Latest news with #GoldGuitarAwards
Otago Daily Times
02-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Otago Daily Times
Racism allegations questioned
A former Gore Gold Guitar winner, Amy Maynard, has called out racist overtones at last year's festival. She called it the worst festival experience of her life. The Māori musician said she noticed multiple incidents of being treated differently than her white partner, as well as reactions to te reo Māori. "It's the eye rolls you see when people start using Māori on stage, people looking and projecting their anger and frustration just at me, not my partner." But I don't think it's anything to do with racism. No-one would have had a problem with Ms Maynard until she began speaking te reo, which more or less no-one would understand. Ms Maynard also said she was warned to avoid speaking te reo last year or face an immediate disqualification, which she disregarded. Gold Guitar Awards convener Philip Geary denied there was any disqualification for speaking te reo. [Abridged — Ed] Gordon Hayes Gore
The Spinoff
10-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Spinoff
Gold Guitar winner criticises awards, says ‘brown faces' were treated unfairly
Micro-aggressions and a difficult history with te reo Māori is why last year's Gold Guitar winner says she won't return to the ceremony or its homeland of Gore. Country singer and 2024 Gold Guitar main prize winner Amy Maynard has vowed publicly to never return to the ceremony and its host town of Gore, after facing what she believes were racially-charged micro-aggressions. She said the ceremony has a history of failing to recognise te reo Māori, and hopes her experience could push the Gold Guitar organisers to create a safer environment for Māori performers and punters. But the organisers say they'd rather sort out their differences in private. Aotearoa's premier country music awards, the Gold Guitar Awards, have been held every year since 1974 (excluding 2020) in Gore, as the last hurrah in the Tussock Country Music Festival schedule. Its honourees include the likes of Tami Neilson and Kaylee Bell, and in 2024, Maynard picked up the ceremony's senior award. Maynard told The Spinoff she had spent most of the festival last year – her first time at the ceremony – keeping to herself, and focusing on performing in several spots across the awards circuit. Returning this year as a one-off performer and attendee, Maynard says the environment at the awards was 'really disheartening'. She said that in her experience, the awards' security were more likely to reprimand 'brown faces' for actions such as singing, dancing or talking during performances. Her 16-year-old son, dressed in baggy clothing, was also stopped multiple times and questioned about why he was at the awards. It was not just staff, but attendees that Maynard said made the awards feel unwelcoming. While one singer performed a reo Māori waiata, Maynard said an older Pākehā couple made disparaging comments about the choice of song. When The Spinoff called the Gold Guitar office, convener Phillip Geary answered. 'I don't want to comment in a public forum,' Geary replied, when asked about Maynard's experience. In 2012, a Gore District Council employee left their job after criticising the Gold Guitar Awards. She had competed in the Gold Guitar Young Ambassador Awards, and wrote on Facebook that she 'kicked ass at everything and then didn't win, go figure … I think I was too brown for them bro'. At the time, Geary said he didn't believe Green needed to resign. 'With the way social media is these days, we've got to expect stuff like this. We're not overly concerned about it.' 'As a Māori woman in this industry, it's hard when you're constantly fighting this uphill battle,' Maynard told The Spinoff. 'These people have built this idea of what you're going to be in their minds'. Maynard also criticised the awards' policy that bars anyone other than the slated performer from appearing onstage. Maynard requested her mother and daughter sing with her, as 'you should be allowed to provide and perform the show that you would like to put on for people … for me, that includes highlighting and showcasing my family, because whakawhanaungatanga is always going to be something I'm huge about'. The response from the awards was that it would 'set a bad precedent'. The rule affected another act, Sharon Russell and Lesley Nia Nia, who had won the previous year's classic award. Russell had travelled to the ceremony without Nia Nia, who could not attend for personal reasons, but with her grandson as a replacement. Maynard claims Russell was told she couldn't perform and her act was replaced. Maynard shared these experiences in a long social media post, which The Spinoff understands the Gold Guitar organisers have seen. Television personality Mike Puru, who MC'd the event, left a message of support on Maynard's post promising to take her comments to the ceremony's board. 'I'm so sorry that happened – I had no idea … I'm saddened by all of that, especially being a Māori fella from Gore,' Puru wrote. 'I know what you mean.' In the last year, against the backdrop of the Treaty principles bill and Toitū Te Tiriti hīkoi, Maynard said she had noticed anti-Māori rhetoric had become more 'vocal'. The singer, who lives in Hamilton, said she doesn't feel comfortable returning to Gore or to the Gold Guitar Awards. 'I hope this opens a conversation for them.'
Otago Daily Times
03-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Otago Daily Times
Line dancers step out at festival
Diane Perkins teaches a group of Tussock Country festival-goers how to line dance at the Town & Country Club in Gore yesterday. PHOTO: ELLA SCOTT-FLEMING A band from the North Island squeezed in some line dancing in Southland last week before taking to the stage later that night for Gore's country music festival. Instructor Diane Perkins had a full house at her beginners' line dancing class last Wednesday morning, teaching festival-goers and visiting group The Harmonic Resonators some country moves. Ms Perkins' students, with varying levels of skill, danced the "cab driver" to the band's song Kaitaraiwa — Māori for driver. The morning class, held at the Gore Town & Country Club, and the Resonators' later show at the St James Theatre were both part of the Bayleys Tussock Country music festival, which finished on Sunday. Band member and ukulele player Ryan McIntyre said his group all had a country music background, mostly centred around the Morrinsville Country Music Club in the Waikato. Two of his fellow musicians had competed in the festival's Gold Guitar Awards and Mr McIntyre said frontman Jeremy Hantler competed again this year, winning the traditional section. McIntyre also sings in another band and line dances while performing country classic Achy Breaky Heart. He said he was always looking for new dances and often filmed his feet doing the steps, because they were so easy to forget. The group also danced to Ron Mitchell's I'll Be Country and Ms Perkins said Mitchell's songs were great to dance to. There were more than a few giggles as learners stepped or turned the wrong way, but Ms Perkins said there was endless room for mistakes and it was about having fun.
Otago Daily Times
30-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Otago Daily Times
Awards organisers pull out stops for record numbers
As a record number of contestants swarm Gore for the Gold Guitar Awards, organisers say they have systems, and added venues and vehicles, in place to handle the churn of more than 800 musical entries this year. The auditioning process for the Gold Guitars began across five venues yesterday and convener Philip Geary said their systems for handling this year's 829 entries were reasonably good, but could be better. Given the growth of the awards, Mr Geary said the awards committee was engaging a software writer to create a new program to help organise the contestants, judges' scores and the winners in each of the 31 categories. "[Something] that should just spit everything out, and all we need to do is look at it and confirm it, and that's it," he said. Having worked the awards for 30 years, this was not Mr Geary's first rodeo and he and the other organisers made sure the stage and setup were the same across the auditioning spaces to keep the competition regulated. "We're just trying to create the same environment of what they would do at the finals anyway, so that everybody's on the same level playing field," he said. Gore Country Music Club music committee convener Laurel Turnbull said due to the record number of entries they had engaged all four venues for the auditions as well as added an extra van to act as a courtesy coach between venues. The 12 judges were distributed between the Gore RSA, Gore Town & Country Club, Gore Baptist Church and Calvin Community Church for auditions, but would come together at the club for the finals on Saturday and Sunday nights. Invercargill-raised and Dunedin-based musician Holly Muirhead, 21, who said she had first entered the contest when she was 13, said the competition was massive this year. "When I was back in [the] intermediate [section] there were a lot less contestants and now it's like every class is 50 people," she said. "I don't know how the judges do it." She said the competition had been growing gradually every year and it was nice to see so many new faces in the songwriter and senior (or classic) sections. Mr Geary said the competition's growth, particularly in the younger, intermediate section, happened about 10 to 15 years ago with the rise in popularity of country rock, such as Taylor Swift. "I think it was three years ago [the intermediate section] increased by 30%, which is great, which is big," he said. Ms Muirhead said she agreed with the Taylor Swift effect and said it was the American star's crossover between country and pop which attracted new audiences. She said another of her favourites, five-time Grammy Award nominee Kelsea Ballerini, succeeded in that crossover space. The Dunedin singer/songwriter auditioned with her original song 60 Years about her grandparents' anniversary.
1News
30-05-2025
- Entertainment
- 1News
Country music resurges as Gold Guitars strikes golden milestone
The country's prestigious Gold Guitar Awards has reached its own triumphant milestone of the same colour — it's golden anniversary. Many of the past winners of the highly-acclaimed competition returned to Gore's golden stage in Southland to celebrate 50 years. The three-day event is part of 10-day Tussock Country Festival in the south that brings country lovers from New Zealand and the world. On Thursday night, the Gold Guitars held a special gala for more than 20 returning winners to perform — many for the first time in years. Peter Cairns took the coveted prize in 1984. ADVERTISEMENT "This is, literally, the best of the best [in New Zealand country music.]," he told 1News. Around 600 people packed Gore's Town & Country Club venue for the four-hour show this week. "There's been a lot of similar awards that haven't lasted the distance and it's really the tenacity and the hard work of all those involved in putting it together that's led to its success," said Cairns. But it was not just about classic country music. The event organisers have witnessed a resurgence of genre with a record number of entrants this year — 829 in total. That compared to just 38 in the first event back in 1974. Gold Guitar Award convener Phillip Geary has been involved with the competition for 30 years. "Country music is definitely becoming more popular," he said. ADVERTISEMENT Geary added, "we've noticed that over the last, probably five years a big, big increase... in the intermediates [level] which is your teenagers." "With the likes of Taylor Swift and some of the upbeat-type country music artists, [teenagers] are recognising that and enjoying it and I think that's helping," he said. Kylie Price claimed Gold Guitar champion in 2012 and jetted in from the United Kingdom for the show. She told 1News, interest from the younger generation has been felt across the world. "It's like a big family which, I think, is a massive thing when you're trying to bring the future generation in," she said. "We want to be as welcoming as possible." Price said the likes of New Zealander Kaylee Bell's success and others have also helped. ADVERTISEMENT "And you get the overseas artists like Chris Stapleton and Luke Combs and that sort of thing," added Price. She said the resurgence has allowed the genre to evolve. "For a long time, I remember when I was singing and it wasn't deemed as the cool genre to sing... and I think people are starting to realise that country isn't just this one specific sound that they might have always thought country was." With the awards stronger than ever — the next Gold Guitar star would be revealed on Sunday night.
