Song book celebrates NZ Music Month
07 May 2009
An intimate collection of the stories behind some of New Zealand’s most treasured songs has been published in a commemorative book released in time for New Zealand Music month - May 2009.
The Great New Zealand Songbook features work by the New Zealand’s best known musicians with hand-written lyrics and stories revealing the inspiration for their songs.
Project creator Murray Thom says the book of treasures includes 42 Kiwi songs from this and last century, and includes a collection of photos, memorabilia and artwork from the artists themselves.
Four Square Charlie
New Zealand artist Dick Frizzell designed the cover which features an iconic cartoon figure - the Four Square grocer ‘Charlie’ - holding a guitar.
Musicians Dave Dobbyn, Don McGlashan, the Finns, Bic and Boh Runga all provided songs.
Stories revealed include how Jordan Luck wrote ‘Why Does Love Do This to Me?’ squatting in a London flat while a friend to toasted a piece of bread.
Kiwi lyric inspirations
Anika Moa penned ‘Dreams in My Head’ on a beach in Rarotonga, Jason Kerrison created ‘No Ordinary Thing’ gazing up at the Orion star cluster, and Shihad wrote ‘Home Again’ during a homesick moment on the road.
Neil Finn tells how ‘Sinner’ was inspired by his eight-year-old dancing naked under a full moon in the backyard, and LadyHawke hand-draws a kiwifruit toy she got on a family car trip.
NZ Music Month
The release of the book was timed to coincide with New Zealand Music month, now in its ninth year and held every May in a bid to support the local music industry.
During Music Month music stores promote recent and upcoming releases, local music is played on television and radio and hundreds of gigs covering a variety of genre are staged throughout the country.
The New Zealand Music Commission says it's hoped that the 2009 event will again stimulate sales of Kiwi music.
Record sales
During May 2008, one in four albums sold were from local artists (33,061) - an increase of more than 80 percent on the month of April.
Prior to the introduction of NZ Music Month, airtime for Kiwi music on commercial radio stations made up around 10 percent of programming. But by 2005 with music month in full-swing, the figure had risen to nearly 23 percent.
NZ Music Month
The bid to highlight New Zealand music began in 1997 when New Zealand Music Week was introduced, and the government-funded New Zealand Music Commission was formed.
The aim of the commission was for Kiwi music to be heard by a wider audience, and one way of doing this was to expand the music week into New Zealand Music Month.
The commission says efforts to promote local music have been so successful that some people have questioned whether New Zealand Music Month is now necessary. Others argue that the month continues to promote the music and boost sales, and the commission says the event is now firmly fixed on the New Zealand calendar.
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