2015 NT Song of the Year winners

Held on Saturday, June 27 at the Museum and Art Gallery of the NT, the NT Song of the Year Awards brought musicians, music industry and music lovers together to pay tribute to the best Territory songwriters. The 2015 awards literally recognised the whole of the NT with winners from Katherine, Alice Springs, Tiwi Islands, Darwin, Arnhem Land and Milingimbi.

Katherine singer songwriter Ben Allen (aka Broadwing) claimed the Overall Song of the Year. Ben’s track “Pockets” took out best Folk song at the Awards and was described by one of the judges as “…a stop you in your tracks song... vocally strong, compelling and musically dynamic. It is a real winner that stays with you.” In a trifecta for the evening, Ben also took out best song in the Electronic category for “Maple”.

Indigenous songwriters were winners on the night with Tiwi RnB group B2M (Bathurst to Melville) taking out best Urban/Hip Hop track with “Parlingarri”, Arnhem Land rockers East Journey winning Rock song for their collaboration with Yothu Yindi - “Song of Arnhem Land” and Stanley Gawurra Gaykamangu from Milingimbi taking home best Pop Song with “Ratja Yaliyali.”

MusicNT was thrilled to have close to 1000 people cast votes in this year’s People’s Choice competition, with the clear winners Darwin indie-pop outfit At The Dakota with “Stumptail”.

Katherine maintained its reputation as the country music capital of the NT with Neil Camm winning the Country award with “Blackfella ANZAC” and Miazma from Alice Springs won the Heavy category for the second year running with “Roughin – Live at Blacken Festival”.

Fresh from winning the Battle of the School Bands competition, Darwin group Champagne with Mary-Jane won the School-Aged category with “Money Fame and Fire.” And Darwin’s reggae favourites Rambutan Jam Band took out Blues and Roots with “Clocks”.

THE 2015 MUSICNT NT SONG OF THE YEAR AWARD WINNERS

OVERALL NT SONG OF THE YEAR

‘Pockets’ by Ben Allen (Broadwing)

PEOPLE’S CHOICE

‘Stumptail” by Dylan Podsiadly (At The Dakota)

ROCK

“Song of Arnhem Land” by Patrick White, Susan Sandery, Rrawun Maymuru, Arian Pearson, Stevie Salas (East Journey feat Yothu Yindi)

POP

“Ratja Yaliyali” by Stanley Gawurra Gaykamangu

FOLK

“Pockets” by Ben Allen (Broadwing)

COUNTRY

“Blackfella ANZAC” by Neil Camm

HEAVY

“Roughin' - Live at Blacken Festival” by Malcolm McDonald, Shaun Howell, Kyle Mines, Jackson Smith, Tim Glyde (Miazma)

BLUES AND ROOTS

“Clocks” by Daniel Decurtins, Rowan Dally, Ward Hancock, Theo Mcmahon, Dylan Tiedeman, Ben Masters (Rambutan Jam Band)

URBAN AND HIP HOP

“Parlingarri” by Jeffrey Simon, Gregory Orsto, Fabian Kantilla, Daniel Cunningham (B2M - Bathurst to Melville)

ELECTRONIC / DANCE

“Maple” by Ben Allen (Broadwing)

SCHOOL AGED

“Money, Fame and Fire” by Kyle Maher, Shishana Paleso'o, Dakota Smith, Eugene Duffy (Champagne with Mary-Jane)