Bayfield High School Student takes out top prize

Bayfield High School Student takes out top prize in Boost Mobile High School Hook Up Competition

Shaun Musuka from Bayfield High School in Dunedin with his group ‘Esdee, Beau & Mr J’ have won the top prize in the Boost Mobile High School Hook Up competition with their song entitled “A Concept Track”.

The competition was open to high school musicians and bands around the country and required entrants to create a song giving their interpretation of what it means to “hook up” in their community in Aotearoa.

The upbeat winning track was selected from over 20 finalists from schools throughout New Zealand.

“Esdee, Beau & Mr J’s track stood apart from the others in that it had clever lyrics, good versatility and a great dancehall influence to it. The vocalists’ flow was really good as well. We felt it had been well constructed and had a really strong hook,” says Kog Studio’s Chris Chetland.

The winning trio will be flown to Auckland where they will spend two days at Kog Studios recording their track with top production team ‘Handmade Music’ (Chris Chetland, Chong Nee and Dave Baxter). As well as having their winning track professionally produced, they will receive mentoring in mixing and recording, tuition in Logic music production software and pressing of 500 CD’s with album art design by Saatchi and Saatchi.

Musuka has been making music for four years and teamed up with mates Beau and Mr J to put their winning entry together. “I was talking to Beau and we decided to enter the Boost Mobile competition as it sounded like fun. Beau had a beat Mr J had produced for him and I loved it so much I convinced him to let us use it for the competition. I couldn’t believe it when I found out we won. We can’t wait to come to Auckland and work with the guys at Kog,” says Musuka.

Bayfield High School, as the school attended by the winning artist, also scores some fantastic music gear; a Phonic Powerpack 640 sound system including Powerpod 620 Mixer, 2 x 12” speakers and 6 x Audiotechnica Microphones from Jansen to the value of $3500.

The judges, Cath Andersen CEO of NZ Music Industry Commission, 91ZM’s Night Show Host Stu Tolan, Universal Music Managing Director Adam Holt and Brad Carter from Steriogram had the tough job of selecting a winner. They were really impressed with the high calibre of entrants and the variety of genres with everything from Pop to Hard Rock to Hip Hop.

“It was great to hear the fantastic talent developing out there in our schools. The standard of musical talent in this competition was really high - so much so that we had to award three highly commended entries as well as a winner,” says Adam Holt.

Taking out the three highly commended prizes were entries by ‘Bubbles’ from Rotorua and ‘Full Eclipse’ and ‘Cam with a K’ both from Auckland. These lucky students receive a Boost Mobile Sanyo 7500 handset, Boost Mobile Hoodies, Tees, Record Bags and CD’s.

“We had an overwhelming response to the competition both in terms of entries and voting. It really shows that there is a lot of musical talent among New Zealand High Schools and we are pleased to be able to give them support through initiatives such as High School Hook Up,” says Boost Mobile Brand Presence Manager, Suzanne McNicol.

The coveted Peoples Choice Award, chosen by online voters, goes to Blue Era with their track ‘Hook It Up’. Blue Era take away an iMac 2.0GHz Intel Core Duo with 20” screen and a Helix Board 12 Mixer courtesy of Jansen. In total over 13,500 people voted for their favourite tracks online at www.highschoolhookup.co.nz

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