Features

Fiji has thrown its support behind the Nelson Mandela Political Declaration at a peace summit in New York.

WOMAD has just made the first artist announcement for its 2019 festival, which is taking place in Taranaki in March.

This week's RNZ Music mixtape selector is The Eastern's Adam McGrath. He shares tales of his rugged Southern upbringing with Kirsten Johnstone. Video, Audio

Angelo Xiang Yu gives a stunning performance of Vivaldi's Four Seasons with the NZSO. It's available for download just until the end of the month.

WOMAD has just made the first artist announcement for its 2019 festival, which is taking place in Taranaki in March.

Salt water is a building block of the human body, essential to the planet’s temperature regulation, could help mitigate climate change, but is not very well understood, a researcher says. Audio

The Jacksons, Kool & the Gang, The Pointer Sisters, Village People, Sister Sledge and The Sounds of the Supremes will perform at Mt Maunganui’s ASB Baypark in January.

Australian pub rockers The Johnnys are playing five New Zealand shows next week, knocking out their high-energy repertoire and paying tribute to their bandmate Spencer P. Jones who passed away in August.  Video, Audio

Relentless touring is a punishing experience and can take a physical and mental toll on a band but veteran Australian pub rockers, The Johnnys, thrived on it. Video, Audio

Measures to protect cities from the intense storms and rising sea levels caused by climate change should consider projects which also enhance life in the city, an expert says. Audio

The rapper Prodigy and his collaborator Havoc came to fame in the 1990s as the influential US rap duo Mobb Deep. But Prodigy also suffered from sickle cell anaemia, dying from complications related to the disease in June 2017. 'The Realness' from WNYC looks at the impact of sickle cell on Prodigy's life and music. Audio

In the conservative world of classical music, Pratt broke stereotypes by turning up for concerts in eclectic outfits rather than a tuxedo and tails. It’s part of his desire to engage with and promote classical music to contemporary audiences. Video, Audio

Enormous funding demands could trip up a proposed Pacific-based Super Rugby team before it gets off the ground.

One of the greatest exploratory ships in history - which disappeared in 1845, only to be found 169 years later under Canadian ice - is now the subject of a book by Michael Palin.  Video, Audio

Opinion - For many reasons women's rights, concerns and experiences are currently of great urgency and that's inevitably going to show up in our writing and reading behaviour, writes Claire Murdoch.
 

William Dart reviews the new album by the artist known as Christine and the Queens simply titled Chris, and takes a little look at some classic standards performed in a gender-switched way. Video, Audio

A Pacific island wrestler with a half lion-half tiger alter ego has carved a career out of his childhood love of comics and wrestling. Audio, Gallery

The English language needs some spelling revision so it makes more sense and is more consistent, a Monash University linguistics professor says. Audio

Comic book artist and wrestler Michel Mulipola, with his liger alter ego, has carved a career out of his childhood passions. Audio, Gallery

Check in with Parliament's priorities this week, also including waka jumping, drugs on the high seas, and not forcing kids into school until the age of five.  Audio

"Check out just about any of the now numerous videos of Sultana online and it’s a thing to behold: this raggle-taggle dancing Aussie imp creating the sound and energy of a full band with just a guitar, sampler and a bunch of pedals. And that is essentially what you get on Sultana’s first album." Audio

To mark the 125th anniversary of Women's Suffrage, broadcaster Alison Mau hosted 'What Women Want' – a series of panel-style conversations about domestic violence, healthcare, the equality that women still seek and how to achieve it.

New Zealand has a problem with ageism in the workplace, management professor Jarrod Harr says, and many of the prejudices against older workers are not based on fact. Audio

Opinion - The reputation of New Zealand's strawberry industry could be contaminated by the needles found in Australian fruit, but our growers can still minimise the damage, writes Daniel Laufer.