NZ Music Month / Te Marama Puoro o Aotearoa - Week 5 Highlights

Just two days to go, but still a whole lot happening during the concluding week of what's been a bountiful NZ Music Month / Te Marama Puoro o Aotearoa 2024. A kind of epilogue edition to our NZMM weekly roundup features, find out about initiatives, exhibitions, awards, performances and more happening around the motu below, all orbiting this week's theme Amplifying Community. Notables include the mega-stacked The Wine Cellar 20th Anniversary festival (watch Sports Team's interview with founder Rohan Evans HERE) and tonight's glitzy Aotearoa Music Awards ceremony at Tāmaki Makaurau's Viaduct Events Centre.

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.

It Seemed A Good Idea At The Time - Twenty Years Of The Wine Cellar festival - celebrating this incredible achievement over six nights up to 1st June (tickets HERE)
A mega-stacked lineup including a double venue concluding extravaganza (featuring a reunited Dad Jokes) on Friday and Saturday. Scope out the full details and timetable HERE. Hans Pucket will play a free 95bFM Drive Live show at The Wine Cellar on Friday from 4pm.

Aotearoa Music Awards ceremony at Auckland's Viaduct Events Centre - Thursday 30th May
RNZ will be streaming live video of the awards ceremony across multiple platforms tonight from 6pm. The awards will also be available to stream at tvnz.co.nz from Friday 31 May.

Jordan Luck Band 'Who Loves Who The Most' Winter Tour - starts at Napier's The Cabana on Friday 31st May (tickets HERE)
Packed with all the classic Exponents hits you know & love… the JLB party will be rocking through May & June and rolling into towns across Aotearoa.

Twelve of Whanganui’s most creative singer-songwriters will be competing for the prize at the Whanganui Musicians Club on Friday 31st May - with Anthonie Tonnon leading the judging panel.

Onehunga's most electrifying SWIDT conclude their SWIDT MUSIC MONTH release onslaught (check out the official playlist below) with brand new album TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS out on Friday 31st May.

Ongoing:

Ka Mua Ka Muri featured on the Auckland Live Digital Stage in Aotea Square (free)
A web series of music performances and interviews with Auckland musicians and songwriters working mostly in the underground/ fringes of the Tāmaki Makaurau music community.

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.

Medieval to Metal: The Art & Evolution of the Guitar exhibition at Whirinaki Whare Taonga in Upper Hutt (entry by donation)
Featuring 40 guitars spanning 400 years, 'Medieval to Metal' traces the guitar's beginnings in Asia and Europe through today's blues, country, and rock'n'roll. The exhibition also includes illustrations of historically important guitar designs from noted artist Gerard Huerta and photographs of acclaimed musicians and their guitars by Neil Zlozower, one of the world's premiere concert photographers.

An interactive installation of musical wonder has been installed on the ground floor of the National Library in Wellington to celebrate NZ Music Month. The ‘music machine’ was created to promote recordings and music held within the Archive of New Zealand Music at the National Library. It encourages users to discover local music in a non-biased way – the only interface being a ‘skip track’ button which pulls a randomised new track from the playlist.

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.

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.