Danik Abishev was born in the circus "I really didn't have a choice about becoming a performer," he says.

Fanfare Ciocarlia are bringing a blast of Balkan brass to the 'Naki for Womad next month. Garth Cartwright profiles the group and its humble Romanian beginnings.

Nestled in beautiful Tapapakanga Park Splore festival became annual for the first time this year, and it seems the move was a very successful one, write Lydia Jenkins and Rachel Bache.

To ensure her family continues to be lucky in the coming Year of the Sheep, New Lynn mother Maria Lee keeps true to traditions and age-old Chinese New Year practices.

Tinashe is bringing her sultry sound to New Zealand for the first time with a headlining slot at Splore. She talks to Rachel Bache.

Mr Scruff's signature style is all cups of tea, potato animation and marathon mixes, finds Lydia Jenkin.

With the ongoing diet of gallery exhibitions, theatre and comedy, Auckland's creative offering rivals any of the world's great international cities, writes Heather Shotter.

This year Sundance has impressed moviegoers, critics and industry buyers alike with a 118-feature selection that suggests a new surge of confidence in American independent cinema.

Didn’t get to go to Laneway? Missing the Big Day Out? NZ On Screen Content Director Irene Gardiner re-visits some of the legendary Kiwi music festivals of the past.

If there's a year that Laneway has come of age, mark it down as this one.

Live music, fireworks, nearly all the oysters in the country and chainsaw-juggling buskers with a backdrop of three days of spectacular weather: Auckland's 175th Anniversary.

Today's fifth Laneway Festival in New Zealand is a sell-out.

Live coverage of today's St Jerome's Laneway festival in Auckland, including updated reviews and photos throughout the day.

The veteran folk-rock outfit The Waterboys is the latest band to make a jump across the ditch from the Byron Bay Blues Festival.

They're one of 2014's hottest new rap acts, and they'll be heating up Laneway by performing inside a silo. Chris Schulz talks to New York rap trio Ratking.

Lydia Jenkin talks to Josh Lloyd-Watson, founder of one of the hottest bands of 2014.

On the back of debut album Goddess, US singer-songwriter Banks will bring her smokey, gravelly tones to Laneway, writes Lydia Jenkin.

They're the loudest act on Laneway's bill, but rowdy rockers Royal Blood are just two people. The hyped British act talks to Chris Schulz.

Soulful Danish electro-pop artist MO, who has risen as an international star this year, has surprisingly spent New Year's Eve in New Zealand before, as a child travelling with her parents.

2014 has been a big year for you, what have been your highlights? Splendour in the Grass was a massive one for us. It's really hard to highlight just a few moments. Everything has been incredible.

Drum 'n' bass innovator Goldie says New Zealand has always been a stronghold of the genre. He talks to Lydia Jenkin.

Jamaican singer Etana, in town for Raggamuffin, uses her artistic name to make a statement, she tells Lydia Jenkin.

Here are TimeOut's picks of the big gigs bringing in 2015.

"To get a beer," writes Chris Schulz, "you had to queue to buy beer tokens, queue to enter the beer-drinking enclosure, and queue to redeem your tokens."