Category: Music

  • The joyful art of Maungarongo Te Kawa

    The Māori artist, Maungarongo Te Kawa, uses an array of techniques and materials to create fabulous, marvellous and wonder-filled quilts. “Ron” Te Kawa uses fabrics to convey messages to uplift, explore and explain his world. He recently undertook a residency in Norway; his words speak for themselves. Maungarongo Te Kawa was a keynote speaker at…

  • Cicadas – music to the ears?

    Each year cicadas emerge from their underground nurseries to fill the air with their chirping and buzzing. To some they are a nuisance but to this entomologist they are a sign of hope… The delightfully-named “periodical cicadas” come out of their burrows, as the name suggest, at regular intervals. This year the emergence of two…

  • Sheep sleep

    The new studio in Māwhera Greymouth has plenty of wall space for art, and what could be more appropriate than Storm Thorgerson’s “Sheep sleep”? The image, printed onto metal, greets visitors as they walk through the front entrance to the studio. The picture is of a sheep lying abed, while, seen through a window, men…

  • This week’s Spotify playlist

    Every week a playlist is curated on the Spotify platform for the blog. Each item references something in the blog, sometimes obviously and sometimes less so. Paying subscribers to Spotify will hear all the tracks uninterrupted while free subscriptions will have advertising breaks. Anyone else can hear short extracts from the playlist. To listen either…

  • Ainu costume

    The Ainu people of Northern Japan have a unique culture, one that was almost lost. Now mostly in Hokkaido, the Ainu once lived from Honshu to Kuril, and differ in their linguistics and culture from the Japanese, who displaced them 150 years ago from their ancestral lands. In April 2019 the Ainu people were recognised…

  • The Spotify playlist

    Each week the blog articles are accompanied by a curated Spotify playlist that you can hear using the player above or by going to Spotify and searching for “Music to read a blog by”. The playlist entries each have something to do with the articles on the blog, sometimes very obviously and sometimes more subtly.…

  • Toumani Diabaté

    Toumani Diabaté was a Malian griot and player of the West African kora. Hailed as the “king of the kora”, Diabaté was from a family of griots, and his blending of traditional with contemporary music earned him considerable acclaim at home and abroad. Read more: https://www.africanews.com/2024/07/20/malis-king-of-kora-toumani-diabate-dies-at-58 https://theconversation.com/malis-kora-star-toumani-diabate-a-personal-reflection-by-his-music-producer-235993 Watch more:

  • Snowshill Manor

    For those who are concerned that they own too many things, here is someone who took this passion for collecting to colourful and wondrous extremes! Charles Wade, a trained architect turned artist and illustrator bought Snowshill Manor, after returning from the First World War, to house his ever-expanding collection. Over the years until he died…

  • The Spotify playlist

    Each week a curated list of audio is made on Spotify to go along with the blog entries. The playlist includes old and new music in lots of different genres, and each piece is chosen to reflect something on the blog. To listen click on the player above or search for “Music to read a…

  • Samba!

    Brazil is known for its vibrant cultures and the samba is amongst the most well-known; Samba de Roda, a festival event from Bahia, is recognised as a unique art form in UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage list. Samba derives from the colonial period in Brazil’s history. At its foundation are the traditions and cultures of enslaved…