SIT Alumni Dominate Southland Music Awards

Southern Institute of Technology alumnus and local musician, Joseph O’Donnell, took out the top award, ILT Southland Musician of the Year, as well as Drummer of the Year, in the Southland Music Club’s recent annual awards. A number of other SIT alumni and a current student were also winners in their respective categories.

Held on July 4th at Ascot Park Hotel, winning the Southland Music Awards top prize "meant a lot" to Mr O’Donnell, who wasn’t expecting it. “It was a surprise to win, especially when performing with so many fantastic musicians. It was an honour to receive it,” he said.

Mr O’Donnell has been playing music for about 16 years. His connection to SIT began 10 years ago, when he moved to Invercargill in 2014 to enrol in SIT’s double degree programme, graduating four years later with the Bachelor in Audio Production and Bachelor of Contemporary Music. “Music is my favourite thing and I love everything about it from creating it to performing it,” he said.

In his work as a Music and Audio Technician at SIT Sound, and as Drummer in the Invercargill band, Filth Wizard, Mr O’Donnell is immersed in music most of the time.

“As the technician ... it is my job to make sure that facilities are kept in working order.” This can be anything from carrying out repairs and maintenance, to ordering and installing new gear. “I generally do a lot of troubleshooting, there's always something keeping me on my toes.”

Mr O’Donnell’s role in the band gave him the opportunity to play and connect with other people through performing. “The music scene in Southland is super inclusive and just all round, great to be a part of. My plans are to keep playing and writing music for as long as I can.”

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Antonio Mercuri, Programme Manager at SIT School of Contemporary Music and Audio Production, was thrilled to see a total of five SIT alumni, as well as a current student in this year’s awards: Tyler Reynolds (alumnus) - Jason Taylor Vehicle Sales Guitarist of the Year; Marcus Crowe (alumnus) - Kennedy School of Music Keyboards Player of the Year; Hanna Ott (alumnus) - Bass Player of the Year; Maia Pereiha-Fletcher (first-year music student) - Vocalist of the Year; Charlie “Chainsaw” Rodgers (alumnus and staff) - Production Award (Sound Engineer).

“It’s pretty awesome,” said Mr Mercuri. “We’re a small tight-knit community of musicians who all contribute to what we can, and our common factor is SIT Music and Audio.”

Southland Musicians Club President, Trevor Daley, was every bit as complimentary of SIT’s great showing in this year’s awards, as well as the SIT student and graduate involvement in the club, which helped it to thrive.

“We like to think we have a really good relationship with SIT students,” he said. The older members were “continually blown away by these younger ones, and their musical ability”, adding, “most are a credit to their generation; well behaved, generous with their time and communicative. We enjoy having them at the club.”

The mix of ages seemed good for everyone; Mr Daley said the older club members have been playing music for a long time and have their experience to share, and they recognised the importance of keeping the new ones coming through to keep the club alive.

Whilst it was a reality that young people left Invercargill to go away to university, on the other hand, “SIT music courses bring people here”, he said. People like Mr O’Donnell, who specifically moved to Invercargill to study at SIT and ended up staying, have enriched and added more depth to the local pool of musicians.

Mr Daley also noted the SIT Music and Audio programmes have benefited Southland musicians who have been able to study here, without having to go away. “It’s an asset for the music scene of the city.”

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