2025 APRA Silver Scrolls Recap
In it's sixtieth year, the APRA Silver Scrolls headed back to Ōtautahi for the first time since the Canterbury earthquakes and 95bFM's Executive Producer, Molly McLennan was there to document the night:
There’s always something special about the APRA Silver Scrolls Awards. Whether it’s the often memorable and sometimes daring rearrangements of the finalist songs, winning waiata and compositions, the honour of being recognized by one’s peers, and that it feels more like a giant party set to all the great songs from the previous year.
For the sixtieth year of the peer-voted Silver Scrolls, many facets and members of the music industry gathered at the Isaac Theatre Royal in Ōtautahi to celebrate outstanding songwriting across five awards. 2025 marked the first time Ōtautahi has played host to the Scrolls following the Canterbury earthquakes. I’m not sure if this was planned, but it felt like a fitting time to return. The mood amongst the Ōtautahi Kaitito Kaiaka finalists, Fazerdaze, There’s A Tuesday, and Marlon Williams, was particularly high ahead of the show. MCs Stacey Morrison and Jed Parsons kept it Ōtautahi, with plenty of nods throughout the night to the city’s peculiarities and musical history that makes it so beloved. Including the impromptu performance of Scribe’s Not Many led by Morrison during a stage reset, special shoutout to East Canterbury of course.
Ōtautahi-artists swept up this year too, with the APRA Maioha award going to local duo Dillastrate for Kei Whati Te Marama and and the Katito Kaiaka awarded to Aua Atu Rā by Marlon Williams and Te Pononga Tamati-Elliffe (KOMMI). The stand-out performance across the evening came from another Ōtautahi artist. Solomona Davis led a post-punk rendition of Dillastrate’s winning waiata, transforming the drum’n’bass tune into an eerie ballad.
Of course, fellow SRN correspondents Hannah Powell and Oli Cheyne, of RDU’s The Smoko Show, warrant a mention. Feeling somewhat out of our depth amongst the well-oiled TV and RNZ interviewers, we teamed up and managed to navigate through the very packed pre-show foyer. All of us new to the Scrolls, we tried to make some predictions on how this year’s Music Director, Delaney Davidson, would reinterpret this year’s finalists and winners. As predicted, all predictions were futile as we were treated to a free-jazz leaning cover of Margo, a dub-leaning version of Mazbou Q’s Torque courtesy of Paddy Free, and a stunning amplified rearrangement of the SOUNZ Contemporary Award winning piece of coral and foam by Ilhara McIndoe.
A political current was immediately apparent this year. APRA NZ Head of Operations Anthony Healy thanked Goldsmith in his opening speech, which drew loud boos from the crowd. Hannah Darroch, chief executive of SOUNDZ, took a pause from the usual celebratory script during her speech this year to call for an urgent change to how arts and music are thought about and can be better supported by the government. Darroch challenged the audience to imagine an Aotearoa where arts and music were celebrated and supported, this challenge echoed later by APRA Maioha award presenter Dame Hinewehi Mohi. During Marlon Williams’ acceptance speech, the singer went a step further to directly address the elephant in the room, Minister for Culture Paul Goldsmith, stating that the Minister “once had a conscience”.
Following the awards, attendees made their way to the nearby venue The Church. As a Tāmaki Makaurau transplant from Ōtautahi, it’s always surreal to see former quake damaged spaces open to the public. I’m told, in classic Ōtautahi fashion, the party raged on until the early hours of this morning.
This year’s winners are:
APRA Silver Scroll Award/Kaitito Kaiaka winner Aua Atu Rā written by Marlon Williams* and Te Pononga Tamati-Elliffe, performed by Marlon Williams
APRA Maioha Award/Tohu Maioha winner Kei Whati Te Marama written by Henare Kaa, Tim Driver, Hemi Hoskins and Rory Matao Noble, performed by Dillastrate
SOUNZ Contemporary Award/Te Tohu Auaha winner of coral and foam written by Ihlara McIndoe, with text by Katherine Mansfield
The NZ Music Hall of Fame/Te Whare Taonga Puoro o Aotearoa inductee is The Warratahs
Photos: Stijl / Emma Beavis
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