NZ Music Month / Te Marama Puoro o Aotearoa - Week 3 Highlights

NZ Music Month / Te Marama Puoro o Aotearoa keeps on trucking into week 3, celebrating our unique and diverse shared culture in sound with a vast variety of accessible events and resources, all centred around the theme Amplifying Aotearoa. This week's sub-theme is Amplifying Artists on the World Stage, in sync with Aotearoa's solid representation at the UK's The Great Escape showcase festival, featuring local stars DARTZ, Earth Tongue, Tom Lark and Kylie Price. Cast your eyeballs over this week's selection of NZMM initiatives, programmes, exhibitions, competitions, panel discussions and more below, and secure your free spot at next Saturday's 2024 NZ Music Month Summit (the full programme has now been announced) if you're based in Tāmaki and haven't gotten your a into g already. Head along to the superb new NZMM site for even more info on what's happening in your community this May.

Happening this week in New Zealand Music Month, check out the UTR gig guide HERE and the NZMM gig guide HERE for live shows and more events nationwide.

Midtown Street Party in Auckland Central - Thursday 16th May to Saturday 18th May (free)
Midtown is coming alive for 3 days of music this May for New Zealand Music Month!
Imagine acoustic performances in Elliott Stables and DJs and local hip hop stars on the pavements, with backing vocals from Real Groovy, Daikoku, Nahm Thai Street Food, Atrium on Elliott, Howlin’ Wolf, Lyricist Lane (aka Strand Arcade), and the blends of DJ TESI at Darby Street’s Recycle Boutique.
Artists featuring in the Elliott Street festivities are Erin G, Lijah Mavaega, Summer Vee, Crystal Chen; hip hop crews are From Outside, Brandn Shiraz, Lucky Lance and Christoph El Truento; DJ Poppa Jax, Caru, FOBS curated by Thomas Rose (NewSampleWhoDis) who will be wandering among the crowd with a music trivia quiz.

Capability Workshop 5: Music Pathways at Te Korokoro O Te Tūī Studio, Dunedin - Thursday 16th May, 6pm start (free)
This week speakers from NZ on Air Music, Radio One 91FM, Ara Toi and Te Korokoro o te Tūī illuminate local and national pathways.

Auckland Live at Lunch starring The Leonard Charles Group in Auckland Central - Friday 17th May, 12.15pm to 1pm (free)
The Civic Foyer will transform into a musical hangout where people can enjoy FREE lunchtime gigs

Tūhura HIVE Recording Studio Open Day at Johnsonville Library in Wellington - Friday 17th May, 10am to 4pm (free)
Enjoy a tour of the equipment and instruments that make up the Tūhura HIVE recording studio. No appointment necessary. Just come to the HIVE Makerspace at the Johnsonville Library between 10am and 4pm and a staff member will show you around.

Take It To The Streets ft. Sandy Mill, Bree Rose, Haanaa at Kingsland's Royal Plaza Train Station - Saturday 18th May, 5.30pm to 8.30pm (free)

A Waiata in an Hour featuring Troy Kingi at Auckland Writers Festival in Aotea Centre - Saturday 18th May, 5.15pm start
Legendary singer-songwriter Troy Kingi lays bare his creative process and invites the audience to be part of conceiving, writing and performing an entirely original waiata in 60 minutes.

Re:gear Library Cool Sounds at Dunningham Suite, Dunedin City Library - Saturday 18th May, 11am to 3pm (free)
Upcoming Ōtepoti Dunedin hardware library, Re:gear Library are holding a free “Cool Sounds” event. Have a play with all the fun gear gathered and share your knowledge. Items brought for show and tell or repair advice are welcome.

The music of Crystal Magic Records online NZMM talk, part of Connecting to collections 2024 series - Tuesday 21st May, 12pm to 1pm (free)
This Music Month talk, by Alexander Turnbull Library curator Dr Michael Brown, looks at the New Zealand label Crystal Magic Records. The label's entire catalogue has been preserved by the Library, and this talk explores the music, artwork, and web influence on the CMR sensibility. Join us online for this event.

Ongoing:

FromThePit 2024 New Zealand Music Photography Exhibition online HERE plus venues nationwide (free, for venue information head along to fromthepit.co.nz/venues) 
FromThePit serves as a curated collection of live music photography, focusing exclusively on New Zealand musicians performing in local venues. This year, 66 photographers will contribute their recent work to the exhibition, providing a comprehensive view of the country’s diverse musical landscape.

He Autaia, He Ātahu - Strangeness and Charm: Album Cover Art in Aotearoa Hocken Collections' NZMM foyer display at University of Otago - runs to 31st May (free)
Looking at some of the extraordinary images that adorn recordings in the Hocken’s music collections.

May Music Month 2024, Palmerston North City Centre 
Celebrating and profiling our local musical talent through a series of events & performances throughout the City Centre in May, providing a variety of genres so there is something for everyone’s ears.

Art On Record - Kumeu Arts Members for NZ Music Month at Kumeu Arts Centre - up to Saturday 25th May
Member artists have been asked to create LP, album covers for real or imagined bands or musicians. 

Troy Kingi's Desert Hikoi is available to stream on TVNZ+ in celebration of New Zealand Music Month. Follow Troy as he takes a spiritual journey to California's iconic Joshua Tree National Park, in search of creative inspiration from this epic desert environment and its local people. Made with the support of NZ On Air, stream the series HERE.

DEPOT Sound North Shore Schools Songwriting Competition - if you are a current North Shore Intermediate or Secondary School student, you can submit your original song by Friday 31st May HERE.