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Yadana Saw previews some of the acts that are taking the stage at WOMAD this weekend, plus a look ahead to the final Homegrown festival in Wellington.
Music correspondent Yadana Saw shares music from the winners of last night's APRA Silver Scroll Awards.
Music correspondent Yadana Saw joins Nine to Noon to look at how waiata anthems have gone from strength to strength, with a bunch of new releases across the month.
Yadana is along with the sounds of Brooklyn NYC discodelic darlings Say She She, Wellington's Grayson Gilmour and a 2021 reissue of an Afro-Caribbean reggae disco rarity - Love and Understanding by Muchos Plus.
Music reviewer Yadana Saw reflects on the Super Bowl halftime show which was celebration of Dad music and the Gen X culture, and the curious ukulele skills of Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and some new tunes from 2022.
RNZ music journalist Yadana Saw unravels the Spotify stoush, as Joe Rogan responds to Neil Young's departure from the platform. She'll also play a couple of her favourite summer tracks.
Yadana plays Tami Neilson's cover of the Willie Nelson Christmas song Pretty Paper, a summery track from Sorrento with Andy Lovegrove's honeyed voice and bassist extraordinaire Marika Hodgson. Plus an excellent state of mind to hold in the crazy season; Don't You Worry About a Thing by Stevie Wonder.
Yadana plays Tami Neilson's cover of the Willie Nelson Christmas song Pretty Paper, a summery track from Sorrento with Andy Lovegrove's honeyed voice and bassist extraordinaire Marika Hodgson. Plus an excellent state of mind to hold in the crazy season; Don't You Worry About a Thing by Stevie Wonder.
It's taken a while but finally Wellington joins New York, Los Angeles, New Orleans and Paul Cleave's Christchurch as a cool crime novel city. As Anne Harre described it: "Dig a little deeper and the city is unforgiving and unrepentant. Forget the politicians, they're poor amateurs in deception and crime..." Before launching her life of crime writing, Anne has been a music teacher, bookseller, freelance editor and reviewer, and editor for the New Zealand Poetry Society anthology. All the better to dive into the many layers of Wellington life in her debut novel The Leaning Man. It centres on Stella Weston - relentless, foul-mouthed and tenacious, everything you want in a private eye. Yadana Saw asks Anne who inspired her anti-heroine.
The world-wide gaming industry is big. It's really big. Just ten years ago it generated over 25 billion dollars of income a year in the US alone. Last year it took in 135 billion dollars. Taking in the rest of the world it's been estimated that gaming is worth over 300 billion dollars - that's more than the film and music industries combined. But it's also one of the most challenging and creative industries to work in. The production of a top-end game can rival most movie blockbusters - there's narrative, story arcs, even characters. But the range is extraordinary - from cellphone word games and brain teasers to empire-building, shoot-'em-ups and My Little Pony. What many of us don't realise is how many Kiwi companies are doing games - and doing very well with them. Today, we take a look at one of this country's biggest audience generators. What counts as a video game in 2021? Who's playing them, what's the range, how many people does it take to make them and where does Aotearoa New Zealand fit in the gaming world? Yadana Saw talks to Chelsea Rapp - Chairperson of the NZ Game Developers Association, Patrick Wagner - head of interactive Weta Workshop, and Zoe Hobson - CEO of Runaway Play in Dunedin.
With the world pretty much kept out of Aotearoa New Zealand thanks to a certain pandemic, we have to find the world within our shores. And the surprising thing is how often that seems to be happening. Take the Eastern Sound Collective - a loose network of pan-Asian musicians mostly located in Wellington. The group recently formed after one of the founders saw the success of such groups in the UK. After a major event was postponed, thanks to Covid, a new event ESC IN SESSION has been scheduled for next week at the Capital's live venue Meow. Yadana Saw caught up with Collective members Karnan Saba and founding member Aridnam Sen.
Swedish record label Moviescore Media has just released the original score for a short documentary about endangered elephants called Kimana Tuskers. The score was composed and produced by film and music legend - and Peter Jackson's go-to music editor - Stephen Gallagher. Stephen's worked on everything from blockbusters like The Hobbit trilogy, Lovely Bones and District Nine to - well, little films about the last remaining large tusker elephants as they pass through a wildlife corridor in Kenya. Among his many fans are Eno - "such sensitive ears", said Brian - and Hollywood composer Conrad Pope - "one of the most humble yet tremendously gifted composers... to call him a colleague honours me, not him"! Stephen Gallagher talks about his life and times with Yadana Saw.
It's no surprise that the opening movie to launch the New Zealand International Film Festival this year should be the highly-anticipated The Power of the Dog. Starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Kirsten Dunst, it won director Dame Jane Campion the coveted Best Director award at this year's Venice Festival. But films like The Power of the Dog don't happen by accident. It was shot mostly around Otago, employing hundreds of locals as crew, extras, caterers and the rest. And everyone agreed that the person who did most of the heavy lifting in making the film happen was location manager Sally Sherratt. Yadana Saw speaks to Sally from lockdown in Auckland.
Resample Tatau is an ambitious new work from award-winning creative producer and sound artist Faiumu Matthew Salapu, better known as Anonymouz. Inspired by his personal journey to receive his tatau - a traditional hand tapped Samoan tattoo - Anonymouz has expanded on his usual hip hop sampling style. Resample Tatau - Tali le 'au (lean into the pain) fuses audio recordings of the tatau process, live strings and indigenous percussion to create a seven-movement composition to be played live with a video projection next year. The Auckland-based artist and producer is also the 2021 inaugural recipient of the new virtual Toi Rauwharangi Pacific Art Residency. It's taking place online due to the COVID-19 restrictions. Anonymouz talks to Yadana Saw about a busy year, including his historic opening soundscape for the New Zealand Government's official apology to the Pasifika community for the Dawn Raids.
The saga of changing Dunedin's main street in the centre of the city - George Street - to one way, continues with a retailer banning the mayor this week from his shop, after a vote last week to make George Street one way for traffic. The change would mean traffic would only be able to travel towards the Octagon as part of a 60 million dollar transformation of the city's main shopping precinct. A week ago, we talked to a Dunedin city Councillor Jim O'Malley, who voted in favour of the move. Retailer Brent Weatherall from Weatherall Jewellers tells Yadana Saw why he banned the mayor.
Ni sa bula vinaka Pacific Wave listeners, Koroi Hawkins here. Because of the Covid-19 lockdowns here in New Zealand we can't bring you our usual daily show and we're really sorry about that. But while we can't make our usual shows, it doesn't mean we're not covering Pacific news. Each night I talk about some of the day's stories with RNZ Nights host Bryan Crump.
How is the medical profession handling the fallout from a small group of health professionals who signed an open letter opposing the pfizer vaccine - and to what extent are people being influenced by them? There are now several cases under investigation by the Medical Council, after it received complaints about some GPs. Not all of those who signed are GPs, but their decision to sign the letter in their professional capacity has alarmed the Royal New Zealand College of GPs. Yadana Saw talks to its medical director, Dr Bryan Betty.
In this week's Pocket Edition, it's a special Lee ‘Scratch' Perry tribute to the Jamaican's greatest sonic wizard. Yadana Saw speaks with Aotearoa musicians about the man known as the Godfather of Dub has influenced and impacted them
Yadana Saw is a music journalist, radio presenter, & storyteller. In 2014 she pitched a documentary on student radio to RNZ, & has worked there ever since. Yadana is a dormant activist, ready to strike at any time. Please subscribe to the podcast & check www.verbalhighs.com
Music 101's Yadana Saw tells us how musicians have coped with life under lockdown and what covid-19 means for the future of live events.
This week's RNZ Mixtape selector is newsreader Katrina Batten. She talks to Yadana Saw about her lifelong love of pop music.
This week’s selector is Robyn Malcolm who has graced local stage and screen for the past three decades, she speaks to Yadana Saw about the songs that have stuck with her through the years
This week's RNZ Mixtape selector is jewellry designer Boh Runga, best known as the flamehaired frontwoman of Stellar*. She shares her tunes with Yadana Saw.
Nick Bollinger remembers blue eyed soul man, raconteur Rick Bryant and poet, songwriter, screenwriter and stand up Arthur Baysting, both of whom died earlier this week. Nick and Yadana Saw reflect long cultural legacy that these two men have left on Aotearoa's creative landscape.
Wellington band Dawn Diver is the songwriting project of Ben Lemi. It's a new experience for the Trinity Roots drummer as he tells Yadana Saw in this live session.
This week's RNZ Mixtape selector is broadcaster, comedienne and writer Michele A'Court. She shares her songs and stories with Yadana Saw.
Mark Vanilau is this week's mixtape selector. A keyboardist and singer in his own right, Mark has work with Dave Dobbyn, Warren Maxwell, Hollie Smith and Ladi6. He shares his songs and stories with Yadana Saw.
He Waka Kōtuia are a Ōtepoti/Dunedin kapa haka roopu who have just released an album with Mara TK and Troy Kingi. The rangatahi join Yadana Saw to talk about the process of songwriting.
On this week's Pocket Edition, Yadana Saw chats to Villainy about people mispronouncing their name and Elliott Childs talks to US band Warpaint backstage in Wellington. [image:83455:full]
Neill and Thom from Auckland rock band Villainy talk to Yadana Saw about people getting their name wrong, their current tour of NZ and which fictional criminal mastermind they relate to most.
Maimoa Music crew member Pere Wihongi has released his first solo song 'High on Ingoingo' to encourage and inspire rangatahi. Pere speaks to Yadana Saw about being the brightest thing out of Herekino.
The first Girls Rock Camp in Wellington is happening this July. Yadana Saw talks to the organiser Brooke Singer and student Holly Curtis about what people can expect from the week long programme.
Suzy Cato, anointed as Aotearoa's favourite babysitter, shares her mixtape of tunes and tales while dispensing her charming life advice to Yadana Saw.
16 year old singer/songwriter Ruel talks to Yadana Saw about his burgeoning career and the ups and downs of collaborative songwriting.
Nick Bollinger joins Yadana Saw in the RNZ studio to bid farewell to New Orleans music legend Dr John, who died this week at the age of 77.
Te Kōtare is a waiata resource for young New Zealanders. The crowdfunded project was dreamed up by the late Jenny Shearer, an early childhood teacher who did not live to see her ambitions fulfilled. Earlier this month, Te Kōtare co-writer Matiu Te Huki and performers Alistair Fraser and Jessie Moss performed waiata with the tamariki of Wellington's Berhampore School. Yadana Saw was there to see Te Kōtare take flight.
In this week's Pocket Edition, Yadana Saw talks to two of New Zealand's top live music photographers and we take a look back at some of the best NZ albums of 1994.
For the RNZ Music mixtapte illustrator and cartoonist Toby Morris shares his favourite songs and tips for drawing good. He speaks with Yadana Saw.
Elleana Dumper of student lead music industry organisation Something Something talks to Yadana Saw about their latest projects.
This week's RNZ Music Mixtape selector is Henry Oliver. Currently the editor at Metro Magazine, he's also been the bassist in Die Die Die, a proprietor of popular K'Rd bar DOC, and a budding tennis champ. Henry shares his tunes and tales with Yadana Saw.
American teen doom-pop sensation Billie Eilish played to a sold-out Spark Arena in Auckland recently. Well-jaded concert goer Yadana Saw chaperones two 12-year-old fans for their first ever concert and review.
Grant Smithies is a music critic, writer, reviewer and record store owner. He shares his favourite songs and tales of alternative careers in his mixtape with Yadana Saw.
Lily West from Mermaiden's joins Yadana Saw to discuss the bands new single 'You Maintain the Stain' and the process of putting your music on vinyl in 2019.
Singer/songwriter Marlon Williams talks to Yadana Saw ahead of tonight's You Are Us (Aroha Nui) concert in Auckland.
An in-depth chat with radio host Yadana Saw. We talk about her time on student radio and ahead of that the fun days of growing up being a music fan, working in a record store, joining fan clubs...We talk too of RNZ and to hosting the flagship show, "Music 101" as well as contributing to the "Songcrush" podcast. We talk, as well, about the recent Christchurch shooting and the RNZ decision for Music 101 to broadcast as normal the day after, discussing the way the show was produced in those harrowing hours immediately after that shocking incident.
An in-depth chat with radio host Yadana Saw. We talk about her time on student radio and ahead of that the fun days of growing up being a music fan, working in a record store, joining fan clubs...We talk too of RNZ and to hosting the flagship show, "Music 101" as well as contributing to the "Songcrush" podcast. We talk, as well, about the recent Christchurch shooting and the RNZ decision for Music 101 to broadcast as normal the day after, discussing the way the show was produced in those harrowing hours immediately after that shocking incident. Get full access to Sounds Good! at simonsweetman.substack.com/subscribe
A chat with RNZ "Music 101" host and former student radio DJ Yadana Saw
Singer/Songwriter Louis Baker plays his new song 'The People' live in the Music 101 studio and talks to Yadana Saw about filming the video for the song in Newtown.
Controversy erupted this week when 'Old Town Road' by Atlanta Rapper Lil Nas X was removed from the Billboard Country charts for not being Country enough. Yadana Saw talks to country music critic and former music journalist Grady Smith about the controversy surrounding the decision and what makes a song 'country'.
Saffron Guinness talks to Yadana Saw about the history of the Leigh Sawmill Cafe. After 22 years of being owned and operated by the Guinness family, the Sawmill Cafe is changing management. To celebrate the end of an era and the start of a new one, Saffron is producing a documentary about the history of the storied NZ music venue.