This beautifully-prepared and richly-annotated volume contains a remarkable array of testaments of love and regard for a man whose life and work deeply touched not only immediate friends and colleagues, but many people involved with music in New Zealand, throughout South-East Asia and around the world. Happily, it appeared while its subject, Jack Body, was still very much alive, by all accounts - an acknowledgement is made by the editors... read more

I felt in a bit of a quandary regarding this concert, torn as I was between feelings of unease through wanting someone else to do this review, and curiosity at experiencing some of this "klezmer" music for myself. I did do a little bit of exploratory research - not too much - so that I'd have a notion, however vague, of what I was about to hear. So, I... read more

To convey something of the atmosphere and flavour of a remarkable concert at the Michael Fowler Centre, one of the New Zealand International Festival of the Arts series of concerts,  I can do no better than quote the words of the musician around whom this same concert was centred: " Music can be a spiritual discipline on the path to self realisation, for we follow the traditional teaching that sound... read more