Music Awards Go Off

Rip It Up, Issue 201, 1 May 1994, Page 41

Music Awards Go Off

Being a music fan means having friends that you only ever see standing at the bar in a loud, dark, smoky club during the wee small hours. So adding to the weirdness of an already strange night, was seeing them scrubbed up and looking swish in the sterile surroundings of the Pan Pacific Hotel.

Officially the occasion was the 30th Annual New Zealand Music Awards, although talk on the night suggested it was actually the 29th. Despite the furore accompanying the event, the Ball rolled without a hitch.

Several performers made mention of the controversy surrounding the removal of the Maori Award and the exclusion of Supergroove, generally though the mood was jovial with lashings of jocularity all round. Overall there were no major surprises and justice was occasionally served. Namely, Urban Disturbance were crowned Most Promising Group and Emma Paki Most Promising Female Vocalist.

The major announcement of the evening was the introduction of the Jerry Wise Young

Performers Award. Jerry Wise, the Managing Director of Festival Records (NZ) since 1981, was due to receive the RIANZ (Recording Industry Association of New Zealand) Special Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music at this year’s Awards. He died suddenly on February 14. Rather than present a posthumous award it was decided that each year a young musician should benefit from Jerry’s contribution to the recording industry in New Zealand. The Award will enable a young performer, up to the age of 25, to further their studies here or overseas. The first recipient will be named at the 1995 ceremony where the Outstanding Contribution Award will be reinstated also.

RIANZ president Terence O’Neill Joyce has publicly stated that “the so-called controversy” ofthis year’s Awardswill mean major changes in 1995. If you have any suggestions on what improvements could be made write to: RIANZ, PO Box 9241, Wellington. JOHN RUSSELL

The 1994 New Zealand Music Award winners

Top Group: Headless Chickens Best Single: ‘Juice/Choppers’, Headless Chickens Best Album: Blow, Straitjacket Fits Top Male Vocalist: Shayne Carter (SJ Fits) Top Female Vocalist: Fiona MacDonald (H. Chickens) Most Promising Group: Urban Disturbance Most Promising Male Vocalist: Matty J Most Promising Female Vocalist: Emma Paki Top International Performer: Crowded House Songwriter: Emma Paki, ‘System Virtue'. Producer: Strawpeople — World Service , Strawpeople. Engineer: Malcolm Welsford — Churn , Shihad. Jazz: Freebass, Raw. Classical: Dame Melvina Major, Casta Diva. Polynesian: Pasifik MX,Manuiri. Folk: Steve McDonald, Sons of Somerled.. Gospel: Stephen Bell-Booth, Undivided.. Video: Matt Noonan/Josh Frizell, ‘System Virtue’ Emma Paki. Cover Design: Brett Graham Te Rangatahi and Chris Knox Polyfoto Duck Shaped Pain & Gum.