Features

Wellington composer Michael Norris has taken the SOUNZ Contemporary Award Silver Scroll with his work Sygyt, which brings together traditional Tuvan singing with Western music.

Kiwi music legend Jenny Morris has been welcomed into the New Zealand Music Hall of Fame by the Prime Minister, and a heartwarming video tribute from her friends and family.

Esteemed songwriter Ria Hall along with co-writers Tiki Taane and Te Ori Paki have won the APRA Maioha Award for thier song ‘Te Ahi Kai Pō’ at the Silver Scrolls in Auckland tonight. Video, Audio

RNZ Music is live from the 2018 APRA Silver Scroll Songwriting Awards at Auckland's Spark Arena.

Stephen Layton will conduct Bach’s St Matthew Passion tonight with the Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra, soloists and the University of Auckland Chamber Choir, a work he says he would “go anywhere in the world for”. Video, Audio

We have Felix Mendelssohn to thank for the revival of Bach's St Matthew Passion, which features in tonight's live broadcast from Auckland, in Music Alive from 7.30pm. Audio

The APRA Silver Scroll songwriting awards have been recognising talent since 1965 - from Ray Columbus to Lorde - but for the uninitiated, Nick Bollinger gives a rundown of what they're all about.

A new book recounts the transformation of Derek Black, the infamous young white nationalist leader in the US who renounced his beliefs and family after gaining acceptance with fellow students. Audio

The APRA Silver Scroll songwriting awards have been running since 1965 and have recognised everyone from Ray Columbus to Lorde. Nick Bollinger explains what the awards are all about.

Scientists at Scion are developing a revolutionary new toilet that will not only safely treat human waste using no water and very little energy, but will also produce a useful product - bioplastic. Audio

We pull apart the five finalists for best New Zealand song of 2018, ahead of the APRA Silver Scrolls award for songwriting.

When the 1918 flu reached Samoa from New Zealand it incapacitated 90 percent of adults, killed about a quarter of the population, and tarnished the relationship between the two countries, medical historian Ryan McLane says. Audio

Singer Jenny Morris will be inducted into the New Zealand Music Hall of Fame tonight. She reminisced with Nick Bollinger about Frogs, Crocodiles, a Beatle's advice, and other career highlights.

The Sampler - Titled Piano and a Microphone 1983, the album is essentially just that; a studio recording from the year before Purple Rain, capturing the musician on his own at the keyboard, writes Nick Bollinger.  Audio

Songwriter, performer and tireless socialist political activist Billy Bragg says Britain is having a "midlife crisis". Bragg, who is returning to New Zealand for shows in Auckland in November, says the Brexit vote was about identity. Video, Audio

Termites' abilities to turn timber into food and build towering mounds might help us develop biofuels, construction robots, housing design hacks and microbe technology, author Lisa Margonelli says. Audio

Analysis - A New Zealand delegation travelling to Tokelau this week will find a territory divided, tense and looking to Wellington for a way forward, writes Mackenzie Smith.

Songwriter, performer and tireless socialist political activist Billy Bragg says Britain is having a "midlife crisis". Video, Audio

Marlon Williams strips back his Silver Scroll-nominated break-up song 'Nobody Gets What They Want Anymore', a duet with his ex., fellow Lyttelton musician Aldous Harding. Video, Audio

This month, RNZ Concert's morning programme Daybreak features a book from one of the most respected and influential writers about classical music in the world today - The Rest Is Noise by New Yorker music critic Alex Ross.

Modern definitions of illness are usually listed by global health organisations, but they can carry stigma and are subject to cultural power dynamics, author Mike McRae says. Audio

Alt-country star Williams says getting Aldous Harding to contribute to the song about their break-up 'Nobody Gets What They Want Anymore' was worthwhile, and the resulting song was "therapeutic and emotionally necessary". Video, Audio

RNZ Music is proud to share the first look at Motte’s music video for ‘Give It To Me’. It’s a special release for Motte, the solo incarnation of Christchurch singer/violinist Anita Clark who was silenced by a virus that could have stopped her singing forever. Video, Audio

The government has used its powers to ignore the rules and pass a bill through all its stages at once to freeze MPs' pay. Audio