Saturday Morning for Saturday 29 February 2020

8:10 New Zealand's first case of COVID-19

Director-General of Health Dr Ashley Bloomfield will join Kim in the studio to discuss the significance of the first  confirmed COVID-19 case in New Zealand and how the Ministry of Health is responding.

For any coronavirus health advice and information and any questions you have about coronavirus, self-isolation etc.you can call the dedicated COVID-19 Healthline number, 0800 358 5453 which is  free and available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. There is also information on the Ministry of health website.

8:25 David Quammen: How animal diseases spread to humans

Science writer David Quammen is the author of Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic.

We'll ask him what we know about the animal origin of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and what his experience studying similar zoonotic diseases including Ebola, SARS and HIV, leads him to predict about the future impact of COVID-19.

Currently based in Tasmania, Quammen is researching a new book about the evolutionary basis of cancer. While there he's looking at a rare transmissible cancer: the facial tumour disease that affects the island's population of Tasmanian Devils.

9:05 Anne Enright on her latest novel Actress

Irish author Anne Enright won the Booker Prize in 2007 for her novel The Gathering.

She returns with her seventh novel, Actress, which explores a daughter's complex relationship with her famous mother.

The story's loosely based on that of the Irish theatre legend Katherine O'Dell and is told by her daughter Norah.

In 2015 Enright was appointed as the first Laureate for Irish Fiction by Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Enda Kenny, and in 2018 she received the Irish PEN Award for an Outstanding Contribution to Irish Literature.

 

9:45 Josh Bailey: Electric music maker

Tesla coils are known for producing impressive arcs of electrical lightning, but thanks to Kiwi software engineer Josh Bailey, they can also make music.

He's built a special purpose computerized interface called CHIME RED that allows musicians to play the high voltage transformers.

He has worked with electrical engineer and citizen scientist Greg Leyh on giant Tesla coil projects including at last year's Dark Mofo Festival in Hobart.

Josh and one of his Tesla coils will be joining 500 musicians for CubaSonic, a mass musical performance that's part of Wellington's CubaDupa festival on the weekend of 28/29 March.

CHIME RED / Tesla coil music:

10:05 COVID-19 Q and A with virologist Chris Smith

So far COVID-19 has infected more than 80,000 people and caused nearly 3,000 deaths. And now there is a confirmed case in New Zealand.

Dr Chris Smith, consultant virologist at Cambridge University and one of BBC Radio 5 Live's Naked Scientists, is joining us to answer your questions about COVID-19.

Please send any questions you have to: saturday@rnz.co.nz

10:35 Ria Hall: "upholding the mana of Aotearoa reggae"

Singer and songwriter Ria Hall (Ngāi Te Rangi, Ngāti Ranginui and Ngāti Pukenga) has just released a new album Manawa Wera, inspired by classic 1970s reggae & soul and addressing the current social and political climate.

Hall grew up in Tauranga in the Bay of Plenty, getting switched onto singing through kapa haka at Tauranga Girls' College.

Her 2017 album Rules of Engagement included the track Te Ahi Kai Pō’ which won her and co-writers Tiki Taane and Te Ori Paki  the Maioha Award at the 2018 Silver Scrolls.

When she presented the 2019 award she issued a challenge to the music industry to tackle a lack of diversity.

She was recently named Director of the 2021 Tauranga Arts Festival.

Ria will be performing with Fly My Pretties tonight in Hamilton

11:05 Mosque shooting widower Farid Ahmed shares Husna's Story

Husna Ahmed died in the Christchurch terror attacks on 15 March 2019. She was murdered as she returned to the Al Noor mosque to find her husband Farid, a wheelchair user.

In Husna's Story, Farid Ahmed celebrates his wife's bravery and selflessness, and remarkably, forgives her alleged killer.

He also shared his messages of peace and reconciliation at the national remembrance service on Friday 29th March 2019.

Mr Ahmed has lived in New Zealand for 30 years, and 21 years ago became paraplegic when a drunk driver ran him over on the street.

A senior leader of the mosque, since the attacks he speaks around the world and received an international peace award.

11:40 Peter Sellars: genre-defying director stages Canadian opera

Peter Sellars is an American theatre director, noted for his unique contemporary stagings of classical and contemporary operas and plays.

Sellars is professor at UCLA, where he teaches Art as Social Action and Art as Moral Action.

He is directing the rarely staged opera Kopernikus (by the Québécois composer Claude Vivier) at the New Zealand Festival of The Arts. He's also been involved in Te Ata and Talanoa Mau and helped bring the flex dance group FLEXN to Porirua.

He also directs a choral work Lagrime di San Pietro at the Auckland Arts Festival.

 

Books mentioned on the programme:

Actress
By Anne Enright
ISBN:9781787332065
Published by Penguin

Husna's Story - My wife, the Christchurch massacre & my journey to forgiveness
by Farid Ahmed
ISBN: 9781988547480
Publisher: Allen & Unwin

Music played in this show

Song:Fade Into You
Artist: Mazzy Star
Played at 10:05

Song: Walk
Artist: Ria Hall
Played at 10:40

Song: Owner
Artist: Ria Hall
Played at 11:05