The Black Seeds are a reggae inspired musical group from Wellington, New Zealand. Their rocksteady song "One By One" became an international hit when it was played in top ranked TV series Breaking Bad. Their music is a mixture of big beat funk, dub, afro music, pop, rock, soul, and roots reggae/ragga.
The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa is New Zealand's national museum and is located in Wellington. Usually known as Te Papa, it opened in 1998 after the merging of the National Museum of New Zealand and the National Art Gallery. An average of more than 1.5 million people visit every year, making it the 26th-most-visited art gallery in the world. Te Papa operates under a bicultural philosophy, and emphasises the living stories behind its cultural treasures.
The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain (UOGB) is a British musical ensemble founded in 1985 by George Hinchliffe and Kitty Lux as a bit of fun. The orchestra features ukuleles of various sizes and registers from soprano to bass. The UOGB is best known for performing musically faithful but often tongue-in-cheek covers of popular songs and musical pieces from a wide variety of music genres taken "from the rich pageant of western music". The songs are often performed with a reinterpretation, sometimes with a complete genre twist, or well known songs from multiple genres are seamlessly woven together. Songs are introduced with light hearted deadpan humour, and juxtaposition is a feature of their act, the members of the orchestra wear semi-formal evening dress and sit behind music stands, in a parody of a classical ensemble.
Shapeshifter are a live drum and bass act from New Zealand. They are known for their live shows and blend of heavy soul with drum and bass. They have made appearances at Glastonbury, The Big Chill, Big Day Out, Parklife plus sold-out performances across Europe, Australia and New Zealand.
Bret Peter Tarrant McKenzie is a New Zealand musician, comedian, music supervisor, and actor. He is best known as one half of musical comedy duo Flight of the Conchords along with Jemaine Clement. In the 2000s, the duo's comedy and music became the basis of a BBC radio series and then an oft-lauded American television series, which aired for two seasons on HBO. Active since 1998, the duo released their most recent comedy special, Live in London, in 2018.
The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra (NZSO) is a symphony orchestra based in Wellington, New Zealand. The national orchestra of New Zealand, the NZSO is an autonomous Crown entity owned by the Government of New Zealand, per the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra Act 2004. It is currently based in the Michael Fowler Centre and has frequently performed in the adjacent Wellington Town Hall before it was closed in 2013. It also performs in Auckland, Christchurch and Dunedin.
Fly My Pretties is a collaboration of musicians originally from Wellington, New Zealand who are known for coming together to record live albums, in various locations in New Zealand. The different musical backgrounds of the members make for an eclectic mix of songs on their releases. Fly My Pretties was the brainchild of Barnaby Weir, front man of the Black Seeds and Mikee Tucker of Loop Recordings Aot(ear)oa. The objective: To meet, exchange ideas, and then perform and record the results in front of a live audience.
Katrina May Shanks is a former New Zealand politician who was a list member of parliament for the National Party from 2007 to 2014.
Adi Dick is a singer, songwriter and producer who has been involved in many projects within the New Zealand music scene.
Tessa Rain is a New Zealand indie folk singer-songwriter best known for her collaboration with Fly My Pretties. She wrote the songs Carrier Pigeon and Smoke Me from The Return of Fly My Pretties, and Mauri from A Story. Her debut solo album "Dirt Poems" was released in August 2010.
The Wellington International Ukulele Orchestra is an ensemble of ukulele players based in Wellington, New Zealand. Apart from a double bass the band is composed entirely of ukuleles. Their repertoire consists mainly of covers of modern popular music and some ukulele and New Zealand standards. Costumes and comic banter are also part of the WIUO appeal.
Kaitoke Regional Park is regional park located at Kaitoke, northeast of Upper Hutt, in the Wellington Region of New Zealand's southern North Island. It is administered by Wellington Regional Council, alongside the adjacent regional park of Hutt Water Collection Area.
The Big Muffin Serious Band (BMSB) is a ukulele-based music performance group from Hamilton, New Zealand. It was started in 1983 by Jim Fulton, Graeme Cairns and Ian Coldham-Fussell when all three were members of a Project Employment Program (PEP) scheme. These schemes were initiatives instigated by the then National Government to undertake public works and provide vocational experience for the unemployed. This specific PEP scheme was run by the Hamilton City Council and involved creating performances and art in public spaces and schools.
The Taite Music Prize is an annual New Zealand music award event. It features the same-named prize awarded for the best album from New Zealand.
Naenae College, is a state-run coeducational secondary school located in north-central Lower Hutt, New Zealand. It is situated on a 12-hectare (30-acre) site in the suburb of Avalon. The school was founded in 1953 to serve the Naenae state housing development, although the school is located in the suburb of Avalon.
Mel Parsons is an indie folk and alternative country singer/songwriter from New Zealand.
Nigel Collins is a New Zealand musician, actor and playwright. A long time collaborator of Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement of Flight of the Conchords, he appears in their live shows as a string section of one, 'The New Zealand Sympathy Orchestra' playing cello, and also bass, keyboards, percussion, drums and singing backing vocals. He's featured in tours of North America, the UK, Europe, Australia and New Zealand from 2001 to 2018. Collins graduated from Toi Whakaari: New Zealand Drama School in 1999 with a Bachelor of Performing Arts (Acting).
Bek Coogan is a New Zealand multidisciplinary artist and musician.
AotearoaNew Zealand Festival is a multi-arts biennial festival based in Wellington New Zealand that started in 1986. Previous names are the New Zealand International Festival of the Arts, New Zealand International Arts Festival, New Zealand Arts Festival and New Zealand Festival of the Arts. The festival is produced every two years and runs across three weeks in venues in Wellington City and outreach programmes in the region. The festival features both international and national acts from performing arts and music with a literary programme also.
Rodger Denis Fox is a New Zealand trombonist, jazz educator, recording artist and leader of the Rodger Fox Big Band. He founded his jazz band in 1973 and has toured extensively in New Zealand and overseas, playing at international jazz festivals including Montreux and Monterey. He is a jazz educator and teaches at the New Zealand School of Music at Victoria University of Wellington.
