LEAO wins Silver Scroll with first Gagana Samoa song to claim award

What happened

LEAO won the 2026 APRA Silver Scroll award at a ceremony in Auckland on Wednesday night for LALELEI, a song celebrating 'aiga ma atunu'u' (family and homeland) that explores distance, yearning and commitment to the fa'asamoa. The song marks the first time a work written entirely in Gagana Samoa has won New Zealand's most prestigious songwriting award. The four members of the Pacific neo-psychedelia group are David Feauai-Afaese, Navakatoa Tekela-Pule, Levi Gemmell and Larsen Taylor. Five other awards were also presented at the ceremony, which marked APRA's 100th year representing New Zealand songwriters and composers. The APRA Maioha award for contemporary te reo Māori waiata went to Aro (Emily and Charles Looker) for Puna Ora. A new award honouring Māori kapa haka composers, Tihi o te Maunga Tito, went to Rob Ruha for Te Tapuni. Dylan Lardelli won the SOUNZ Contemporary Award for Light Lines, Clare Cowan won Best Original Music in a Series for Bust Up, and Karl Sölve Steven won Best Original Music in a Feature Film for Pike River.

Key facts

• LEAO won the 2026 APRA Silver Scroll for LALELEI on Wednesday in Auckland
• First song written entirely in Gagana Samoa to win the award
• The band members are David Feauai-Afaese, Navakatoa Tekela-Pule, Levi Gemmell and Larsen Taylor
• APRA celebrated its 100th year at the ceremony
• Five other major awards were presented

Covered byRNZStuffNot covered byNZ Herald1NewsNewstalk ZBOtago Daily TimesNewsroomThe SpinoffBusinessDeskinterest.co.nz

Coverage across the news outlets we track, as at publication.

Where the outlets differ

RNZ leads with the historic achievement of the first Gagana Samoa song winning the award and provides the full context and meaning of LALELEI, while Stuff frames the story as a general roundup of all winners at the ceremony.

What outlets are saying