Young musicians’ first paid gig
Two best friends will perform an original award-winning song at the Auckland Museum this month for their first paid gig.
Former Ellerslie Primary School students Hannah Milo and Ella Dale, both 13, will be performing as a part of Volume, the museum’s current New Zealand music exhibition.
‘‘Other than some busking in Newmarket, this will be their first paid gig,’’ Nicole Dale, Ella’s mum, said.
The girls wrote their song We are Aotearoa while flying to and from New Plymouth last year and only entered it into the competition on the very last day.
‘‘The song is about being a New Zealander in a nutshell,’’ Milo said.
The song’s lyrics are positive about the strength of New Zealanders:
‘‘We are strong. We are bold. We are Aotearoa. We are proud. We are gold. We are Aotearoa.’’
The girls have performed the song ’’too many times to count,’’ and they’re both confident about their upcoming performance.
They think it’ll be similar to the time they sang at Auckland’s Town Hall.
‘‘It’s a nice open space,’’ Milo said.
But that doesn’t mean they won’t be practising several times a week.
Dale said they won’t be ready until they no longer make any mistakes.
Milo and Dale met when they sat at the same table at Ellerslie Primary school and became close after entering the Hook, Line and Sing-A-Long songwriting competition in 2015.
When they entered again in 2016 with We are Aotearoa they won first place along with $1000.
Of that $500 went to the school and $500 went to the girls.
Dale bought a ukulele and Milo bought a guitar with the prize money.
Since winning the competition their song has been taught in primary schools across New Zealand.
They’ve performed in Vector Arena, Auckland’s Town Hall and at the Auckland Primary Principals Association Schools’ Music Festival.
Milo said she wants to pursue a career in music while Dale was undecided at this point.
The girls will be performing six songs in the museum’s Atrium stage for 20 minutes on January 21 and 22.
Volume runs until May 21.