Singing key to ‘keeping active’
‘One song can do it,” said Levin veteran country and western, and gospel singer Cazna Thompson, who at 75 is still raking in the awards.
Last year she bagged the Pounamu Country Music Club’s Veteran Overall Award, while this year she has added the national accolade of being runner-up in the veteran edition of Entertainer of the Year.
“Music is good for the soul. I think I sang before I could talk,” she said.
Last year she won three local sections and the overall veterans award and in 2020 she won the solo, gospel and country veteran categories.
“In 2022 the song The Wayward Wind won me the western section as well as the overall award, while I won nothing in other sections in our Pounamu club awards,” she said.
Cazna said the trophy that comes with this club award is up for grabs again on November 4 when club members vie for various gongs.
“On Sunday, November 5, we hold our finals concert, from 10am at the Cosmopolitan Club.”
Cazna has been singing on stage since 1979 and has taken on a variety of styles. She sings solo, country and western, gospel and country rock and jazz.
She also belongs to the Horowhenua Ukulele Club and joins in their concerts at rest homes.
“We also do concerts in te Takeretanga o Kura-hau-po¯.”
The lively local country and western club has been a major drawcard for her, so much so that four years ago she moved from Wellington to Levin.
“I have been a member ever since the club started. I came over to check them out and stayed.”
Her son won junior country entertainer of the year in 1983 and she just kept going, initially to help him.
She said 32 people signed up for the awards this year.
The veteran section is open to anyone aged 56 and over, and she has also found the quality of the entrants of the other sections, some including children, is truly amazing.