Ruru Karaitiana, Pixie Williams and Jim Carter inducted into the NZ Music Hall of Fame for 'Blue Smoke'.

Introduced by writer Chris Burke, Ruru Karaitiana, Pixie Williams and Jim Carter have been inducted into the NZ Music Hall of Fame for 'Blue Smoke' at the APRA Silver Scrolls awards held at the Spark Arena in Auckland.  What a fantastic honour.  The first record to be written, sung, recorded and made (in Shellac by TANZA) in Aorearoa.  A true taonga.

Group behind Blue Smoke, New Zealand's first homegrown hit, inducted into Music Hall of Fame at Silver Scroll Awards

Three of songwriters and performers behind Blue Smoke - the first ever song to be written, recorded and manufactured here and released on a New Zealand label - will be inducted into the New Zealand Music Hall of Fame.

Guitarist Jim Carter.

Pixie Williams and Ruru Karaitiana will be honoured posthumously at the 2019 APRA Silver Scroll Awards, to be held in October.  Jim Carter will receive the distinction in the year of his 100th birthday.

Ruru Karaitiana with the first
pressing of Blue Smoke.

Karaitiana wrote Blue Smoke on board Aquitania, a WWII troop ship, in 1940, as he sailed towards the Indian Ocean on his way to fight with the Maori Battalion.

When he returned home in 1943 he recorded the song with Williams on vocals and Carter on guitar, and it became the first record to be pressed by TANZA (To Assist NZ Artists), the first Kiwi record label.

A number of awards will also be handed out at the ceremony on October 2, including the illustrious Silver Scroll Award, which was won last year by Marlon Williams. 

Vocalist Pixie Williams.

2018's Hall of Fame laureate was Break in the Weather singer Jenny Morris. Other musicians to receive the honour include The Topp Twins, Hello Sailor, Herbs and Big Runga.

Karaitiana's son Ruma and Williams' daughter Amelia Costello will accept on behalf of their parents.

Read more about Blue Smoke at Audio Culture:  https://www.audioculture.co.nz/scenes/blue-smoke

The original 1949 78
of Blue Smoke.
It would remain in the
Tanza catalogue throughout
the 1950s.

An advertisement in the
8 October 1948 Listener announces that
Radio Corp’s Columbus Recording Studios
was open for business in Wellington