Features

Tonga will open its first ever public library next month and it's taken a village across New Zealand and Tonga to build it. Audio, Gallery

Daybreak has a new book to give away this month. Chopin's Piano is an unexpected journey through Romanticism and a reflection on the changing meaning of music over time.

Mediawatch - Recent elections overseas were won by narrow margins amid claims voters were influenced by misleading messages injected straight into their social media feeds. Is that what we should expect in the run-up to 2020?  Video, Audio

Sarb joins James Nokise for a bonus episode of Eating Fried Chicken in the Shower. Audio

Five student choirs – all from the North Island - have been awarded gold at the 2019 Big Sing Finale in Dunedin over the weekend.

Composer-producer-multi-instrumentalist Jacob Collier talks to Lynn Freeman about his transition from his bedroom  music videos going viral, to making three albums and being on a world tour. Video, Audio

The boom times for the controversial swamp kauri trade appear to be declining - just as a Northland environmental group wins a David and Goliath battle to stop the region being pillaged.  Audio

"Right from the hushed orchestral opening, after conductor Benjamin Northey took a few moments to . . . well . . . just take a breath, perhaps, before embarking on this undertaking, there was a feeling of something special," says reviewer Tony Ryan.

Thirty eight years after their 1981 hit 'There Is No Depression in New Zealand', Blam Blam Blam are back. Video, Audio

RNZ Music is proud to present the brand new track and video from self-proclaimed “pop star for dorks”, Geoff Ong. ‘All The Hours’ is about “nostalgia, memory, and how it's bullshit that society tells us that we need to be productive all the time”.

In the latest episode of Awkward Conversations, Alex Perrottet talks with "recovering racist" Andrew Newton and local body candidate Meredith Akuhata-Brown about race, colonisation, and identity.  Audio

The subject popped up in the debating chamber last week, and Daniela Maoate-Cox listened in. Audio

There's one concert in particular that Rick Young is looking forward to this week.

A devoted Christian slams the door on the Church - against her parents' hopes - and pursues a path of sexual freedom and love.

We put Kiwi economist Arthur Grimes and English economist Kate Raworth in the ring together to debate the value of growth. Things got tense... Audio

Meet Sons of Solomon , whose headbanging, death growling, guitar shredding and staccato drumming sounds suggest it's not only reggae, hip hop, rhythm and blues, and gospel music that are popular in the Pacific. \m/ Video, Audio

Comedian, musician and former Saturday Night Live star Fred Armisen brings his new show Comedy For Musicians But Everyone Is Welcome, to Auckland. He speaks about the similarities and differences between comedy and music. Video, Audio

Jasmine Hubber has rescued nearly 200 cows and calves from a one-way trip to the meatworks. Audio

Silver Fern Katrina Rore talks to host James Nokise about being knocked down, bouncing back and learning to let things go Audio

Journalist Rachel Monroe looks at four women who became fixated on real-life crimes in the new book Savage Appetites. Audio

Our guide to the moves and terms of the basketball court. Video

Week in Politics - The strong cross-party determination to reform gun laws has evaporated, and National's support for the government's climate change response legislation is in serious doubt.

Song Crush spans the global gamut this week. Hold on tight, it’s a bumpy ride.  Video, Audio

The small coastal settlement of Waitati will be home to our first transportable, affordable, eco-home.