Princess Chelsea Awarded Taite Music Prize 2023

The red carpet was rolled out for last night's 2023 Taite Music Prize ceremony at Tāmaki Makaurau's Q Theatre, with Princess Chelsea taking away the prestigious main award for her fifth studio album Everything Is Going To Be Alright, released to global acclaim in October of last year via Lil Chief Records. Presented by NZ On Air's Sarah Thomson, more winners at the gala event included Theia’s te reo Māori project TE KAAHU who won The Auckland Live Best Independent Debut award for her album Te Kaahu O Rangi, Denver McCarthy was bestowed with The Independent Music NZ Classic Record award for his 1998 micronism album inside a quiet mind (Kog Transmissions), Rough Peel Music (RPM) and Rough Peel Records (RPR) founder Paul Huggins received The Independent Spirit Award for his enduring contributions to the local music community, and Namnita Kumar & Nadia Freeman were presented the NZ On Air Outstanding Music Journalism award for their work creating the Eastern Sound Stories Podcast, produced by Eastern Sound Collective in conjunction with Radio Active.FM.

Musical highlights of the evening included a spellbinding opening number by 2022 Taite Music Prize winner Anthonie Tonnon with full band and (quite possibly) the second micronism live performance in twenty years.

“My hearty congratulations to all our finalists and winners this evening, may their music and work within the wider music community continue to inspire and elevate us all! And big hats off to all our partners for the Taite Music Prize with particular mention to Founding Partner Recorded Music NZ." — Dylan Pellett, General Manager Independent Music New Zealand