Afternoons for Wednesday 25 October 2023

 

1:15 2023 Best Jazz Composition Award winner Louisa Williamson

The Wellington Jazz Festival kicks off today. To mark the occassion, last night APRA AMCOS announced the winner of their 2023 Best Jazz Composition Award.

You just heard part of the winning tune, 'Dream Within A Dream' by composer and saxophonist Louisa Williamson.

The full track is an 11-minute opus that of the judges described as "both peaceful and full of surprise... imaginative and daring".

It is taken from her debut album 'What Dreams May Come', which another judge said will be "looked on in decades to come as one of New Zealand's great jazz albums". Louisa speaks to Jesse.

1:25 Bioheritage science challenge teaching young people about biodiversity

Entries for the BioHeritage National Science Challenge closes later this evening.

The competition gave kids young and old the opportunity to make and colour their own paper kanakana in the hopes of winning a variety of prizes.

The point of it all is to encourage youngsters to engage with New Zealand's native fish to ultimately protect and manage our biodiversity.

Ecologist and environmental scientist Dr Jane Kitson speaks to Jesse.

1:35 Laser Kiwis world tour

The Kiwi circus trio, Laser Kiwi, have been travelling the world with their act titled "The rise of the olive".

Imogen Stone and brothers Zane and Degge Jarvie have recently made appearances at the legendary Glastonbury Festival and Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Imogen talks to Jesse.

1:45 The art of lotus and water lily farming!

Growing up Gretchin Mornin never predicted she'd become a lotus farmer or all things - but that's exactly what she's ended up doing.

Her and her husband spend their days together, wading through mud, growing and harvesting lotus flowers and water lilies, Lotus Lily Reed, on their farm in Kingseat, Auckland.

Gretchen speaks to Jesse about their operation and unique approach to deterring Pūkekos from damaging their crops.

2.12 Podcast Critic: Jemima Huston

Today Jemima talks to Jesse about a podcast from The Guardian called Can I Tell You a Secret and After Ayotzinapa by Reveal which covers the case of 43 missing students in Mexico.

2:25 Bookmarks with Akiko Kurematsu

This week's guest for bookmarks is Akiko Kurematsu, a culture writer and journalist who uses his multicultural and mutlilingual background to work.

She's just released her latest book , Mother Tongue, which explores generations of Japanese homecooking.

3:10 Exploring the 'identity trap', Professor Yascha Mounk's new book

What you are is not the whole story about who you are.  Values rather than identity have always been the glue that holds democracies together. Before "woke" became a political slogan, professor Yascha Mounk warned about threats to democracy from dangerous polarization fed by  identity politics. His criticism is usually aimed at the right. But he's increasingly concerned   about some bad ideas created with good intentions by people mostly on the left  that lock in victim mentality  and deny that any two groups can truly understand each other. His new book offers a new way to talk about and tackle corrosive identity politics. It's called  "The Identity Trap: A Story of Ideas and Power in Our Time."

3:35 Stories from Our Changing World

Coming up on Our Changing World - Imagine a future where your burger comes with a plankton patty.

Where you are prepped for a hospital operation with an algal anaesthetic.

If Cawthron Institute researchers have their way, this microalgae-themed future for food and pharmaceuticals will be just around the corner.

Alison Ballance is in Nelson, to find out more.

3:45 The Panel with Heather Roy and Ed Amon