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Thursday, January 31, 2013

Tonite on the Adventures of the CoffeeBar Kid

Tonite, we go Moa Hunting with Quinn Berrentson, author of Moa - The life and death of New Zealand's legendary bird (Craig Potton $49.99). 
The Moa were the most unusual and unique family of birds that ever lived, a clan of feathered monsters that developed in isolation for many, many millions of years. They became extinct reasonably quickly after the arrival of the Maori, and were a distant memory by the time European explorers arrived. So the discovery and identification of their bones in the 1840s was a worldwide sensation, claimed by many to be the zoological find of the century. This book begins by recounting the story of discovery, which was characterised by an unbelievable amount of controversy and intrigue. Since then there has been an unbroken chain of new discoveries, culminating with intriguing revelations in recent years about the moa's biology, that have come to light through DNA testing and radio-dating. This is a fascinating and important book that richly recounts the life and death of our strangest bird. Packed with a fantastic range of illustrations, Moa fills an important gap in our natural history literature, a popular but serious book on this national icon.


Quinn Berentson is a writer, documentary film maker and photographer. After graduating with a B.Sc. Honours from Otago University he began writing and directing children's edu­cational television, before moving to Natural History New Zealand, where he wrote, directed and produced documentaries, working for such clients as Discovery Channel, National Geographic and Animal Planet. He continues to do this alongside other writing projects. He is based in Dunedin.

For more on this fascinating subject - click here.


See You at 7.30 Tonite, only on Groove 107.7FM









Thursday, January 24, 2013

The CoffeeBar Kid is Back

Refreshed and raring to go.  First up is a survey of what's coming to WOMAD this year, including an interview with the wildcard winners - Beyondsemble.  Created from the ashes of the Mamaku Project this new band blends a virtual potpouri of cultural styles into their sound.  Tonite we interview the band and play an exclusive track from their yet to be released album.  Plus news, info and music on WOMAD and other things.

See you at 7.30 only on Groove 107.7FM



More about the WOMAD band Spot competition ...

Thousands of votes were cast and a nail-biting dive for the finish line yesterday saw two bands vying for the chance to get the last coveted spot on the 2013 line-up at the Womad festival in 2013 in Taranaki.


Auckland based group Beyondsemble pitted against Tauranga vocal group, Kougar Sistas fought til the last second drawing on their networks from around the globe. With votes in excess of 3’500 each the competition was fierce to the final second. Overnight all votes have gone through a thorough verification process.

Beyondsemble are Craig Denham, Chris Koole, Jon Sanders and John Ellis. Based in Auckland and Europe the band describes themselves as a molten mix of Folk, Jazz, Gypsy, Tango, Bluegrass, Celtic, Latin and Rocksteady. The band has been working for votes as they travelled the country for six weeks playing 29 shows from Kaiwaka to Riverton. Beyondsemble also reached out to their fans in Ireland, Scotland, France and Czech Republic in their bid to secure their spot in the line-up.

Pipped at the post by a mere 140 votes the Kougar Sistas ran a valiant race and had been leading from the beginning of the competition. With a dedicated clan of supporters Carlee Williams (Vocals/Keyboards), Kathy Phillips (Vocals/Drums), Delayne Ututaonga (Vocals/Guitar), Porina McLeod (Vocals/Bass) and Dianne Burt (Vocals/Percussion) pulled out all the stops. They describe themselves as “a crazy sexy fun-loving vibrant & energetic all girl band” with a breath of experience spanning 20 years and who now “collectively blend together with instruments to create an exciting visual feast and a smooth unique distinctive sound.”

This is the first year WOMAD has run a band competition and TAFT marketing and communications manager Lisa McMullan says: "The response from the bands and voters was passionate. More than 50 bands entered, more than 15,000 people voted and in the end it was a very close race."

"The diversity and calibre of entries was a reflection of the incredible pool of talent that's out there. Unfortunately there could only be one winner but congratulations to all who participated with such fervour and spirit.".

Decided by the general public, Beyondsemble will play at the festival Sunday 17 March on the line up with some of the world’s best musical talent including Jimmy Cliff, Hugh Masekela, Salif Keita, Vieux Farke Toure, Abigail Washburn & Kai Welch, Goran Bregovic, Jordi Savall.

Wednesday, January 09, 2013

Win At Groove over Summer

We are giving away WOMAD sampler CDs - 'like' our facebook page and then email us at tim@Groovefm.co.nz with your details to win a copy!




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