About us

Come inside our world

Play It Strange shines the spotlight into NZ schools and brings into the light the great songs that are written there. Songwriting is a craft of the imagination and we believe that the creative environment surrounding songwriters should foster, expose and celebrate these songs. 

We run songwriting competitions with lyric, maori language, Peace Song awards and others alongside. And we record at least 40 finalists each year in professional recording studios. Songwriting, performance, and recording are the three pivots of our music tradition. 

We also have a Strange World website for secondary school students to listen, share, converse and be stimulated and inspired. It will be launched in the month of August.

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Strange Friends

Strange Friends are a group of wonderful people who contribute to the valued work of Play It Strange. In exchange for a donation (tax deductible) you will become a Strange Friend of the Play It Strange Trust. 

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News

Play In Strange moves in many places. Hard left turns; ups, out to the horizon... and back.  We tell our stories in brief in Newsletters. 

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Young, Wild and Reckless

Lyrics by Grace Wood, winner of the 2015 Lion Foundation Songwriting Competition

"Quote from the song here, and we could change this feature  every week/month. Keep it updated."

“I don’t like people, but I make an exception for ABC Agency. They’re pretty damn cool.”
Brian Jones,  America Big Corporation

Who loves Who Competition

The Who Loves Who Competition is a chance for year 9 to 13 students to celebrate New Zealand music by recording their own unique and evocative interpretation of a New Zealand song. 

This competition is open to all Year 9 to 13 students

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Wero Songwriting Competition

Play It Strange with Vodafone Events Centre and Vector Wero presents a songwriting competition to celebrate the new Vector Wero Whitewater Park for school students, individuals and groups in the Auckland region.

This competition is open to all Year 9 and 13 students

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Lion Foundation Songwriting Competition

From Kimbra to Graham Candy.  Annah Mac to Georgia Nott. Louis Baker to Jesse Sheehan.. and many more.. The Lion Foundation Songwriting Competition has seen thousands of young songwriters submitting songs that they have written. And the quality continues to flourish.

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Peace Song Competition

This competition seeks songs written with the lyrics embodying a lyrical focus on Peace. The theme of peace and nonviolence may be interpreted broadly from inner personal peace, peace in the home and among families to peace between people of the world.

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What we do

We do all sorts of cool projects

Play It Strange has worked for over 10 years, striving to provide secondary students with a platform they can use to pursue their musical adventures. We've held concerts, workshops and competitions, all with the intentions to provide the right environment from which students can gain confidence, self-belief and an impetus for a career path they would like to follow. 

Listen to more of our songs here

The songs on our Bandcamp are free to stream and download. Go crazy. They are there for your listening.

Alumni

See what our Alumni are up to

Play It Strange songwriters that have had their songs recorded for the annual CD are making cool inroads out into the world. Their career paths were fuelled from their time at school during which they sent their songs into our competitions and triumphed.

Here we have a selection of those who hit the ground running when they left school. With songwriting, performance and recording experience they were capable and poised for action.

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Feedback

Happy customers and clients

CUSTOMERS: Those philanthropic institutions, individuals, grants bodies and funding agencies. We applaud their generosity in supporting us and their focus on the benefits we bring to the society around us.

CLIENTS: The songwriters and performers that bring their imaginative craft and performing skills to bear and we are all rewarded. From the secondary school songwriting competitions to the recording sessions with the Jam Bus.

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