Nice to be acknowledged

We've had a pretty good start to the year - 5 nominations for the Amataga album so far and it's only April. It's always a bit hard when you release an album and then immediately go on tour as many of the important aspects of a release, like getting the review copies sent out, can get a bit neglected. Luckily we didnt miss the deadline for the ISC (International songwriting competition) and "Tele ve ko koe " is a finalist in the World Music Category. There are a number of songwriting competitions out there but this seems to be one of the better ones with a pretty impressive lineup of judges and some nice prizes for the winners. Amataga really is a world music album so it would be very exciting to win this category - winners will be announced out at the end of the month.

The other 4 nominations were in the Pacific Music Awards and one of these is the New Zealand Music Awards "Best Pacific Music" Album. This is a very nice surprise and good to know that after all these years there is still appreciation for Te Vaka music. The results of the PMA will be announced at an event in Auckland on the 9th of June which we will definitely attend if not in the US working on "Moana".

The other great news was an awesome review of Amataga in Froots Magazine, which I have to say is not easy for a band from the South Pacific to achieve. Froots is a long standing, well respected, UK based, Folk and World Music magazine with a preference for African and Celtic groups. It was extremely heart-warming to say the least and although it has come out 6 months after the album release, it confirms what I believe this album has achieved. Here is a link to the review Froots review