in contemporary composition; APRA Best Original Music in a Feature Film Award; and APRA Best Original Music in a Series Award. The awards will be presented at Spark Arena in Auckland on October 4.