New Zealander of Indian descent sweeps Pacific Music Awards

Singer Aaradhna Patel of New Zealand, whose father is from Gujarat state in India, has swept this year's Pacific Music Awards.

Aaradhna, 29, won all the six awards she was nominated for, a record in the history of the event.

She won awards for best female artiste, best Pacific urban artiste, best song, best music album, best video for her clip to hit song "Lorena Bobbitt" and Radio Airplay Award for the song 'Wake Up' at the event held in Auckland May 30, the Indian Weekender reported Tuesday.

It is the most awards won in a night by any single artiste in the nine-year history of the Pacific Music Awards and comes off the back of her highly acclaimed album "Treble & Reverb" released in November last year.

Aaradhna, whose father Jayanti Patel hails from Navasari in southern Gujarat and whose mother Sia'a Patel is Samoan, mostly sings rhythm and blues and pop and made her musical debut in 2004 featuring the single "Getting Stronger" with the group Adeaze which peaked at number one on the official New Zealand Singles Chart.

A self-confessed Amy Winehouse fan, Aaradhna said she was inspired to write new music after listening to the numbers of the English singer and songwriter who died in 2011.

"I used to go to her (Winehouse's) 'Back to Black' album and I'd repeat it all day because I connected with all her music," Aaradhna was quoted as saying.

"The thing I liked about it was that she didn't care about what other people said. She really spoke her mind - that's what I wanted to do. I wanted to make music that I could really say what I wanted to say."

Aaradhna is the eldest of five siblings and showed her inclination for the art at the age of 12 when she started singing with her mother traditional Samoan and country songs.

Instituted by the Pacific Music Awards Committee, founded in 2004, the Pacific Music Awards recognise the best talents of the Pacific music community in New Zealand.