Troy Kingi of Kerikeri makes APRA Silver Scroll Awards top five

"Northland treasure" Troy Kingi has been named a Top 5 finalist in the 2021 APRA Silver Scroll Awards. Photo / Supplied

He's one of Aotearoa's favourite musicians and now for the second year in a row, Troy Kingi is in the running for one of New Zealand's most prestigious music awards.

The Kerikeri-based Kingi (Te Arawa, Ngāpuhi, Te Whānau-ā-Apanui) is an actor and multi-award-winning, multi-genre musician originally hailing from Rotorua and Te Kaha.

The father of five was last week named as a 2021 APRA Silver Scroll Awards Top 5 finalist for two songs, All Your Ships Have Sailed and Turangawaewae, which he co-wrote and co-performed.

The awards, which have been running for 56 years, recognise excellence in songwriting, with finalists voted in by New Zealand APRA members.

Described by New Zealand Music Commission as "our Northland treasure", Kingi rose to fame after the release of his first two multi-award-winning albums "Guitar Party at Uncle's Bach'" and "Shake That Skinny Ass All the Way to Zygertron".

Kingi's no stranger to APRA Silver Scroll Awards either where he made last year's Top 5 list, a finalist in 2018 and a 2017 and 2019 Top 20 nominee.

Ever humble, the singer said while he was excited to be nominated, he was happy for whoever took out this year's award.

"It's always a buzz to get into the Top 20, especially given the last few years where there have been some amazing songs written," Kingi said.

"Every nomination is special, particularly because of this journey I'm on where each song has come from a different genre.

"It's my goal to create 10 albums in 10 years from 10 different genres, so to be nominated every year is kinda validating knowing people are responding to what I'm doing.

"Even if people weren't responding, I'd still be doing it, but it's nice to know it's not a total waste."

In addition to his musical talent, Kingi has worked on the big screen, starring in Kiwi films including "Hunt For The Wilderpeople", "The Pā Boys", "Mt Zion" and "The Breaker Upperers".

He's also recently helped produce the soundtrack for TVNZ's new show, The Panthers - a six-part series set in Auckland in 1974 which recounts the historic rise of Aotearoa's radical Polynesian Panthers social justice movement.

In the past few weeks Kingi was busy gearing up for his new tour, the Black Sea Golden Ladder Album Release Tour, but the tour was cut short a few days in due to the Covid-19 level 4 lockdown.

Like so many others in the creative arts industry, Covid-19 has meant the next few months remain up in the air in terms of performing.

While Kingi said it was frustrating having to reschedule events, it wasn't the end of the world.

"It is a shame everything has been cancelled, especially after only being a week into my tour.

"The past 18 months have been really busy, particularly last summer, which was one of the busiest summers I've ever had.

"I'd say that was due to the fact we couldn't have international acts, so it was good in that respect.

"I definitely am feeling things a bit more this lockdown with all the postponements and being deep into the busy season, but there are bigger problems on planet earth, so it's all good.

"It's also good to be home with my wife and kids and because I can get quite busy, I make sure that when I'm home, I'm really home."

Looking to the future, Kingi said he's just passed the halfway mark on his 10-10-10 kaupapa, finishing his newest album in just six days three weeks ago.

While he's remaining tight-lipped about the genre, he said it was very different to anything he'd done before, fused with a bit of the 80s.

The 2021 APRA Silver Scroll Awards will be presented on Thursday, October 14 at Spark Arena in Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland.