Tongan royalty to be recognised at this year’s Pacific Music Awards

Her Majesty Queen Sālote Tupou lll to receive 2019 Lifetime Achievement Award

​The Pacific Music Awards Trust are proud to announce the Manukau Institute of Technology Lifetime Achievement Award will be posthumously presented to Her Majesty Queen Sālote Tupou lll.
Her Royal Higness Princess ‘Ofeina ‘e he Langi Fakafānua, grandchild of the late Queen Sālote, will be accepting the award at the 15th Pacific Music Awards on Thursday 23 May 2019.

Her Majesty Queen Sālote Tupou III ascended the throne of the Kingdom of Tonga in 1918 when she was just eighteen years old and reigned for almost forty-eight years until her death in 1965. 
A gifted composer of Tongan music she expressed love, loss and culture in her work. Her Majesty Queen Sālote composed over one hundred songs, lullabies, laments and dances.

The Pacific Music Awards acknowledges Her Majesty Queen Sālote's huge contribution to the preservation and creative use of the Tongan language and recognises her as a celebrated writer of poetry and song. 

Her Majesty Queen Sālote possessed unrivalled knowledge of genealogies, traditions of Tongan customs and a strong sense of duty and love for her people of Tonga, which also meant strong connections and responsibilities to the South Pacific region.
Through her relationship with Aotearoa's Princess Te Puea and Kingitanga to Samoa's Lau High Chiefs, she identified Tonga's progress and development was interlinked with Te Moana nui a kiwa - our South Pacific unity, identity and sovereignty.

Her legacy as a Royal Mother of Tonga and a beloved, esteemed Queen of the South Pacific inspires us through her deep faith, service to her nation and to the South Pacific as a whole. 
Her compositions of Tongan music continue to inspire a new generation, now aware of our rich past and to our shared futures.

Her Majesty Queen Sālote’s music is played all over the world by string bands and well-known artists; her legacy lives on through her music and poetry.

There will be a special tribute performance to the late Queen Sālote on the night, which is a collaboration by Rewaken, John Pulu, Tongan Creatives and Lomipeau Aotearoa, alongside live music from Adeaze, Poetik Melodownz, Razé, Tree, Punialava’a, Jaro Local and Tomorrow People.
Tickets to the Pacific Music Awards can be purchased through eventfinda.co.nz

For more information: www.pacificmusicawards.org.nz
Issued for the Pacific Music Awards by Pead PR

About the Pacific Music Awards:
In 2004 the Pacific Music Awards Committee (PMAC) was formed to realise a vision and the inaugural Pacific Music Awards debuted at Pasifika Festival in March 2005. Encouraged by the success of the awards the PMAC set about developing an annual event as a significant highlight of the New Zealand music industry calendar. The awards committee formed a Charitable Trust to organise and host the awards, and are driven by a simple core objective: to create and manage an event that acknowledges the success of Pacific artists, celebrates and promotes excellence in Pacific music and encourages young Pacific musicians to aspire to a higher level of achievement.

Contacts:
Adam Warin, Pead PR | P. 09 551 2375 | M. 021 029 01388 | E. adam@peadpr.co.nz
Trust spokesperson:  Rev. Mua Strickson-Pua,  | P. 021 141 8798   | E. stricksonpua@xtra.co.nz
Trust contact and Event Producer: Petrina Togi-Sa’ena, | P.  0272451898 
| E.  info@pacificmusicawards.org.nz