Playing gaily with your ukulele

The ukulele revolution has swept New Zealand.

From touring orchestras, to neighbourhood groups, to schools the ukulele is the instrument of choice for many.

During NZ Music Month the St Michael’s School Ukulele Orchestra and Choir will be performing at Central Library Tuam  on Friday 24 May 24 at 12.30pm.

 

Jackie Kay – ‘What you can survive makes you stronger’

One of the highlights of the Auckland Writers and Readers Festival 2013 for me has been discovering the work of British author Jackie Kay. How did I manage to live so long and not come across this woman? She is a multi-award winning poet, short story writer, memoirist and novelist. She writes for children. She’s also one of the most endearing, funny, exuberant people I have come across. When she walks in a room, the energy lifts. You can’t help but be drawn to her bright smile and her genuine warmth.

Jackie Kay’s writing contains the bittersweet wisdom of someone who’s faced big challenges in their life. She was born to a Scottish mother and a Nigerian father then adopted by a white couple with Communist Party affiliations. In 1960s Glasgow this was unusual to say the least. This, together with her candid sexuality, means she’s faced prejudice from many quarters. Throughout it all, she’s stood by what she believes in. Jackie Kay is one amazing woman.

Her latest collection of short stories, Reality, Reality is brilliant. You’ve just got to read it. I bought it off the stand at the Festival and wolfed it down. The title story introduces a woman who performs daily cook-offs against imaginary competitors to the blinking red eye of her security alarm. At her session, Kay read from ‘Those are not my clothes’, a tragically funny story of an elderly woman in rest home. The author says she’s drawn to older women characters because their stories tend to disappear under the radar.

When I spoke to Jackie Kay, she told me she was on her way down to Christchurch on a kind of pilgrimage. Her adoptive parents met in Christchurch at the Coffee Pot above the Communist Party Bookshop. She was looking forward to finding the street they lived in which has apparently just been released from behind the Red Zone. In addition, her old neighbour from Glasgow is a psychologist and is now living in our fair city.

If you see Jackie, make her welcome. You’ll be very pleased you did.

 

Big Library Read

Something new and exciting is happening in libraries around the world. In fact over 2,000 of them are taking part in a new initiative called the Big Library Read.

What is the Big Library Read? It is a program in which libraries worldwide offer a single eBook to their members. In addition to creating a global “library book club”, it will spotlight one title for a set time period for library members around the world to read simultaneously.

As a Christchurch City Libraries member you are invited to join in the fun. You can download and read The Four Corners of the Sky on OverDrive between 16 May and 2 June – there is no limit on how many people can check this title out!

About The Four Corners of the Sky:

Twenty years is a long time to be without a father, and for Navy pilot Annie Peregrine-Goode the sky has become a home the earth has never been. So when her father calls out of the blue to ask for a dying wish both absurd and mysterious is the easiest of answers. Until she hears that the reward is the one thing she always wanted. Thus begins an enchanting novel that bursts with energy from the first pages, and sweeps you off on a journey of unforgettable characters, hilarious encounters, and haunting secrets. Malone brings characters to life as only he can, exploring the questions that defy easy answers: Is love a choice or a calling? Why do the ties of family bind so tightly? And is forgiveness a gift to others or a gift we give ourselves?

So come on,  join in and download The Four Corners of the Sky now,  then let us know what you thought of it and the Big Library Read.

 

Libraries humming with music this weekend

From the New Zealand Army Band at Hornby Library to Matt and Hamish playing jazz at Parkland to the Natural Magic Pirate Band bringing hearty music to Central Tuam Library, libraries across the city will be humming with music this weekend and every weekend of NZ Music Month 2013. Check our calendar of events and come along and enjoy.

 

The Bicycle Band: Picturing Canterbury

The Bicycle Band of 1898 claimed to be the only one of its type in the world. There was a brief recreation in 2010 at the Ellerslie Flower Show. In NZ Music Month why not check out some mighty Kiwi Brass bands from our libraries.

NZOnScreen reminds us how much brass bands and highland pipe bands provided the soundtrack to major civic events and  film reels in this great celebration of VE Day.

For the real live feel of a brass band get along to Hornby Library on Saturday May 11 at 10.45am to hear the New Zealand Army Band which is the creme de la creme of bands.

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Musicians play everywhere

Musicians are a tough, adaptable bunch and they’ll play anywhere, especially in Christchurch since the earthquakes. Think of all those temporary venues like the Gap filler Pavillion and the Re-Start mall stage or old venues that have reinvented themselves like DuxLive. And always in Music Month our libraries are full of local musicians giving us a good time.

 

Māori Music in our libraries

Not only do we have a great selection of recordings of traditional Māori music in our libraries but we produce a guide to the best resources in our collections and online. Christchurch City Council has their own waiata group which celebrates at special occasions around our libraries. Here they are at Christmas time at Central Tuam Library last year singing carols in Māori. During NZ Music Month you can catch the Shirley Primary School kapa haka group at Shirley Library on Thursday May 16 at 1.30pm.

 

 

Busking along into NZ Music Month

No busking in the Square at present but there will be a banjo or two twanged during  NZ Music Month 2013 performances at our libraries. Come along and enjoy the diverse range of musicians who are making our city a more enjoyable place to be.

 

Adam McGrath at Aranui Library for Music Month

Adam McGrath, frontman of The Eastern,  will be rocking the Aranui Library this Friday, May 3 from 2 – 3pm as part of the NZ Music Month programme in our libraries. Adam and his bandmates have played and recorded in houses and all kinds of public venues since the earthquakes.

Here’s Adam and The Eastern at the Gap Filler fair in Addington in April 2011.

 

The Eastern – Genuine Christchurch Rock

The Eastern embody Christchurch spirit through and through. They’re a band of hard-working, no-nonsense folk who sure haven’t let an earthquake get in the way of making music. The perfect band to open NZ Music Month at Christchurch City Libraries at Central Library Tuam tonight at 7pm.

Chart, Christchurch’s music website, defines The Eastern as ‘ a string band that roars like a punk band, that swings like a gospel band, that drinks like a country band, that works like a bar band, that hopes like folk singers, and sings love songs like union songs, and writes union songs like love songs, and wants to slow dance and stand on tables, all at the same time.’ I think this sums things up pretty well.

I first came across The Eastern at The Mussel Inn in Takaka and was blown away by their talent, diversity and passion for music. Charismatic Adam McGrath has a voice as gritty as Waimak gravel and complements Jess Shanks who sings like a angel.

The Eastern is based in Lyttelton. Their first self-titled album was released in 2009, charity record The Harbour Union debuted at 20 in the NZ Charts, and their most recent recording Hope and Wire will be used in the soundtrack behind the upcoming television mini-series by the same name which portrays life in Christchurch after the quakes.

These hard core musos have played around NZ and the world and have opened for acts such as Fleetwood Mac, Justin Townes Earle, Vic Chestnut and Jimmy Barnes. They average 200 shows a year and will be performing along with Luckless and Katie Thompson at Central Library Tuam tonight at 7:00pm. Don’t miss them!