CONTACT DETAILS

Wellington-based Kāi Tahu singer songwriter Ariana Tikao is travelling to Laquenexy in the northeast of France at the end of May to perform at the opening festivities for a Māori-themed garden.

The Māori garden, named 'Te Pūtake' has been developed to showcase Māori culture and tradition for the 2013 Fruit Gardens event and was inspired by a Māori garden at the 2012 Ellerslie Flower Show in Christchurch. Tikao was invited to join the predominantly Christchurch-based delegationbecause of her connections to Rāpaki marae (near Lyttelton), which is also sending a kapa haka group.

From there Tikao is travelling to Brittany, in France's northwest, for a programme of concerts and appearances, including a performanceat the Breizh Polynesia festival, hosted by Brittany's Tahitian community.

The trip to Brittany arose after Tikao's third solo album, From Dust to Light (released in November 2012) was featured in Canal Kiwi, a French-language blog about New Zealand music.

The prestigious International Songwriting Competition (ISC) has announced its 2012 winners and Native Tongue artists have once again polled highly.

Taking out first place in the AAA (Adult Album Alternative) category was Clairy Browne & The Bangin' Rackettes for their song, "Love Letter". The hit single also featuring in the 2012 Heineken beer commercial 'The Switch' which rolled out across Europe & the US last year.

Also securing a placing was Alexander Gow from Oh Mercy who won second place in the Adult Contemporary category for "Drums". Alexander is no newcomer to ISC, with a third placing last year for "Stay, Please Stay" and Honorable Mentions in both 2011 and 2010. The band's third studio album, Deep Heat, features the ISC winning song "Drums", and has already earned the band ARIA nominations, AIR and EG awards, and supported a sold out national tour followed by shows with Father John Misty, Paul Kelly and Neil Finn to name a few. Alexander also received an Honorable Mention in the Rock category this year for his song, "Fever".

Over 20,000 entries were submitted for the 2012 competition from 119 countries worldwide, and for the first time ever, more than half of the competition's 68 winners are from outside the USA. Established in 2002, ISC awards more than USD$150,000 in cash and prizes, "ISC's mission is to inspire and promote greatness in the field of song writing," says Candace Avery, Founder and Director. "It is humbling to hear so many talented songwriters, and it is gratifying to play a part in the growth of the winners' careers." Past ISC winners include Gotye, Kasey Chambers, Amanda Palmer, Kate Miller-Heidke, Gin Wigmore, King Charles, Kimbra, Passenger, Andrew Bird, The Living End, Eskimo Joe, and many more.

As well as these winners, the following Native Tongue writers also received Highly Commended nods in their respective categories;

AAA
The Blackwater Fever - "Don't Fuck With Joe"
Tom Lark - "All You Want Is Money"

ROCK 
Oh Mercy - Fever
The Blackwater Fever - "Can't Help Yourself"

WORLD
Sola Rosa - "Love Alone"

The ISC Grand Prize was awarded to California songwriter Joshua Hanson (Yellow Red Sparks), for his folk song "Monsters With Misdemeanors".

For a complete list of 2012 ISC winners, and to hear the winning songs, go to

http://www.songwritingcompetition.com/winners

APRA recently announced the recipients of the 2013 Professional Development Awards.

Each year, grants are awarded in three compositional categories –Pop/Contemporary, Film & Television and Classical, with each recipient receiving $12,000 towards their professional development plan.

Native Tongue writer, Karl Steven took this year's award in the Film & Television category.

Karl will be using the PDA grant to travel to New York to attend a nine day intensive workshop through New York University, focusing on composing for orchestras. The course features some of the industry's most esteemed composers and songwriters, and is a step that he believes will allow him to further his career incomposition.

The NZHerald Online has premiered 'Turn From The Rain' the latest video from The Veils. Off their latest album Time Stays, We Go, the album is due for release 26th of April in NZ, with the Australian release date to be announced shortly. Finn Andrews shares his thoughts about how the video came to be...

"The idea for this video began, as many ideas do, in Tu's flat in Hackney at 2am.

"Let's just go to Abbey Road" he said. And then, weirdly, we did. Tu had met the director Jamie Roberts on a shoot in Barcelona last year and mentioned that he was not only massively talented but also happened to live above a 16mm film processing lab and might be able to wrangle shooting the whole thing on film.

I'd been playing some shows with The Pogues' horn section earlier in the year so we pinched them for the day, and Tu and Jamie also managed to amass a crew of about 15 people to help out which was quite a sight to behold.

The room there is so musty and still, like a museum at night, you want any sound you make to be worth disturbing the grand silence for. The microphones there were all ancient and huge, like prehistoric insects,and the ivory piano keys were beaten, stained and worn down to almost nothing. So yeah, anyway, we had areally nice day."

Recorded live at Abbey Road Studios, January 2013.

Featuring the Jesse James Horns

Directed by Jamie Roberts

Engineered & Mixed by Pete Hutchins

Gin Wigmore has pulled off yet another stellar TV performance on American TV, smashing out an enthusiastic version of "Black Sheep", from her second album 'Gravel & Wine'. Gin's latest appearance on The Ellen Degeneres Show kicks off a string of huge TV dates the songstress has lined up:

4th April – Ellen
5th April – Leno
8th April – Good Day NY
3rd May – Good Morning America

Gin has also been confirmed as the VH1 YOU OUGHTA KNOW artist for May, which will see a heavy rotation of videos, interviews and live content across the American TV channel and website for the entire month.

Following on from VH1, Gin has also been confirmed to play the Warped Tour in the US from the 15th June to 4th August. Just prior to the Warped Tour kicking off, Gin will be out on the road with Philip Philips touring throughout the US from 21st April to 17th May.

Last November Gin made her American television debut on NBC's The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. And earlier this year she returned to American screens with an energetic performance on Jimmy Kimmel Live.

Gin Wigmore's second album 'Gravel & Wine' is out now through Universal Music in Australia and New Zealand, through Polydor in the UK and Europe and is now available in the US on Mercury Records.

The Veils return with their highly anticipated 4th album Time Stays, We Go due for New Zealand release on the 26th of April with the Australian release date to be announced shortly.

Recorded at Seedy Underbelly Studios in Laurel Canyon, Los Angeles and produced by lead singer/songwriter Finn Andrews and Adam Greenspan, Time Stays, We Go marks the beginning of a captivating new era for the band.

The Veils begin their North American tour on April 5th, with plans to play New Zealand shows this June.

For further show info check out 'On Tour' on the homepage.