Category: Music

  • The Spotify playlist

    Each week’s blog is accompanied by a playlist on the streaming platform: Spotify. The playlist is curated from across Spotify to reflect the articles on the blog. Sometimes the link is obvious, sometimes it is more oblique. To listen click on the player above or search for “Music to read a blog by” on the…

  • Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee

    A recent addition to the textile collection shares a great link between textiles and music. Tweedle Dum and Tweedle Dee are two small characters from the “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” books by Lewis Carroll. The twins were made by artist Sharon Mitchell from Oamaru as part of an exhibition in her hometown of various characters…

  • TOTA – connecting cultures

    If you like reading about the many different ways in which people live around the world then TOTA might just be the ticket… From videos to stories and articles, from photographs to recipes, this website holds a wealth of information about culture. Although attitudes have changed since many of the articles were originally written, losing…

  • The Spotify playlist for the week

    Each week a Spotify playlist is compiled to reflect the entries on the blog. To listen to the playlist either click on the player above or head over to Spotify and search for “Music to read a blog by”. Depending on your subscription type, you will either hear the playlist without interruption or with advertising…

  • This Week’s Spotify playlist

    Each week a playlist of audio on Spotify is curated to go along with the blog. Each item has something to do with the articles on the blog, although sometimes the links are not obvious. To wisent either click on the Player above or go to the Spotify app or website and search for “Music…

  • Baye Fall – patchwork in a Muslim community

    The Baye Fall, Senegalese Muslims, believe that hard work and service to their communities expressed their faith, but their clothes honour the founder of the movement. In the 19th Century Cheikh Ahmadou Bamba established the Mouride brotherhood, an offshoot of Sufi Islam, in Senegal. It is believed that Ibrahima Fall, the founder of Baye Fall,…

  • Spotify this week

    Each week the blog features a curated playlist of audio on Spotify, the streaming platform. The playlist is related to the articles on the blog. To listen, click on the Player above or head over to Spotify where you can search for “Music to read a blog by”. The lists appear with a date after…

  • Textile song, work and memory

    Weaving has been associated with music and rhythm for centuries, a strong connection that helps guide the weaving itself and also makes evident the links between personal practice and growth in the Indian Subcontinent. From mystics, who use weaving as metaphors in verse for Buddhist philosophy, to women who gather together to spin cotton while…

  • The Spotify playlist

    In this, the first of the playlists for 2025, a selection of audio pieces has been collected to go along with the blog. To listen, click on the player above or head over to Spotify and search for “Music to read a blog by”. Paying subscribers to the platform will hear all the audio without…

  • Janet Frame House

    56 Eden Street, Oamaru, was once the home of Janet Frame, the famous New Zealand author. The Janet Frame House has been restored and is opened in the summer months for visitors to experience. It is a pretty, uncomplicated building, filled with charm and crocheted bedspreads and rag rugs, a sewing machine and a typewriter,…