1.
Pop music
–
Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form in the United States and United Kingdom during the mid 1950s. The terms popular music and pop music are used interchangeably, although the former describes all music that is popular. Pop and rock were synonymous terms until the late 1960s, when they were used in opposition from each other. Although pop music is seen as just the singles charts, it is not the sum of all chart music. Pop music is eclectic, and often borrows elements from other such as urban, dance, rock, Latin. Identifying factors include generally short to medium-length songs written in a format, as well as the common use of repeated choruses, melodic tunes. David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop music as a body of music which is distinguishable from popular, jazz, according to Pete Seeger, pop music is professional music which draws upon both folk music and fine arts music. Although pop music is seen as just the singles charts, it is not the sum of all chart music, the music charts contain songs from a variety of sources, including classical, jazz, rock, and novelty songs. Pop music, as a genre, is seen as existing and developing separately, pop music continuously evolves along with the terms definition. The term pop song was first recorded as being used in 1926, Hatch and Millward indicate that many events in the history of recording in the 1920s can be seen as the birth of the modern pop music industry, including in country, blues and hillbilly music. The Oxford Dictionary of Music states that while pops earlier meaning meant concerts appealing to a wide audience. Since the late 1950s, however, pop has had the meaning of non-classical mus, usually in the form of songs, performed by such artists as the Beatles. Grove Music Online also states that, in the early 1960s pop music competed terminologically with beat music, while in the USA its coverage overlapped with that of rock and roll. From about 1967, the term was used in opposition to the term rock music. Whereas rock aspired to authenticity and an expansion of the possibilities of music, pop was more commercial, ephemeral. It is not driven by any significant ambition except profit and commercial reward, and, in musical terms, it is essentially conservative. It is, provided from on high rather than being made from below, pop is not a do-it-yourself music but is professionally produced and packaged. The beat and the melodies tend to be simple, with limited harmonic accompaniment, the lyrics of modern pop songs typically focus on simple themes – often love and romantic relationships – although there are notable exceptions
Pop music
–
The Oxford Dictionary of Music states that the term "pop" refers to music performed by such artists as
the Rolling Stones (pictured here in a 2006 performance)
Pop music
–
According to several sources,
MTV helped give rise to
pop stars such as
Michael Jackson and
Madonna; and Jackson and Madonna helped make MTV.
Pop music
2.
Chanson
–
A chanson is in general any lyric-driven French song, usually polyphonic and secular. A singer specializing in chansons is known as a chanteur or chanteuse, the earliest chansons were the epic poems performed to simple monophonic melodies by a professional class of jongleurs or ménestrels. These usually recounted the deeds of past heroes, legendary. The Song of Roland is the most famous of these, the chanson courtoise or grand chant was an early form of monophonic chanson, the chief lyric poetic genre of the trouvères. It was an adaptation to Old French of the Occitan canso and it was practised in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Thematically, as its name implies, it was a song of courtly love, some later chansons were polyphonic and some had refrains and were called chansons avec des refrains. A Crusade song was known as a chanson de croisade, in its typical specialized usage, the word chanson refers to a polyphonic French song of the late Middle Ages and Renaissance. Early chansons tended to be in one of the formes fixes—ballade, the earliest chansons were for two, three or four voices, with first three becoming the norm, expanding to four voices by the sixteenth century. Sometimes, the singers were accompanied by instruments, the first important composer of chansons was Guillaume de Machaut, who composed three-voice works in the formes fixes during the 14th century. Guillaume Dufay and Gilles Binchois, who wrote so-called Burgundian chansons, were the most important chanson composers of the next generation and their chansons, while somewhat simple in style, are also generally in three voices with a structural tenor. Musicologist David Fallows includes the Burgundian repertoire in A Catalogue of Polyphonic Songs 1415-1480 and these works are typically still 3 voices, with an active upper voice pitched above two lower voices usually sharing the same range. The first book of music printed from movable type was Harmonice Musices Odhecaton and this genre sometimes featured music that was meant to be evocative of certain imagery such as birds or the marketplace. Many of these Parisian works were published by Pierre Attaingnant, composers of their generation, as well as later composers, such as Orlando de Lassus, were influenced by the Italian madrigal. Many early instrumental works were ornamented variations on chansons, with this becoming the canzone. French solo song developed in the late 16th century, probably from the aforementioned Parisian works, louis Niedermeyer, under the particular spell of Schubert, was a pivotal figure in this movement, followed by Édouard Lalo, Felicien David and many others. Another offshoot of chanson, called chanson réaliste, was a musical genre in France. Among the better-known performers of the genre are Damia, Fréhel, chanson can be distinguished from the rest of French pop music by following the rhythms of French language, rather than those of English, and a higher standard for lyrics. Canzone Russian chanson French historical chanson panorama Brown, Howard Mayer, in The Oxford Companion to Music, edited by Alison Latham
Chanson
–
French singer-songwriter and anarchist
Léo Ferré, in 1991.
3.
Jazz
–
Jazz is a music genre that originated amongst African Americans in New Orleans, United States, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and developed from roots in Blues and Ragtime. Since the 1920s jazz age, jazz has become recognized as a form of musical expression. Jazz is characterized by swing and blue notes, call and response vocals, polyrhythms, Jazz has roots in West African cultural and musical expression, and in African-American music traditions including blues and ragtime, as well as European military band music. Although the foundation of jazz is deeply rooted within the Black experience of the United States, different cultures have contributed their own experience, intellectuals around the world have hailed jazz as one of Americas original art forms. As jazz spread around the world, it drew on different national, regional, and local musical cultures, New Orleans jazz began in the early 1910s, combining earlier brass-band marches, French quadrilles, biguine, ragtime and blues with collective polyphonic improvisation. In the 1930s, heavily arranged dance-oriented swing big bands, Kansas City jazz, bebop emerged in the 1940s, shifting jazz from danceable popular music toward a more challenging musicians music which was played at faster tempos and used more chord-based improvisation. Cool jazz developed in the end of the 1940s, introducing calmer, smoother sounds and long, modal jazz developed in the late 1950s, using the mode, or musical scale, as the basis of musical structure and improvisation. Jazz-rock fusion appeared in the late 1960s and early 1970s, combining jazz improvisation with rock rhythms, electric instruments. In the early 1980s, a form of jazz fusion called smooth jazz became successful. Other styles and genres abound in the 2000s, such as Latin, the question of the origin of the word jazz has resulted in considerable research, and its history is well documented. It is believed to be related to jasm, a term dating back to 1860 meaning pep. The use of the word in a context was documented as early as 1915 in the Chicago Daily Tribune. Its first documented use in a context in New Orleans was in a November 14,1916 Times-Picayune article about jas bands. In an interview with NPR, musician Eubie Blake offered his recollections of the slang connotations of the term, saying, When Broadway picked it up. That was dirty, and if you knew what it was, the American Dialect Society named it the Word of the Twentieth Century. Jazz has proved to be difficult to define, since it encompasses such a wide range of music spanning a period of over 100 years. Attempts have been made to define jazz from the perspective of other musical traditions, in the opinion of Robert Christgau, most of us would say that inventing meaning while letting loose is the essence and promise of jazz. As Duke Ellington, one of jazzs most famous figures, said, although jazz is considered highly difficult to define, at least in part because it contains so many varied subgenres, improvisation is consistently regarded as being one of its key elements
Jazz
–
Louis Armstrong (1901–1971) is considered one of the pivotal musicians in jazz for his contributions as a trumpet player, composer and singer.
Jazz
–
Double bassist
Reggie Workman, saxophone player
Pharoah Sanders, and drummer
Idris Muhammad performing in 1978
Jazz
–
Albert Gleizes, 1915, Composition pour Jazz, gouache on cardboard, mounted on Masonite, 73 x 73 cm,
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
Jazz
–
In the late 18th-century painting
The Old Plantation, African-Americans dance to banjo and percussion.
4.
Barclay Records
–
Barclay Records is a French record company and label founded by Eddie Barclay in 1953. Barclay was a bandleader, pianist, producer, and nightclub owner, with his wife, Nicole, who was the vocalist in his band, he started Barclay. The catalogue included the work of Stéphane Grappelli, Lionel Hampton, in 1978 the label was sold to Polygram Records. Barclay also had operations outside France, most notably in the U. S. Barclay Records is currently owned and distributed by Universal Music Group
Barclay Records
–
The once familiar logo of Barclay Records, as it appeared on numerous releases of the originally French music company, reproduced from a photograph of a vinyl record.
5.
Mercury Records
–
Mercury Records is an American-based record label owned by Universal Music Group. In the United States, it operates through Island Records, in the UK, Mercury Record Corporation was formed in the American city of Chicago in 1945 by Irving Green, Berle Adams, Ray Greenberg and Arthur Talmadge. They were a force in jazz and blues, classical music, rock and roll. Early in the history, Mercury opened two pressing plants, one in Chicago and the other in St. Louis, Missouri. With the use of presses and providing 24-hour turnaround, they went into direct competition with major recording labels such as Columbia, Decca, Capitol. By hiring two promoters, Tiny Hill and Jimmy Hilliard, they penetrated the pop market with such as Frankie Laine, Vic Damone, Tony Fontane. Rather than rely on radio airplay, Mercury initially relied on jukeboxes to promote their music, some early Mercury recordings featured a caricature of him as its logo. In 1947 Jack Rael, a musician and publicist/manager, persuaded Mercury to let Patti Page record a song that had planned to be done by Vic Damone. The budget was too small for them to hire a second singer to provide the parts to Page. The company released a number of recordings under the Mercury label as well as its subsidiaries. In addition, they leased and purchased material by independent labels, under their own label, Mercury released a variety of recording styles from classical music to psychedelic rock. However, its subsidiaries focused on their own specialized categories of music, Mercurys jazz division had two distinct and important fathers. John Hammond brought his expertise and connections when Mercury bought Keynote Records in the late 1940s, and Mercury was the issuing company and distributor for Norman Granzs pre-Norgran/Verve recordings. Although both Hammond and Granz had departed Mercury by the mid-1950s, they established the company in the jazz world, by the early 1960s, Mercury was releasing jazz under the flagship label and was an early leader in the new stereo sound releases. Highlights of the early and mid-1960s included albums by Quincy Jones, Buddy Rich, Cannonball Adderley, Charles Mingus, Dinah Washington, Sarah Vaughan, Max Roach, in the early 1950s, Norman Granz started his own record company, Norgran, which later became Verve. In an ironic twist, both Mercury and Verve are now owned by Universal Music Group and Mercurys jazz library falls under the Verve division. Since the early 1990s, Verve has reissued many Mercury jazz titles on CD, often taking care to use original master tapes, in 1962, Mercury began marketing a line of phonographs made by Philips bearing the Mercury brand name. In July 1967, Mercury Records became the first U. S. record company to release cassette music tapes, in 1969, Mercury changed its corporate name to Mercury Record Productions Inc. while its parent Conelco became North American Philips Corp after Philips brought control of the company
Mercury Records
–
Divisions and subsidiaries
Mercury Records
–
Mercury Records
6.
Monument Records
–
Monument Records was an American record label in Washington, D. C. named for the Washington Monument, founded in 1958, by Fred Foster and Buddy Deane. Buddy Deane soon left the company, and in the early 60s bought KOTN in Pine Bluff, Foster relocated to the Nashville suburb of Hendersonville, Tennessee. Monuments releases include a variety of genres, including rock and roll, country, jazz and rhythm, in the beginning, Monument was the first of London Records distributed labels. Monument Records first release in October 1958, was also the labels first hit, billy Grammers Gotta Travel On, became a US Top 5 Billboard record chart success which sold over 900,000 copies. It also spawned a dance craze called The Shag. The signing of the former Sun Records singer, Roy Orbison, brought success to Monument Records, beginning with the 1960 release. By 1961, London Records was distributing more than forty independent companies, in 1962 Monument Records made history when it released Too Many Chicks and Jealous Heart by Leona Douglas, the first country & western recording by an African-American woman. In 1971, Foster signed a distribution agreement with CBS Records. The distribution agreement lasted until 1976, Foster switched distribution to Polygram which lasted until 1982, and then once again CBS handled distribution until 1990. K. Coltrain, Tommy Roe, The Velvets, Connie Smith, Larry Jon Wilson, Larry Gatlin, Foster started a soul and R&B label Sound Stage 7 in 1963. Artists on Sound Stage 7 included Joe Simon, The Dixie Belles, Arthur Alexander, another Monument sublabel was Rising Sons Records. Foster invested heavily in a venture in the 1980s. It was this that led to the sale of Monument and its publishing counterpart, Combine Music Group. CBS Records acquired the Monument catalog, and its successor company Sony Music reactivated the label in 1997 as a country label, some successful artists signed to Monument during this era were Little Big Town and Dixie Chicks. Monument Records catalog is managed by Sony Musics Legacy Recordings unit, list of record labels Sony Nashville Bsnpubs. com Discography for Monument Records
Monument Records
–
Monument Records
Monument Records
–
1963 Monument Records single label
7.
MGM Records
–
MGM Records was a record label started by the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film studio in 1946 for the purpose of releasing soundtrack albums of their musical films. It soon transitioned to a pop music label which continued into the 1970s, in one instance, it even released the highly successful soundtrack album of a film made by a rival studio, Columbia Picturess Born Free. Their first soundtrack was of Till the Clouds Roll By, a 1946 film based on the life of composer Jerome Kern and it was the first soundtrack album of a live-action film. The album was issued as a set of four 10-inch 78-rpm records. As in many early MGM soundtrack albums, only eight selections from the film were included on the version of the album. In order to fit the songs onto the sides the musical material needed editing. Needless to say, it was several generations removed from the original, also, the playback recordings were purposely recorded very dry otherwise it would come across as too hollow sounding in large movie theatres. This made these albums sound flat and boxy, MGM Records called these original cast albums in the style of Deccas Broadway show cast albums. They also coined the phrase recorded directly from the soundtrack, over the years the term soundtrack began to be commonly applied to any recording from a film, whether taken from the actual film soundtrack or re-recorded in studio. The phrase is sometimes incorrectly used for Broadway cast recordings. While it is correct to call a soundtrack a cast recording it is never correct to call a cast recording a soundtrack, by 1950, magnetic tape had been perfected for recording use, and this markedly improved the sound quality on the albums, beginning about 1951. MGM Records also released a soundtrack album of Quo Vadis. Beginning in the 1990s, authentic soundtrack albums of the scores to Ben-Hur. The Rhino Records editions of these albums featured literally the entire scores, Rhino also released a full-length two-disc album of the score of Gone With the Wind, recorded from the soundtrack in the original mono. Rhinos license expired at the end of 2011 and the albums Rhino issued are now out of print, Warner Bros. now owns the MGM soundtracks first issued by MGM Records and Warner Bros WaterTower Music unit now has the rights to release the MGM soundtracks. Kildare, Andy Hardy, Maisie, and Crime Does Not Pay, the MGM record pressing plant also manufactured the electrical transcriptions used to distribute the shows to local stations. The record manufacturing division was closed when MGM Records was sold to PolyGram and these Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer records were manufactured under contract with the studio by Columbia Records. In the early 1950s, MGM Records was considered one of the record companies due to owning its own manufacturing facilities
MGM Records
–
MGM Records
MGM Records
8.
Polydor Records
–
Polydor is a British record label and company, that operates as part of Universal Music Group. It has a relationship with Universals Interscope Geffen A&M label. In turn, Polydor distributes Interscope releases in the United Kingdom, Polydor Records Ltd. was established in London in 1954 as a British subsidiary of German company Deutsche Grammophon GmbH. The Polydor label was founded on 2 April 1913 by German Polyphon-Musikwerke AG in Leipzig, during World War I on 24 April 1917, Polyphon-Musikwerke AG acquired the German Deutsche Grammophon-Aktiengesellschaft record plant and company from the German government. The German state was taken over Grammophon and the British holdings as enemies property during World War I, Polydor was originally an independent branch of the Polyphon-Grammophon-Konzern group. It was used as a label since 1924. The British and German branches of the Gramophone Company were so departed during World War I, in turn, Deutsche Grammophon records exported from Germany were released on the Polyphon Musik and Polydor labels. The new foreign branches were founded for example into Austria, Denmark, Sweden, Polydor became a popular music label in 1946, while the new Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft label was to become a classical music label in 1949. The previously used label, Grammophon, was disbanded, DGG gave, with an agreement dated 5 July 1949, an exclusive license from 1 July 1951 to use the Nipper-dog with gramophone to the original owners company Electrola, the German branch of EMI. In 1970, Polydor acquired the Hong Kong-based Diamond Records, which had owned and founded by the local Portuguese merchant Ren da Silva in the late 1950s. In 1972, The Grammophon-Philips Group reorganized to create PolyGram, the Polydor label continued to run as a subsidiary label under the new company. The name PolyGram is a portmanteau of Polydor and PhonoGram, into the 1980s, Polydor continued to do respectable business, in spite of becoming increasingly overshadowed by its PolyGram sister label Mercury Records. Polydor took over management of British Deccas pop catalog, A&R manager Frank Neilson was able to score a major top ten hit in March 1981 for the label with Do The Hucklebuck by Coast to Coast as well as signing Ian Dury and Billy Fury to the company. In 1984, the name was parodied in the rockumentary film This Is Spinal Tap. By the early 1990s, Polydor had begun to underperform, in 1994, as Island Records recovered from its sales slump, PolyGram dissolved most of PLG into it. Meanwhile, Polydor Records and Atlas Records merged, briefly called Polydor/Atlas, in 1995, Polydor/Atlas became simply Polydor Records again. Over the next few years, Polydor tried to keep itself afloat with new artist signings, new releases, in 1998, PolyGram was purchased by Seagram and absorbed into its Universal Music Group. Today, in America, the Polydor Records name and logo is used on reissues of older material from its 1960s and 1970s heyday
Polydor Records
–
1920s vintage Polydor export label with its double-horn gramophone logo
Polydor Records
–
In 1954 Polydor Records introduced their distinctive orange label.
9.
Reprise Records
–
Reprise Records /rəˈpriz/ is an American major record label, founded in 1960 by Frank Sinatra. It was mostly inactive from 1976 to 1987 and it is owned by Warner Music Group, and operates through Warner Bros. Reprise Records was formed in 1960 by Frank Sinatra in order to more artistic freedom for his own recordings. Hence, he garnered the nickname The Chairman of the Board, having left Capitol/EMI, and after trying to buy Norman Granzs Verve Records, the first album Sinatra released on Reprise was Ring-a-Ding-Ding. As CEO of Reprise, Sinatra recruited several artists for the label, such as fellow Rat Pack members Dean Martin and Sammy Davis. The original roster from 1961 to 1963 included Bing Crosby, Jo Stafford, Rosemary Clooney, Nancy Sinatra, Esquivel, the label still issues any Sinatra work recorded while on the label and, after his death in 1998, it had great success with his greatest hits collections. One of the founding principles under Sinatras leadership was that each artist would have full creative freedom. This is the reason why recordings of early Reprise artists are distributed through other labels. In Martins case, his Reprise recordings were out of print for nearly 20 years before a deal was struck with Capitol Records, in 1963, as part of a film deal, Warner Bros. purchased Reprise from Sinatra, who nonetheless retained a 20% interest in the label. Many of the artists on the label were dropped by Warner Bros. Reprise president Mo Ostin was retained as the head of the label, warner-Reprise executives began targeting younger acts, beginning by securing the American distribution rights to the Pye Records recordings by the Kinks in 1964. Reprise would soon add teen-oriented pop acts like Dino, Desi & Billy to the roster, as well, Franks own daughter Nancy Sinatra would be retained by Ostin, becoming a major pop star starting in late 1965. The label moved almost exclusively to rock-oriented music in the late 1960s, rex, the Meters, John Cale, Gordon Lightfoot, Michael Franks, Richard Pryor, Al Jarreau, Fleetwood Mac, Fanny, and the Beach Boys. In 1976, the Reprise label was deactivated by Warner Bros. an unconfirmed explanation for this move is that Sinatra wanted to be the only artist on Reprise, and Young is said to have been the only Reprise act who refused to agree to a change in labels. In late 1985, some copies of the Dream Academys hit single Life in a Northern Town were pressed with Warner Bros. labels bearing a Reprise logo,1986 saw releases bearing Reprise labels from the Dream Academy as well as Dwight Yoakam. Vice President of Promotion Rich Fitzgerald was appointed as label Vice-President and it was formerly home to the Jimi Hendrix and the Barenaked Ladies catalogs in the U. S. When the Bee Gees back catalog was remastered by Rhino Records in the 2000s, neil Young stated in a documentary about his life that Marilyn Manson was turned down by Reprise. In September 2011, several took place at Reprise Records
Reprise Records
–
"Tricolor" label, used by Reprise until 1968. (Label to
The Kinks '
Something Else.)
Reprise Records
–
Reprise Records
Reprise Records
–
"Two-tone orange" label used by Reprise during the Warner Bros.-Seven Arts merger from 1968 to 1969. (Label to
Jimi Hendrix 's
Smash Hits.) After the Kinney National Company took over Warner Bros. in 1969, the orange tone at the top of the label was changed to the same tone as on the rest of the label, the W7 box logo was removed and the circled:r logo became a boxed logo without the "Reprise" designation.
Reprise Records
–
Red label, used by Reprise throughout the late 1970s. (Label to
Neil Young 's
Decade.)
10.
Armenian language
–
The Armenian language is an Indo-European language spoken by the Armenians. Like Hellenic Greek, it has its own branch in the language tree. It is the language of Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. It has historically been spoken throughout the Armenian Highlands and today is spoken in the Armenian diaspora. Armenian has its own script, the Armenian alphabet, introduced in 405 AD by Mesrop Mashtots. Armenian is an independent branch of the Indo-European languages and it is of interest to linguists for its distinctive phonological developments within that family. Armenian exhibits more satemization than centumization, although it is not classified as belonging to either of these subgroups, Armenia was a monolingual country by the 2nd century BC at the latest. Its language has a literary history, with a 5th-century Bible translation as its oldest surviving text. Its vocabulary has been influenced by Western Middle Iranian languages, particularly Parthian, and to an extent by Greek, Persian. There are two standardized modern literary forms, Eastern Armenian and Western Armenian, with which most contemporary dialects are mutually intelligible and he is also credited by some with the creation of the Caucasian Albanian alphabet. In The Anabasis, Xenophon describes many aspects of Armenian village life and he relates that the Armenian people spoke a language that to his ear sounded like the language of the Persians. W. M. However, unlike shared innovations, the retention of archaisms is not considered conclusive evidence of a period of common isolated development. Some of the terms he gives admittedly have an Akkadian or Sumerian provenance, loan words from Iranian languages, along with the other ancient accounts such as that of Xenophon above, initially led linguists to erroneously classify Armenian as an Iranian language. Scholars such as Paul de Lagarde and F. Müller believed that the similarities between the two meant that Iranian and Armenian were the same language. The distinctness of Armenian was recognized when philologist Heinrich Hübschmann used the method to distinguish two layers of Iranian loans from the older Armenian vocabulary. Meillets hypothesis became popular in the wake of his Esquisse, eric P. Hamp supports the Graeco-Armenian thesis, anticipating even a time when we should speak of Helleno-Armenian. Nevertheless, as Fortson comments, by the time we reach our earliest Armenian records in the 5th century AD, graeco--Aryan is a hypothetical clade within the Indo-European family, ancestral to the Greek language, the Armenian language, and the Indo-Iranian languages. Graeco-Aryan unity would have divided into Proto-Greek and Proto-Indo-Iranian by the mid-third millennium BC
Armenian language
–
Armenian manuscript, 5th–6th century.
Armenian language
–
regions where Armenian is the language of the majority
Armenian language
–
The Four Gospels, 1495, Portrait of St Mark Wellcome with Armenian inscriptions
Armenian language
–
First Armenian language Bible.
11.
France
–
France, officially the French Republic, is a country with territory in western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The European, or metropolitan, area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, Overseas France include French Guiana on the South American continent and several island territories in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. France spans 643,801 square kilometres and had a population of almost 67 million people as of January 2017. It is a unitary republic with the capital in Paris. Other major urban centres include Marseille, Lyon, Lille, Nice, Toulouse, during the Iron Age, what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls, a Celtic people. The area was annexed in 51 BC by Rome, which held Gaul until 486, France emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages, with its victory in the Hundred Years War strengthening state-building and political centralisation. During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a colonial empire was established. The 16th century was dominated by civil wars between Catholics and Protestants. France became Europes dominant cultural, political, and military power under Louis XIV, in the 19th century Napoleon took power and established the First French Empire, whose subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and later dissolved in the course of the Algerian War, the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, was formed in 1958 and remains to this day. Algeria and nearly all the colonies became independent in the 1960s with minimal controversy and typically retained close economic. France has long been a centre of art, science. It hosts Europes fourth-largest number of cultural UNESCO World Heritage Sites and receives around 83 million foreign tourists annually, France is a developed country with the worlds sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP and ninth-largest by purchasing power parity. In terms of household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, France remains a great power in the world, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state. It is a member state of the European Union and the Eurozone. It is also a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, originally applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name France comes from the Latin Francia, or country of the Franks
France
–
One of the
Lascaux paintings: a horse –
Dordogne, approximately 18,000 BC
France
–
Flag
France
–
The
Maison Carrée was a temple of the
Gallo-Roman city of Nemausus (present-day
Nîmes) and is one of the best preserved vestiges of the
Roman Empire.
France
–
With
Clovis ' conversion to Catholicism in 498, the
Frankish monarchy,
elective and
secular until then, became
hereditary and of
divine right.
12.
Naturalization
–
Naturalization is the legal act or process by which a non-citizen in a country may acquire citizenship or nationality of that country. It may be done by a statute, without any effort on the part of the individual, or it may involve an application, an oath or pledge of allegiance is also sometimes required. In some rare cases, laws for mass naturalization were passed, since World War II, the increase in international migrations created a new category of refugees, most of them economic refugees. The Peoples Republic of China gives citizenship to persons with one or two parents with Chinese nationality who have not taken residence in other countries, the country also gives citizenship to people born on its territory to stateless people who have settled there. Furthermore, individuals may apply for nationality if they have a relative with Chinese nationality, if they have settled in China. In practice, only few people gain Chinese citizenship, as of 2010, the naturalization process starts with a written application. Applicants must also submit original copies of a passport, a residence permit, a permanent residence permit. The Indian citizenship and nationality law and the Constitution of India provides single citizenship for the entire country, the provisions relating to citizenship at the commencement of the Constitution are contained in Articles 5 to 11 in Part II of the Constitution of India. Relevant Indian legislation is the Citizenship Act 1955, which has been amended by the Citizenship Act 1986, the Citizenship Act 1992, the Citizenship Act 2003, and the Citizenship Ordinance 2005. The Citizenship Act 2003 received the assent of the President of India on 7 January 2004, the Citizenship Ordinance 2005 was promulgated by the President of India and came into force on 28 June 2005. Following these reforms, Indian nationality law largely follows the jus sanguinis as opposed to the jus soli, Indonesian nationality is regulated by Law No. The Indonesian nationality law is based on jus sanguinis and jus soli, the Indonesian nationality law does not recognize dual citizenship except for persons under the age of 18. After reaching 18 years of age individuals are forced to choose one citizenship, Israels Declaration of Independence was made on 14 May 1948, the day before the British Mandate was due to expire as a result of the United Nations Partition Plan. The Israeli parliament created two laws regarding immigration, citizenship and naturalization, the Law of Return and the Israeli nationality law, the Law of Return, enacted on July 15,1950, gives Jews living anywhere in the world the right to immigrate to Israel. This right to immigrate did not and still does not grant citizenship, in fact, for four years after Israel gained independence, there were no Israeli citizens. On July 14,1952, the Israeli parliament enacted the Israeli Nationality Law. The Nationality Law naturalized all citizens of Mandated Palestine, the inhabitants of Israel on July 15,1952, because of Israels relatively new and culturally mixed identity, Israel does not grant citizenship to persons born on Israeli soil. Instead, the government chose to enact a jus sanguinis system, there is currently no legislation on second-generation immigrants
Naturalization
–
A judge swears in a new citizen-to-be. New York, NY 1910
Naturalization
–
Legal status of
persons
Naturalization
–
New citizens at a naturalization ceremony at
Kennedy Space Center in 2010
Naturalization
–
Servicemembers are sworn in as citizens aboard the
USS Midway in 2009
13.
Armenia
–
Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a sovereign state in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia. The Republic of Armenia constitutes only one-tenth of historical Armenia, Armenia is a unitary, multi-party, democratic nation-state with an ancient cultural heritage. Urartu was established in 860 BC and by the 6th century BC it was replaced by the Satrapy of Armenia, in the 1st century BC the Kingdom of Armenia reached its height under Tigranes the Great. Armenia became the first state in the world to adopt Christianity as its official religion, in between the late 3rd century to early years of the 4th century, the state became the first Christian nation. The official date of adoption of Christianity is 301 AD. The ancient Armenian kingdom was split between the Byzantine and Sasanian Empires around the early 5th century, under the Bagratuni dynasty, the Bagratid Kingdom of Armenia was restored in the 9th century. Declining due to the wars against the Byzantines, the fell in 1045. An Armenian principality and later a kingdom Cilician Armenia was located on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea between the 11th and 14th centuries. By the 19th century, Eastern Armenia had been conquered by the Russian Empire, during World War I, Armenians living in their ancestral lands in the Ottoman Empire were systematically exterminated in the Armenian Genocide. By 1920, the state was incorporated into the Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic, in 1936, the Transcaucasian state was dissolved, transforming its constituent states, including the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic, into full Union republics. The modern Republic of Armenia became independent in 1991 during the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the Republic of Armenia recognises the Armenian Apostolic Church, the worlds oldest national church, as the countrys primary religious establishment. The unique Armenian alphabet was invented by Mesrop Mashtots in 405 AD, Armenia is a member of the Eurasian Economic Union, the Council of Europe and the Collective Security Treaty Organization. Armenia supports the de facto independent Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, which was proclaimed in 1991, the native Armenian name for the country is Հայք. The name in the Middle Ages was extended to Հայաստան, by addition of the Persian suffix -stan, the further origin of the name is uncertain. It is also postulated that the name Hay comes from one of the two confederated, Hittite vassal states—the Ḫayaša-Azzi. The exonym Armenia is attested in the Old Persian Behistun Inscription as Armina, the ancient Greek terms Ἀρμενία and Ἀρμένιοι are first mentioned by Hecataeus of Miletus. Xenophon, a Greek general serving in some of the Persian expeditions, describes many aspects of Armenian village life and he relates that the people spoke a language that to his ear sounded like the language of the Persians. According to the histories of both Moses of Chorene and Michael Chamchian, Armenia derives from the name of Aram, a descendant of Hayk
Armenia
–
Reconstruction of
Herodotus ' world map c. 450 BC, with Armenia shown in the center
Armenia
–
Flag
Armenia
–
The Armenian pagan
Temple of Garni, probably built 1st century AD, is the only "Greco-Roman
colonnaded building" in Armenia and the entire
former Soviet Union.
Armenia
–
The
Etchmiadzin Cathedral, Armenia's Mother Church traditionally dated 303 AD, is considered the oldest cathedral in the world.
14.
Tenor
–
Tenor is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range is one of the highest of the male voice types. The tenors vocal range lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, and A4, the A above middle C, in solo work, this range extends up to C5, or tenor high C. The low extreme for tenors is roughly A♭2, at the highest extreme, some tenors can sing up to two Fs above middle C. The tenor voice type is divided into the leggero tenor, lyric tenor, spinto tenor, dramatic tenor, heldentenor. The name tenor derives from the Latin word tenere, which means to hold, in medieval and Renaissance polyphony between about 1250 and 1500, the tenor was the structurally fundamental voice, vocal or instrumental. All other voices were normally calculated in relation to the tenor, until the late 16th century introduction of the contratenor singers, the tenor was usually the highest voice, assuming the role of providing a foundation. It was also in the 18th century that tenor came to signify the male voice that sang such parts, thus, for earlier repertoire, a line marked tenor indicated the parts role, and not the required voice type. Indeed, even as late as the century, partbooks labelled tenor might contain parts for a range of voice types. The vocal range of the tenor is one of the highest of the voice types. Within opera, the lowest note in the tenor repertoire is probably A♭2 in Rossinis rarely performed La donna del lago in the role of Rodrigo di Dhu. Within more frequently performed repertoire, Mime and Herod both call for an A2, a few tenor roles in the standard repertoire call for a tenor C. Some of the few top Cs in the operatic repertoire are either optional or interpolated by tradition. However, the highest demanded note in the standard operatic repertoire is D5. Some operatic roles for tenors require a darker timbre and fewer high notes, in the leggero repertoire, the highest note is F5, therefore, very few tenors can, given the raising of concert pitch since its composition, have this role in their repertoire without transposition. Within the tenor voice type category are seven generally recognized subcategories, leggero tenor, lyric tenor, spinto tenor, dramatic tenor, heldentenor, Mozart tenor, Also known as the tenore di grazia, the leggero tenor is essentially the male equivalent of a lyric coloratura. This voice is light, agile, and capable of executing difficult passages of fioritura, the typical leggero tenor possesses a range spanning from approximately C3 to E♭5, with a few being able to sing up to F5 or higher in full voice. In some cases, the chest register of the leggero tenor may extend below C3, voices of this type are utilized frequently in the operas of Rossini, Donizetti, Bellini and in music dating from the Baroque period. Leggero tenor roles in operas, The lyric tenor is a warm voice with a bright, full timbre that is strong but not heavy
Tenor
–
Tenor voice range (C3–C5) indicated in sheet music (left) and on piano keyboard in green with dot marking middle C (C4).
15.
Frank Sinatra
–
Francis Albert Sinatra was an American singer, actor, and producer who was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century. He is one of the music artists of all time. Born in Hoboken, New Jersey, to Italian immigrants, Sinatra began his career in the swing era with bandleaders Harry James. Sinatra found success as a solo artist after he signed with Columbia Records in 1943 and he released his debut album, The Voice of Frank Sinatra, in 1946. Sinatras professional career had stalled by the early 1950s, and he turned to Las Vegas and his career was reborn in 1953 with the success of From Here to Eternity, with his performance subsequently winning an Academy Award and Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor. Sinatra released several critically lauded albums, including In the Wee Small Hours, Come Fly with Me, Only the Lonely and Nice n Easy. Sinatra left Capitol in 1960 to start his own label, Reprise Records. It was followed by 1968s collaboration with Duke Ellington, using his Las Vegas shows as a home base, he toured both within the United States and internationally until a short time before his death in 1998. Sinatra forged a successful career as a film actor. After winning an Academy Award for From Here to Eternity, he starred in The Man with the Golden Arm and he appeared in various musicals such as On the Town, Guys and Dolls, High Society, and Pal Joey, winning another Golden Globe for the latter. Toward the end of his career, he associated with playing detectives. Sinatra would later receive the Golden Globe Cecil B, on television, The Frank Sinatra Show began on ABC in 1950, and he continued to make appearances on television throughout the 1950s and 1960s. While Sinatra never formally learned how to read music, he had a natural, intuitive understanding of it, a perfectionist, renowned for his impeccable dress sense and cleanliness, he always insisted on recording live with his band. His bright blue eyes earned him the popular nickname Ol Blue Eyes, Sinatra led a colorful personal life, and was often involved in turbulent affairs with women, such as with his second wife Ava Gardner. He went on to marry Mia Farrow in 1966 and Barbara Marx in 1976, Sinatra had several violent confrontations, usually with journalists he felt had crossed him, or work bosses with whom he had disagreements. He was honored at the Kennedy Center Honors in 1983, was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Ronald Reagan in 1985, Sinatra was also the recipient of eleven Grammy Awards, including the Grammy Trustees Award, Grammy Legend Award and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. After his death, American music critic Robert Christgau called him the greatest singer of the 20th century, Francis Albert Sinatra was born on December 12,1915, in an upstairs tenement at 415 Monroe Street in Hoboken, New Jersey. He was the child of Italian immigrants Antonino Martino Marty Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
–
Sinatra in 1957
Frank Sinatra
–
Hoboken, New Jersey, early 20th century
Frank Sinatra
–
Sinatra (far right) with the Hoboken Four on Major Bowes' Amateur Hour
Frank Sinatra
–
Harry James in 1942
16.
Armenians
–
Armenians are an ethnic group native to the Armenian Highlands. Armenians constitute the population of Armenia and the de facto independent Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. There is a diaspora of around 5 million people of full or partial Armenian ancestry living outside of modern Armenia. The largest Armenian populations today exist in Russia, the United States, France, Georgia, Iran, Germany, Ukraine, Lebanon, Brazil and Syria. With the exceptions of Iran and the former Soviet states, the present-day Armenian diaspora was formed mainly as a result of the Armenian Genocide, most Armenians adhere to the Armenian Apostolic Church, a non-Chalcedonian church, which is also the worlds oldest national church. Christianity began to spread in Armenia soon after Jesus death, due to the efforts of two of his apostles, St. Thaddeus and St. Bartholomew, in the early 4th century, the Kingdom of Armenia became the first state to adopt Christianity as a state religion. The unique Armenian alphabet was invented in 405 AD by Mesrop Mashtots, historically, the name Armenian has come to internationally designate this group of people. It was first used by neighbouring countries of ancient Armenia, the earliest attestations of the exonym Armenia date around the 6th century BC. In his trilingual Behistun Inscription dated to 517 BC, Darius I the Great of Persia refers to Urashtu as Armina (in Old Persian, Armina and Harminuya. In Greek, Αρμένιοι Armenians is attested from about the same time, xenophon, a Greek general serving in some of the Persian expeditions, describes many aspects of Armenian village life and hospitality in around 401 BC. He relates that the people spoke a language that to his ear sounded like the language of the Persians and it is also further postulated that the name Hay comes from one of the two confederated, Hittite vassal states—the Ḫayaša-Azzi. Movses Khorenatsi, the important early medieval Armenian historian, wrote that the word Armenian originated from the name Armenak or Aram, the Armenian Highland lies in the highlands surrounding Mount Ararat, the highest peak of the region. In the Bronze Age, several states flourished in the area of Greater Armenia, including the Hittite Empire, Mitanni, soon after Hayasa-Azzi were Arme-Shupria, the Nairi and the Kingdom of Urartu, who successively established their sovereignty over the Armenian Highland. Each of the nations and tribes participated in the ethnogenesis of the Armenian people. Under Ashurbanipal, the Assyrian empire reached the Caucasus Mountains, yerevan, the modern capital of Armenia, was founded in 782 BC by king Argishti I. T. Gamkrelidze and V. Ivanov proposed the Indo-European homeland around the Armenian Highland, eric P. Hamp in his 2012 Indo-European family tree, groups the Armenian language along with Greek and Ancient Macedonian in the Pontic Indo-European subgroup. In Hamps view the homeland of this subgroup is the northeast coast of the Black Sea and he assumes that they migrated from there southeast through the Caucasus with the Armenians remaining after Batumi while the pre-Greeks proceeded westwards along the southern coast of the Black Sea. However, fresh genetics studies explain Armenian diversity by several mixtures of Eurasian populations that occurred between ~3,000 and ~2,000 b. c
Armenians
Armenians
–
Hayk, the legendary founder of the Armenian nation. Painting by
Mkrtum Hovnatanian (1779–1846)
Armenians
–
The
Cathedral of Ani, completed in 1001
Armenians
–
About 1.5 million Armenians were killed during the
Armenian Genocide in 1915–1918.
17.
CNN
–
The Cable News Network is an American basic cable and satellite television news channel owned by the Turner Broadcasting System division of Time Warner. It was founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner as a 24-hour cable news channel, upon its launch, CNN was the first television channel to provide 24-hour news coverage, and was the first all-news television channel in the United States. While the news channel has numerous affiliates, CNN primarily broadcasts from the Time Warner Center in New York City and its headquarters at the CNN Center in Atlanta is only used for weekend programming. CNN is sometimes referred to as CNN/U. S. to distinguish the American channel from its sister network. As of August 2010, CNN is available in over 100 million U. S. households, broadcast coverage of the U. S. channel extends to over 890,000 American hotel rooms, as well as carriage on cable and satellite providers throughout Canada. Globally, CNN programming airs through CNN International, which can be seen by viewers in over 212 countries and territories, as of February 2015, CNN is available to about 96,289,000 cable, satellite, and telco television households in the United States. The Cable News Network was launched at 5,00 p. m. Eastern Time on June 1,1980, after an introduction by Ted Turner, the husband and wife team of David Walker and Lois Hart anchored the channels first newscast. Burt Reinhardt, the vice president of CNN at its launch, hired most of the channels first 200 employees, including the networks first news anchor. Since its debut, CNN has expanded its reach to a number of cable and satellite providers, several websites. The company has 36 bureaus, more than 900 affiliated local stations, the channels success made a bona-fide mogul of founder Ted Turner and set the stage for conglomerate Time Warners eventual acquisition of the Turner Broadcasting System in 1996. A companion channel, CNN2, was launched on January 1,1982, on January 28,1986, CNN carried the only live television coverage of the launch and subsequent break-up of Space Shuttle Challenger, which killed all seven crew members on board. On October 14,1987, Jessica McClure, an 18-month-old toddler, fell down a well in Midland, CNN quickly reported on the story, and the event helped make its name. This was before correspondents reported live from the capital while American bombs were falling. Before Saddam Hussein held a press conference with a few of the hundreds of Americans he was holding hostage. Before the nation watched, riveted but powerless, as Los Angeles was looted and burned, before O. J. Simpson took a slow ride in a white Bronco, and before everyone close to his case had an agent and a book contract. This was uncharted territory just a time ago. The moment when bombing began was announced on CNN by Bernard Shaw on January 16,1991, as follows, lets describe to our viewers what were seeing. The skies over Baghdad have been illuminated, were seeing bright flashes going off all over the sky
CNN
–
Replica of the newsroom at CNN Center.
CNN
–
CNN
CNN
–
Operation Desert Storm as captured live on a CNN
night vision camera with reporters narrating.
CNN
–
The stage for the second 2008
CNN-YouTube presidential debate.
18.
Elvis Presley
–
Elvis Aaron Presley was an American singer and actor. Regarded as one of the most significant cultural icons of the 20th century, he is referred to as the King of Rock and Roll. Presley was born in Tupelo, Mississippi, and relocated to Memphis and his music career began there in 1954, when he recorded a song with producer Sam Phillips at Sun Records. Accompanied by guitarist Scotty Moore and bassist Bill Black, Presley was a popularizer of rockabilly. RCA Victor acquired his contract in a deal arranged by Colonel Tom Parker, Presleys first RCA single, Heartbreak Hotel, was released in January 1956 and became a number-one hit in the United States. He was regarded as the figure of rock and roll after a series of successful network television appearances. In November 1956, Presley made his debut in Love Me Tender. In 1958, he was drafted into military service, in 1973, Presley featured in the first globally broadcast concert via satellite, Aloha from Hawaii. Several years of drug abuse severely damaged his health. Presley is one of the most celebrated and influential musicians of the 20th century and he won three Grammys, also receiving the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award at age 36, and has been inducted into multiple music halls of fame. Presley was born on January 8,1935, in Tupelo, Mississippi, to Gladys Love and Vernon Elvis Presley, Jesse Garon Presley, his identical twin brother, was delivered stillborn 35 minutes before his own birth. Thus, as a child, Presley became close to both parents and formed an especially close bond with his mother. The family attended an Assembly of God, where he found his musical inspiration. Although he was in conflict with the Pentecostal church in his later years, rev. Rex Humbard officiated at his funeral, as Presley had been an admirer of Humbards ministry. Presleys ancestry was primarily a Western European mix, including Scots-Irish, Scottish, German, gladyss great-great-grandmother, Morning Dove White, was possibly a Cherokee Native American. Gladys was regarded by relatives and friends as the dominant member of the small family, Vernon moved from one odd job to the next, evincing little ambition. The family often relied on help from neighbors and government food assistance, the Presleys survived the F5 tornado in the 1936 Tupelo–Gainesville tornado outbreak. In 1938, they lost their home after Vernon was found guilty of kiting a check written by the landowner, Orville S. Bean and he was jailed for eight months, and Gladys and Elvis moved in with relatives
Elvis Presley
–
Presley in a publicity photograph for the 1957 film
Jailhouse Rock
Elvis Presley
–
Presley's birthplace in
Tupelo, Mississippi
Elvis Presley
–
Presley in a
Sun Records promotional photograph, 1954
Elvis Presley
–
The "iconic cover" of
Presley's 1956 debut album featuring a photo taken July 31, 1955, in Tampa, Florida
19.
Bob Dylan
–
Bob Dylan is an American songwriter, singer, painter, and writer. He has been influential in music and culture for more than five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s, when his songs chronicled social unrest, early songs such as Blowin in the Wind and The Times They Are a-Changin became anthems for the Civil Rights Movement and anti-war movement. Leaving behind his initial base in the American folk music revival, his six-minute single Like a Rolling Stone, recorded in 1965, Dylans lyrics incorporate a wide range of political, social, philosophical, and literary influences. They defied existing pop music conventions and appealed to the burgeoning counterculture, initially inspired by the performances of Little Richard and the songwriting of Woody Guthrie, Robert Johnson, and Hank Williams, Dylan has amplified and personalized musical genres. Dylan performs with guitar, keyboards, and harmonica, backed by a changing lineup of musicians, he has toured steadily since the late 1980s on what has been dubbed the Never Ending Tour. His accomplishments as a recording artist and performer have been central to his career, since 1994, Dylan has published seven books of drawings and paintings, and his work has been exhibited in major art galleries. As a musician, Dylan has sold more than 100 million records and he has also received numerous awards including eleven Grammy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, and an Academy Award. Dylan has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Minnesota Music Hall of Fame, Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, and Songwriters Hall of Fame. The Pulitzer Prize jury in 2008 awarded him a citation for his profound impact on popular music and American culture. In May 2012, Dylan received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama, in 2016, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition. Bob Dylan was born Robert Allen Zimmerman in St. Marys Hospital on May 24,1941, in Duluth, Minnesota and he has a younger brother, David. Dylans paternal grandparents, Zigman and Anna Zimmerman, emigrated from Odessa, in the Russian Empire and his maternal grandparents, Ben and Florence Stone, were Lithuanian Jews who arrived in the United States in 1902. Dylans father, Abram Zimmerman – an electric-appliance shop owner – and mother, Beatrice Beatty Stone, were part of a small, close-knit Jewish community. They lived in Duluth until Robert was six, when his father had polio and the returned to his mothers hometown, Hibbing. In his early years he listened to the radio—first to blues and country stations from Shreveport, Louisiana, and later and he formed several bands while attending Hibbing High School. In the Golden Chords, he performed covers of songs by Little Richard and their performance of Danny & the Juniors Rock and Roll Is Here to Stay at their high school talent show was so loud that the principal cut the microphone. In 1959, his high school yearbook carried the caption Robert Zimmerman, the same year, as Elston Gunnn, he performed two dates with Bobby Vee, playing piano and clapping
Bob Dylan
–
Dylan onstage at Azkena Rock Festival,
Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain, June 26, 2010
Bob Dylan
–
Zimmerman family home in Hibbing, Minnesota
Bob Dylan
–
With
Joan Baez during the civil rights "
March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom ", August 28, 1963
Bob Dylan
–
Bob Dylan in November 1963
20.
1988 Armenian earthquake
–
The 1988 Armenian earthquake, also known as the Spitak earthquake occurred in the northern region of Armenia on December 7 at 11,41 local time. The earthquake measured 6.8 on the surface wave magnitude scale and had a maximum perceived intensity of X on the Medvedev–Sponheuer–Karnik scale. The region that the earthquake occurred is vulnerable to occasional large, activity in the area is associated with tectonic plate boundary interaction and the source of the event was a slip of a thrust fault just to the north of Spitak. The cities of Spitak, Leninakan, and Kirovakan were greatly affected with large losses of life and devastating effects to buildings, a number of the smaller outlying villages away from the larger population centers were also severely affected. In support of the effort, recording artists united to produce several music-related contributions for the victims of the quake. A song was produced by a duo of French composers and a album that featured songs donated by mainstream rock bands was released from the Rock Aid Armenia effort by the British music industry. Beginning with late 1987 the Caucasus region was experiencing a surge in political turmoil with large, the unrest and the opposition movement began in September 1988 with negotiations between the Karabakh Committee and Gorbachev taking place throughout most of 1989. The source of the event was a fault rupture 40 kilometers south of the Caucasus Mountains, a range that has been produced by the convergence of the Arabian. The range is situated along an active seismic belt that stretches from the Alps in southern Europe to the Himalayas in Asia, the seismicity along this belt is marked by frequent major earthquakes from the Aegean Sea, through Turkey and Iran, and into Afghanistan. Mount Ararat, a 5,137 m dormant volcano, lies 100 kilometers to the south of the epicenter in Turkey. The earthquake occurred along a known 60 km thrust fault striking parallel to the Caucasus range, during the earthquake, the northeast-facing side of the Spitak section rode up and over the southwest-facing side. The mainshock produced surface rupture and propagated to the west with a separate strike-slip sub-event occurring two seconds later that propagated to the southeast, going westward the fault split into two branches, a north-dipping reverse fault and a right slip fault, but neither produced surface rupture. A total of five sub-events occurred in the first eleven seconds, some of the strongest shaking occurred in industrial areas with chemical and food processing plants, electrical substations, and power plants. It was reopened in 1995 amid criticism of lack of training, political instability in the Caucasus region, at that time the International Atomic Energy Agencys assistant director general Morris Rosen said of the situation. You would never build a plant in that area, thats for sure, buildings that didnt collapse featured well-maintained masonry and skeletal components that were joined together adequately in a way that allowed for the building to resist seismic waves. Most bridges and tunnels and other public infrastructure withstood the earthquake, most collapsed, killing two-thirds of the doctors, destroying equipment and medicine, and reducing the capacity to handle the critical medical needs in the region. The Soviet news media and government officials began to discuss the apparent substandard construction styles that had caused so many of Armenias buildings to collapse. The official communist party newspaper Pravda said that construction, like other issues of neglect in the Soviet system
1988 Armenian earthquake
–
USGS shakemap showing the December 7 mainshock intensity
1988 Armenian earthquake
–
Spitak
1988 Armenian earthquake
–
Building damage in Leninakan
1988 Armenian earthquake
–
Severely damaged masonry buildings in Spitak
21.
Switzerland
–
Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a federal republic in Europe. It consists of 26 cantons, and the city of Bern is the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in western-Central Europe, and is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland is a country geographically divided between the Alps, the Swiss Plateau and the Jura, spanning an area of 41,285 km2. The establishment of the Old Swiss Confederacy dates to the medieval period, resulting from a series of military successes against Austria. Swiss independence from the Holy Roman Empire was formally recognized in the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. The country has a history of armed neutrality going back to the Reformation, it has not been in a state of war internationally since 1815, nevertheless, it pursues an active foreign policy and is frequently involved in peace-building processes around the world. In addition to being the birthplace of the Red Cross, Switzerland is home to international organisations. On the European level, it is a member of the European Free Trade Association. However, it participates in the Schengen Area and the European Single Market through bilateral treaties, spanning the intersection of Germanic and Romance Europe, Switzerland comprises four main linguistic and cultural regions, German, French, Italian and Romansh. Due to its diversity, Switzerland is known by a variety of native names, Schweiz, Suisse, Svizzera. On coins and stamps, Latin is used instead of the four living languages, Switzerland is one of the most developed countries in the world, with the highest nominal wealth per adult and the eighth-highest per capita gross domestic product according to the IMF. Zürich and Geneva have each been ranked among the top cities in the world in terms of quality of life, with the former ranked second globally, according to Mercer. The English name Switzerland is a compound containing Switzer, a term for the Swiss. The English adjective Swiss is a loan from French Suisse, also in use since the 16th century. The name Switzer is from the Alemannic Schwiizer, in origin an inhabitant of Schwyz and its associated territory, the Swiss began to adopt the name for themselves after the Swabian War of 1499, used alongside the term for Confederates, Eidgenossen, used since the 14th century. The data code for Switzerland, CH, is derived from Latin Confoederatio Helvetica. The toponym Schwyz itself was first attested in 972, as Old High German Suittes, ultimately related to swedan ‘to burn’
Switzerland
–
Founded in 44 BC by
Lucius Munatius Plancus,
Augusta Raurica was the first Roman settlement on the Rhine and is now among the most important archaeological sites in Switzerland.
Switzerland
–
Flag
Switzerland
–
The 1291 Bundesbrief (Federal charter)
Switzerland
–
The Old Swiss Confederacy from 1291 (dark green) to the sixteenth century (light green) and its associates (blue). In the other colors are shown the subject territories.
22.
Geneva
–
Geneva is the second most populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaking part of Switzerland. Situated where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the capital of the Republic, the municipality has a population of 198,072, and the canton has 484,736 residents. In 2014, the compact agglomération du Grand Genève had 946,000 inhabitants in 212 communities in both Switzerland and France, within Swiss territory, the commuter area named Métropole lémanique contains a population of 1.25 million. This area is essentially spread east from Geneva towards the Riviera area and north-east towards Yverdon-les-Bains, Geneva is the city that hosts the highest number of international organizations in the world. It is also the place where the Geneva Conventions were signed, Geneva was ranked as the worlds ninth most important financial centre for competitiveness by the Global Financial Centres Index, ahead of Frankfurt, and third in Europe behind London and Zürich. A2009 survey by Mercer found that Geneva has the third-highest quality of life of any city in the world, the city has been referred to as the worlds most compact metropolis and the Peace Capital. In 2009 and 2011, Geneva was ranked as, respectively, the city was mentioned in Latin texts, by Caesar, with the spelling Genava, probably from a Celtic toponym *genawa- from the stem *genu-, in the sense of a bending river or estuary. The medieval county of Geneva in Middle Latin was known as pagus major Genevensis or Comitatus Genevensis, the name takes various forms in modern languages, Geneva /dʒᵻˈniːvə/ in English, French, Genève, German, Genf, Italian, Ginevra, and Romansh, Genevra. The city in origin shares its name, *genawa estuary, with the Italian port city of Genoa, Geneva was an Allobrogian border town, fortified against the Helvetii tribe, when the Romans took it in 121 BC. It became Christian under the Late Roman Empire, and acquired its first bishop in the 5th century, having been connected to the bishopric of Vienne in the 4th. In the Middle Ages, Geneva was ruled by a count under the Holy Roman Empire until the late 14th century, around this time the House of Savoy came to dominate the city. In the 15th century, a republican government emerged with the creation of the Grand Council. In 1541, with Protestantism in the ascendancy, John Calvin, by the 18th century, however, Geneva had come under the influence of Catholic France, which cultivated the city as its own. France also tended to be at odds with the ordinary townsfolk, in 1798, revolutionary France under the Directory annexed Geneva. At the end of the Napoleonic Wars, on 1 June 1814, in 1907, the separation of Church and State was adopted. Geneva flourished in the 19th and 20th centuries, becoming the seat of international organizations. Geneva is located at 46°12 North, 6°09 East, at the end of Lake Geneva. It is surrounded by two chains, the Alps and the Jura
Geneva
–
Top left:
Palace of Nations, Middle left:
ATLAS experiment at
CERN, Right:
Jet d'Eau, Bottom: View over Geneva and the
lake.
Geneva
–
L'Escalade, the failed surprise-attack (12 December 1602) made by troops sent by
Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy, to take Geneva
Geneva
–
Geneva seen from SPOT Satellite
Geneva
–
The Geneva area seen from the Salève in France. The Jura mountains can be seen on the horizon.
23.
Akhaltsikhe
–
Akhaltsikhe is a small city in Georgias southwestern region of Samtskhe-Javakheti. It is situated on the banks of a small river Potskhovi, which separates the city to the old city in the north. The city is first mentioned in the chronicles in the 12th century, in the 12th–13th centuries it was the seat of the Akhaltsikhelis, dukes of Samtskhe, whose two most illustrious representatives were Shalva and Ivane Akhaltsikheli. From the 13th up to the 17th century the city and Samtkhe were governed by the family of the Jaqelis. In 1576 the Ottomans took it and from 1628 the city became the centre of the Samtskhe Eyalet of the Ottoman Empire as Ahıska. In the old part of the city one can see an old fortress, castle and mosque, the old fortress of the Jakelis, the hills nearby the city harbour the Sapara Monastery. In the late 1980s the city was host to the Soviet Armys 10th Guards Motor Rifle Division, in 2002, the population consisted of 28,473 Georgians and 16,879 Armenians. According to the 2014 Census, the population with the many surrounding villages was 46,134. The city proper is currently 17,903, in 2014 the majority were ethnic Georgians, with minority of Armenians. This includes the alluvial flood-plain of the Kura River, and all the way to the high grasslands, human occupation is attested already in the Early Bronze Age and later. The Roman and medieval periods artifacts are also represented in the area. On the northeastern outskirts of Akhaltsikhe is an important archaeological site of Amiranis Gora, the earliest carbon date for Amiranis Gora is 3790-3373 cal BC. Amiranis Gora is an important reference point for the study of the Early Bronze Age Kura-Araxes culture, the many references include the architecture, burial practices, material culture and metallurgy. Amiranis Gora is one of the best sites with fixed stratigraphy of the Kura-Araxes culture, the carbon date for the Kura-Araxes material at Amiranis Gora is 3630-3048 cal B. C. which is very early. Battle of Akhalzic Akhaltsikhe Museum Akhaltsikhe district
Akhaltsikhe
–
Akhaltsikhe ახალციხე
Akhaltsikhe
–
Akhaltsikhe c. 1887
Akhaltsikhe
–
Rabati Castle in Akhaltsikhe
24.
Georgia (country)
–
Georgia is a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. The capital and largest city is Tbilisi, Georgia covers a territory of 69,700 square kilometres, and its 2016 population is about 3.72 million. Georgia is a unitary, semi-presidential republic, with the government elected through a representative democracy, during the classical era, several independent kingdoms became established in what is now Georgia. The kingdoms of Colchis and Iberia adopted Christianity in the early 4th century, a unified Kingdom of Georgia reached the peak of its political and economic strength during the reign of King David IV and Queen Tamar in the 12th and early 13th centuries. Thereafter the kingdom declined and eventually disintegrated under hegemony of various powers, including the Mongols, the Ottoman Empire. Russian rule over Georgia was eventually acknowledged in various treaties with Iran. Since the establishment of the modern Georgian republic in April 1991, post-communist Georgia suffered from civil, the countrys Western orientation soon led to the worsening of relations with Russia, culminating in the brief Russo-Georgian War in August 2008. Georgia is a member of the United Nations, the Council of Europe, and it contains two de facto independent regions, Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which gained limited international recognition after the 2008 Russo-Georgian War. Georgia and a part of the international community consider the regions to be part of Georgias sovereign territory under Russian military occupation. Georgia probably stems from the Persian designation of the Georgians – gurğān, in the 11th and 12th centuries adapted via Syriac gurz-ān/gurz-iyān, starting with the Persian word gurğ/gurğān, the word was later adopted in numerous other languages, including Slavic and West European languages. This term itself might have established through the ancient Iranian appellation of the near-Caspian region. The self-designation used by ethnic Georgians is Kartvelebi, the medieval Georgian Chronicles present an eponymous ancestor of the Kartvelians, Kartlos, a great-grandson of Japheth. However, scholars agree that the word is derived from the Karts, the name Sakartvelo consists of two parts. Its root, kartvel-i, specifies an inhabitant of the core central-eastern Georgian region of Kartli, ancient Greeks and Romans referred to early western Georgians as Colchians and eastern Georgians as Iberians. Today the full, official name of the country is Georgia, before the 1995 constitution came into force the countrys name was the Republic of Georgia. The territory of modern-day Georgia was inhabited by Homo erectus since the Paleolithic Era, the proto-Georgian tribes first appear in written history in the 12th century BC. The earliest evidence of wine to date has found in Georgia. In fact, early metallurgy started in Georgia during the 6th millennium BC, the classical period saw the rise of a number of early Georgian states, the principal of which was Colchis in the west and Iberia in the east
Georgia (country)
–
It is said that
Georgians were so named because they revered
Saint George.
Georgia (country)
–
Flag
Georgia (country)
–
Ancient Georgian states of
Colchis and
Iberia, 500-400 BC
Georgia (country)
–
Queen
Tamar of Georgia presided over the "Golden Age" of the medieval Georgian monarchy. Her position as the first woman to rule Georgia in her own right was emphasized by the title "Mepe mepeta" ("King of Kings").
25.
Caucasian cuisine
–
Armenias variant, with yogurt, barley and cilantro is called spas, and is served hot or cold. Khash Kharcho - Georgian soup containing beef, rice, cherry plum purée, the flatbreads may be filled with meat, cheese, eggs, potatoes, pumpkin etc. A Taste of Thyme, Culinary Cultures of the Middle East, london & New York, Tauris Parke Paperbacks. Armenian Food, Fact, Fiction & Folklore
Caucasian cuisine
–
Shashlyk
Caucasian cuisine
–
Adjarian
Khachapuri
Caucasian cuisine
–
Kharcho soup
Caucasian cuisine
–
Aubergine and pepper
dolma
26.
Moulin Rouge
–
Moulin Rouge is a cabaret in Paris, France. The original house, which burned down in 1915, was co-founded in 1889 by Charles Zidler and Joseph Oller, close to Montmartre in the Paris district of Pigalle on Boulevard de Clichy in the 18th arrondissement, it is marked by the red windmill on its roof. The closest métro station is Blanche, Moulin Rouge is best known as the spiritual birthplace of the modern form of the can-can dance. Today, the Moulin Rouge is a tourist attraction, offering musical dance entertainment for visitors from around the world, the clubs decor still contains much of the romance of fin de siècle France. The Belle Époque was a period of peace and optimism marked by progress. The Expositions Universelles of 1889 and 1900 are symbols of this period, the Eiffel Tower was also constructed in 1889, epitomising the spirit of progress along with the culturally transgressive cabaret. Japonism, a movement inspired by the Orient, with Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec as its most brilliant disciple, was also at its height. Montmartre, which, at the heart of an increasingly vast and impersonal Paris, managed to retain a village atmosphere, festivities and artists mixed, with pleasure. On 6 October 1889, the Moulin Rouge opened in the Jardin de Paris and its creator Joseph Oller and his Manager Charles Zidler were formidable businessmen who understood the publics tastes. The aim was to allow the rich to come and slum it in a fashionable district. The extravagant setting – the garden was adorned with a gigantic elephant – allowed people from all walks of life to mix, workers, residents of the Place Blanche, artists, the middle classes, businessmen, elegant women and foreigners passing through Paris rubbed shoulders. Nicknamed The First Palace of Women by Oller and Zidler, the quickly became a great success. His posters and paintings secured rapid and international fame for the Moulin Rouge, the early years of the Moulin Rouge are marked by extravagant shows, inspired by the circus, and attractions that are still famous such as Pétomane. Concert-dances are organised every day at 10pm, 1886–1910, Footit and Chocolat, a comic act of a white, authoritarian clown and a black, long-suffering Auguste, are very popular and often appear on the Moulin Rouge poster. 19 April 1890, 1st review, Circassiens et Circassiennes,26 October 1890, His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, the future Edward VII, who on a private visit to Paris, booked a table to see this quadrille whose reputation had already crossed the Channel. Recognising him, La Goulue, with her leg in the air and her head in her skirts, spontaneously called out Hey, Wales,1891, La Goulue, Toulouse-Lautrecs first poster for the Moulin Rouge. 1893, The Bal des QuatzArts caused a scandal with its procession of a nude Cleopatra surrounded by naked women. 12 November 1897, The Moulin Rouge closed its doors for the first time for the funeral of its manager and cofounder,1900, visitors from around the world, attracted by the Universal Exhibition, flock to the Moulin Rouch
Moulin Rouge
–
Poster by
Jules Chéret, 1890
Moulin Rouge
–
The Moulin Rouge in 1900
Moulin Rouge
–
Toulouse-Lautrec and Mr Tremolada, Zidler's assistant, Moulin-Rouge manager. Paris, 1892.
Moulin Rouge
–
Brooklyn Museum - At the Moulin Rouge (Au Moulin Rouge) - Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
27.
Musical theater
–
Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through the words, music, movement, since the early 20th century, musical theatre stage works have generally been called, simply, musicals. These were followed by the numerous Edwardian musical comedies and the theatre works of American creators like George M. Cohan. Musicals are performed around the world and they may be presented in large venues, such as big-budget Broadway or West End productions in New York City or London. Alternatively, musicals may be staged in smaller fringe theatre, Off-Broadway or regional theatre productions, musicals are often presented by amateur and school groups in churches, schools and other performance spaces. In addition to the United States and Britain, there are vibrant musical theatre scenes in continental Europe, Asia, Australasia, Canada, the three main components of a book musical are its music, lyrics and book. The interpretation of a musical is the responsibility of its team, which includes a director. A musicals production is also characterized by technical aspects, such as set design, costumes, stage properties, lighting. The creative team, designs and interpretations generally change from the production to succeeding productions. Some production elements, however, may be retained from the production, for example. There is no fixed length for a musical, while it can range from a short one-act entertainment to several acts and several hours in length, most musicals range from one and a half to three hours. Musicals are usually presented in two acts, with one intermission, and the first act is frequently longer than the second. A book musical is usually built four to six main theme tunes that are reprised later in the show. Several shorter musicals on Broadway and in the West End have been presented in one act in recent decades, moments of greatest dramatic intensity in a book musical are often performed in song. Proverbially, when the emotion becomes too strong for speech, you sing, typically, many fewer words are sung in a five-minute song than are spoken in a five-minute block of dialogue. Therefore, there is time to develop drama in a musical than in a straight play of equivalent length. Within the compressed nature of a musical, the writers must develop the characters, the material presented in a musical may be original, or it may be adapted from novels, plays, classic legends, historical events or films. On the other hand, many musical theatre works have been adapted for musical films, such as West Side Story, My Fair Lady, The Sound of Music, Oliver
Musical theater
–
The Black Crook (1866), which some historians consider the first musical
Musical theater
–
A Gaiety Girl (1893) was one of the first hit musicals
Musical theater
–
George Gershwin
Musical theater
–
Chinese Opera
28.
Carnegie Hall
–
Designed by architect William Burnet Tuthill and built by philanthropist Andrew Carnegie in 1891, it is one of the most prestigious venues in the world for both classical music and popular music. Carnegie Hall has its own programming, development, and marketing departments. It is also rented out to performing groups, the hall has not had a resident company since 1962, when the New York Philharmonic moved to Lincoln Centers Philharmonic Hall. Carnegie Hall has 3,671 seats, divided among its three auditoriums, Carnegie Hall presented about 200 concerts in the 2008–2009 season, up 3 percent from the previous year. Its stages were rented for an additional 600 events in the 2008–2009 season, Carnegie Hall contains three distinct, separate performance spaces. The Isaac Stern Auditorium seats 2,804 on five levels and was named after violinist Isaac Stern in 1997 to recognize his efforts to save the hall from demolition in the 1960s, the hall is enormously high, and visitors to the top balcony must climb 137 steps. All but the top level can be reached by elevator, the main hall was home to the performances of the New York Philharmonic from 1892 until 1962. Known as the most prestigious concert stage in the U. S. almost all of the classical music. After years of wear and tear, the hall was extensively renovated in 1986. The Ronald O. Perelman Stage is 42 feet deep, the First Tier and Second Tier consist of sixty-five boxes, the First Tier has 264 seats at eight seats per box and the Second Tier seats 238, with boxes ranging from six to eight seats each. Second from the top is the Dress Circle, seating 444 in six rows, at the top, the balcony seats 837. Although seats with obstructed views exist throughout the auditorium, only the Dress Circle level has structural columns, Zankel Hall, which seats 599, is named after Judy and Arthur Zankel. Originally called simply Recital Hall, this was the first auditorium to open to the public in April 1891, following renovations made in 1896, it was renamed Carnegie Lyceum. The completely reconstructed Zankel Hall is flexible in design and can be reconfigured in several different arrangements to suit the needs of the performers, the 599 seats in Zankel Hall are arranged in two levels. The Parterre level seats a total of 463 and the Mezzanine level seats 136, each level has a number of seats which are situated along the side walls, perpendicular to the stage. These seats are designated as boxes, there are 54 seats in six boxes on the Parterre level and 48 seats in four boxes on the Mezzanine level, the boxes on the Parterre level are raised above the level of the stage. Zankel Hall is accessible and its stage is 44 feet wide and 25 feet deep — the stage occupies approximately one fifth of the performance space, the Joan and Sanford I. Weill Recital Hall seats 268 and is named after Sanford I. Weill, a chairman of the board, and his wife Joan
Carnegie Hall
–
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
–
Isaac Stern Auditorium
Carnegie Hall
–
A closeup view of Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
–
Andrew Carnegie, 1913
29.
Sayat Nova
–
Sayat-Nova was an Armenian poet, musician and ashik, who had compositions in a number of languages. His songs are in Armenian, Georgian, Azerbaijani, and Persian, the name Sayat-Nova means King of Songs in Persian. Sayat-Novas mother, Sara, was born in Tiflis, and his father, Karapet, Sayat Nova was skilled in writing poetry, singing, and playing the kamancheh, Chonguri, Tambur. He lost his position at the court when he fell in love with the kings sister Ana. In 1759 he was ordained as a priest in the Armenian Apostolic Church and his wife Marmar died in 1768, leaving behind four children. He served in locations including Tiflis and Haghpat Monastery, in 1795 he was killed in Haghpat Monastery by the invading army of Mohammad Khan Qajar, the Shah of Iran. Khan demanded that Sayat Nova convert from Christianity to Islam, which he refused to do, considering it tantamount to turning Turk, hence he was promptly executed and beheaded. He is buried at the Cathedral of Saint George, Tbilisi, in Armenia, Sayat Nova is considered a great poet who made a considerable contribution to the Armenian poetry and music of his century. Although he lived his life in a deeply religious society, his works are mostly secular. About 220 songs have been attributed to Sayat-Nova, although he may have written thousands more and he wrote his songs in Armenian, Georgian, Persian, however, most of his extant songs are in Azeri Turkish. Sayat Nova had also some poems moving between all four. Sayat Nova Dance Company of Boston is named after him, the 1969 Armenian film Sayat Nova directed by Sergei Parajanov follows the poets path from his childhood wool-dyeing days to his role as a courtier and finally his life as a monk. It was released in the United States under the title The Color of Pomegranates and it is not a biography of Sayat Nova, but a series of tableaux vivants of Armenian costume, embroidery and religious rituals depicting scenes and verses from the poets life. A book on his life and work by Charles Dowsett was published in 1997 titled Sayat-nova, An 18th-century Troubadour, a Biographical and Literary Study. There is a street and a school named after him in Yerevan, Armenia, an Armenian-American dance ensemble in the United States. A brand of Armenian Cognac is named after him
Sayat Nova
–
Soviet stamp from 1962 devoted to Sayat-Nova's 250 anniversary.
Sayat Nova
–
The tomb of Sayat Nova at the
Cathedral of Saint George in
Old Tbilisi
Sayat Nova
–
Monument of Sayat Nova in
Yerevan
30.
She (Charles Aznavour)
–
She is a song written by Charles Aznavour and Herbert Kretzmer and released by Aznavour as a single in 1974. The song was written as a tune for the British TV series Seven Faces of Woman. The song was recorded in French, German, Italian and Spanish under the titles Tous les visages de lamour, Sie Lei and Es. The song peaked at number 1 on the UK Singles Chart, stayed there for four weeks and it also reached number 1 in the Irish Charts, spending one week at the top. The song was recorded by Aznavour in several different languages aside from English, namely French and Italian, as well as Spanish, elvis Costello recorded a cover version of the song in 1999. This version, produced by Trevor Jones, was featured over the credits and final sequence of the film Notting Hill. This version of the peaked at number 19 in the United Kingdom. 2-track CD single – Europe She –3,10 Painted from Memory –4,12 3-track CD single – Europe She –3,08 This House Is Empty Now –5,11 Whats Her Name Today. –4,11 CD single – United Kingdom She –3,08 Painted from Memory –4,14 The Sweetest Punch –4,09 Italian singer Laura Pausini also released an Italian language cover of the song, the song was recorded for a Barilla TV spot. The lyrics of the song were adapted by Pausini herself, and are different from the lyrics of Aznavours Italian-language version of his hit. It was also released as a single on 8 March 2006. However, Pausini recorded a new version of the song, included in her greatest hits album 20 - The Greatest Hits, Pausini performed the song live for the first time during the final of Sanremo Music Festival 2006, when she was invited as a guest artist. A live version of the song was included in a medley performed on 2 June 2007, during her concert at the San Siro stadium in Milan, digital download She –2,59 The song has been recorded by many different artists over the years. The most notable include, American singer Jack Jones recorded a cover of the song for his 1975 album. It was released as a single and became a big hit in the Philippines, péter Máté created a Hungarian cover of the song. The first record containing this was released after his death. Dave Stewart and Terry Halls short-lived project Vegas had a minor UK hit with the song in 1992, israeli singer Matti Caspi released a Hebrew cover of the song in 2005. Paul Byrom recorded a cover of the song while a member of Celtic Thunder, frontman Jeff Lynne released a cover version of the song on his 2012 album Long Wave
She (Charles Aznavour)
–
"She"
She (Charles Aznavour)
She (Charles Aznavour)
–
"She (Uguale a lei)"
31.
Fred Astaire
–
Fred Astaire was an American dancer, singer, actor, choreographer and television presenter. His stage and subsequent film and television careers spanned a total of 76 years, during which he made 31 musical films and several television specials, Astaire was ranked by the American Film Institute as the fifth greatest male star of Classic Hollywood cinema in 100 Years. Gene Kelly, another star in filmed dance, said that the history of dance on film begins with Astaire, later, he asserted that Astaire was the only one of todays dancers who will be remembered. Astaire was born in Omaha, Nebraska, the son of Johanna Ann, Astaires mother was born in the United States to Lutheran German immigrants from East Prussia and Alsace. Astaires father was born in Linz, Austria, to Jewish parents who had converted to Roman Catholicism, Astaires mother dreamed of escaping Omaha by virtue of her childrens talents, after Astaires sister, Adele Astaire, early on revealed herself to be an instinctive dancer and singer. She planned a brother and sister act, which was common in vaudeville at the time, although Astaire refused dance lessons at first, he easily mimicked his older sisters steps and took up piano, accordion, and clarinet. Despite Adele and Freds teasing rivalry, they acknowledged their individual strengths, his durability. Fred and Adeles mother suggested they change their name to Astaire, Family legend attributes the name to an uncle surnamed LAstaire. They were taught dance, speaking, and singing in preparation for developing an act and their first act was called Juvenile Artists Presenting an Electric Musical Toe-Dancing Novelty. Fred wore a top hat and tails in the first half, in an interview, Astaires daughter, Ava Astaire McKenzie, observed that they often put Fred in a top hat to make him look taller. The goofy act debuted in Keyport, New Jersey, in a tryout theater, the local paper wrote, the Astaires are the greatest child act in vaudeville. As a result of their fathers salesmanship, Fred and Adele rapidly landed a contract and played the famed Orpheum Circuit in the Midwest, Western. Soon Adele grew to at least three inches taller than Fred and the pair began to look incongruous. The family decided to take a break from show business to let time take its course and to avoid trouble from the Gerry Society. In 1912, Fred became an Episcopalian, the career of the Astaire siblings resumed with mixed fortunes, though with increasing skill and polish, as they began to incorporate tap dancing into their routines. Astaires dancing was inspired by Bill Bojangles Robinson and John Bubbles Sublett, from vaudeville dancer Aurelio Coccia, they learned the tango, waltz, and other ballroom dances popularized by Vernon and Irene Castle. Some sources state that the Astaire siblings appeared in a 1915 film titled Fanchon, the Cricket, starring Mary Pickford, by age 14, Fred had taken on the musical responsibilities for their act. He first met George Gershwin, who was working as a song plugger for Jerome H. Remicks music publishing company, Fred had already been hunting for new music and dance ideas
Fred Astaire
–
In You'll Never Get Rich (1941)
Fred Astaire
–
Fred and his sister Adele in 1906
Fred Astaire
–
Fred and Adele Astaire in 1921
Fred Astaire
–
Promotional photo with
Ginger Rogers
32.
Andrea Bocelli
–
Andrea Bocelli, OMRI, OMDSM is an Italian classical crossover tenor, recording artist, and singer-songwriter. Born with poor eyesight, Bocelli became permanently blind at the age of 12, Bocelli has recorded fifteen solo studio albums, of both pop and classical music, three greatest hits albums, and nine complete operas, selling over 80 million records worldwide. He has had success as a crossover performer bringing classical music to the top of international pop charts, in 1998, Bocelli was named one of Peoples 50 Most Beautiful People. In 1999, Bocelli was nominated for Best New Artist at the Grammy Awards, the Prayer, his duet with Celine Dion for the animated film Quest for Camelot, won the Golden Globe for Best Original Song and was nominated for an Academy Award in the same category. Seven of his albums have reached the top 10 on the Billboard 200. The single went on to sell twelve million copies worldwide. Bocelli was born to Alessandro and Edi Bocelli, doctors had advised Bocellis parents to abort Bocelli before birth as they predicted, based on studies, that Bocelli would be born with a disability. The Bocellis declined and gave birth to Andrea and it was evident at birth that Bocelli had numerous problems with his sight, and after visits to many doctors, he was diagnosed with congenital glaucoma. Bocelli has stated that his mothers decision to give birth to him and overrule the doctors advice was the inspiration for him to hold a pro-life view towards abortion. Bocelli grew up on his familys farm, where they sold farm machinery and made wine in the village of La Sterza. Bocellis mother and younger brother Alberto still live in the family home, as a young boy, Bocelli showed a great passion for music. His mother has said music was the only thing that would comfort him. At the age of 6, Bocelli started piano lessons, and later, also learned to play the flute, saxophone, trumpet, trombone, guitar and drums. Then, when his nanny, Oriana, gave him the first record of Franco Corelli, Bocelli began to show interest in pursuing the career of a tenor, by seven, he was able to recognize the famous voices of the time and tried to emulate the great interpreters. At the age of 12, Bocelli lost his sight completely following an accident during a football game and he was hit in the eye playing goalkeeper during a match and suffered a brain hemorrhage. Doctors resorted to leeches in an effort to save his sight, but they were unsuccessful. Bocelli also spent time singing during his childhood and he gave his first concert in a small village not far from where he was born. At the age of 14, Bocelli won his first song competition, after finishing secondary school in 1980, he studied law at the University of Pisa
Andrea Bocelli
–
Bocelli rehearsing for his
Under the Desert Sky concert in
Lake Las Vegas, 2006
Andrea Bocelli
–
Bocelli with then fiancée Veronica Berti in Tokyo, Japan, during his 2008 Asian Tour.
Andrea Bocelli
–
David Foster speaks at the ceremony honoring Bocelli with his star
Andrea Bocelli
–
Bocelli receiving a star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame
33.
Bing Crosby
–
Harry Lillis Bing Crosby, Jr. was an American singer and actor. The first multimedia star, from 1931 to 1954 Crosby was a leader in sales, radio ratings. His early career coincided with technical recording innovations such as the microphone and this allowed him to develop a laid-back, intimate singing style that influenced many of the popular male singers who followed him, including Perry Como, Frank Sinatra, Dick Haymes, and Dean Martin. Also in 1948, the Music Digest estimated that Crosby recordings filled more than half of the 80,000 weekly hours allocated to recorded radio music, in 1963, Crosby received the first Grammy Global Achievement Award. He is one of only 33 people to have three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, in the categories of motion pictures, radio, Crosby influenced the development of the postwar recording industry. He became the first performer to pre-record his radio shows and master his commercial recordings onto magnetic tape. In addition to his work with early tape recording, he helped to finance the development of videotape, bought television stations, bred racehorses, Crosby died at the age of 74 on October 14,1977, from a sudden heart attack in Alcobendas, Spain. Crosby was born on May 2,1903 in Tacoma, Washington, in 1906, Crosbys family moved to Spokane, and in 1913, Crosbys father built a house at 508 E. Sharp Avenue. The house now sits on the campus of Crosbys alma mater Gonzaga University and he was the fourth of seven children, brothers Larry, Everett, Ted, and Bob, and two sisters, Catherine and Mary Rose. His parents were Harry Lowe Crosby, Sr. a bookkeeper, Crosbys mother was a second generation Irish-American. In 1910, seven-year-old Harry Crosby Jr. was forever renamed, the Sunday edition of the Spokesman-Review published a feature called The Bingville Bugle. Written by humorist Newton Newkirk, The Bingville Bugle was a parody of a hillbilly newsletter filled with gossipy tidbits, minstrel quips, creative spelling, and mock ads. A neighbor, 15-year-old Valentine Hobart, shared Crosbys enthusiasm for The Bugle, and noting Crosbys laugh, took a liking to him, eventually, the last vowel was dropped and the nickname stuck. Crosby later described Jolsons delivery as electric, Crosby graduated from Gonzaga High School in 1920 and enrolled at Gonzaga University. He attended Gonzaga for three years, but did not earn a bachelors degree, as a freshman, he played on the universitys baseball team. The university granted him a doctorate in 1937. In 1923, Crosby was invited to join a new band composed of school students a few years younger than himself. Al Rinker, Miles Rinker, James Heaton, Claire Pritchard and Robert Pritchard, along with drummer Crosby, formed the Musicaladers, the group performed on Spokane radio station KHQ, but disbanded after two years
Bing Crosby
–
Bing Crosby, c. 1930s
Bing Crosby
–
Holiday Inn (1942)
Bing Crosby
–
Crosby with Bob Hope in Road to Bali (1952)
Bing Crosby
–
Crosby in Road to Singapore
34.
Ray Charles
–
Ray Charles Robinson, known professionally as Ray Charles, was an American singer-songwriter, musician, and composer. Among friends and fellow musicians he preferred being called Brother Ray and he was often referred to as The Genius. Charles was blind from the age of seven and he pioneered the genre of soul music during the 1950s by combining blues, rhythm and blues, and gospel styles into the music he recorded for Atlantic Records. He also contributed to the integration of music, rhythm and blues and pop music during the 1960s with his crossover success on ABC Records. While he was with ABC, Charles became one of the first black musicians to be granted artistic control by a record company. Charles cited Nat King Cole as an influence, but his music was also influenced by country, jazz, blues. In the late forties, he became friends with Quincy Jones and their friendship would last till the end of Charless life. Frank Sinatra called him the true genius in show business. In 2002, Rolling Stone ranked Charles number ten on its list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time, Billy Joel observed, This may sound like sacrilege, but I think Ray Charles was more important than Elvis Presley. Robinson was the son of Bailey Robinson, a laborer, at the time, she was a teenage orphan making a living as a sharecropper. They lived in Greenville, Florida, with Robinsons mother and his wife, the Robinson family had informally adopted Aretha, and she became known as Aretha Robinson. When she, scandalously, became pregnant by Bailey, she briefly left Greenville late in the summer of 1930 to be family members in Albany, Georgia. After that, mother and child returned to Greenville, and Aretha and he was deeply devoted to his mother and later recalled her perseverance, self-sufficiency, and pride as guiding lights in his life. His father abandoned the family, left Greenville, and took another wife elsewhere, in his early years, Charles showed a fondness about mechanical objects and would often watch his neighbors working on their cars and farm machinery. Charles and his mother were always welcome at the Red Wing Cafe, pitman would also care for Rays brother George, to take the burden off Aretha. George drowned in Arethas laundry tub when he was four years old, Charles started to lose his sight at the age of four or five, and was completely blind by the age of seven, apparently as a result of glaucoma. Destitute, uneducated and still mourning the loss of George, Aretha used her connections in the community to find a school that would accept a blind African-American student. Despite his initial protest, Charles attended school at the Florida School for the Deaf, Charles further developed his musical talent at school, and was taught to play the classical piano music of J. S
Ray Charles
–
Ray Charles in 1990
Ray Charles
–
Ray Charles statue in Greenville, Florida
Ray Charles
–
Charles in 1971. Photo: Heinrich Klaffs.
Ray Charles
–
1972 meeting of President Nixon and Ray Charles taken by
Oliver F. Atkins
35.
Liza Minnelli
–
Liza May Minnelli is an American actress and singer. She is considered both an American icon and a gay icon, Minnelli is the daughter of film actress and singer Judy Garland and film director Vincente Minnelli. She began her career as a teenager in New York City as a theatre actress. Minnelli also regularly performed with her famous mother, including a 1964 joint engagement at the London Palladium and in Garlands own CBS television series The Judy Garland Show. In 1965 she made her Broadway debut in the musical Flora the Red Menace and was awarded the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical and her other film roles have included Golden Globe Award nominated performances in Lucky Lady, New York, New York and Arthur. She has successfully returned to the Broadway stage on a number of occasions, from the late 1970s onwards, Minnellis work has predominantly focused on concert tours and nightclub performances. She gave highly regarded performances at Carnegie Hall in 1979 and 1987, in the late 1980s she toured alongside Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. in Frank, Liza & Sammy, The Ultimate Event. Minnelli was born on March 12,1946 in Hollywood, California, to Vincente Minnelli and she attended New York Citys High School of Performing Arts and Chadwick School. Her first performing experience on film was at age three where she appeared in the scene of the musical In the Good Old Summertime. The film stars Garland and Van Johnson, Minnelli has a half-sister, Lorna, and half-brother, Joey, from Garlands marriage to Sid Luft. She also has another half-sister, Christiane Nina Minnelli, from her fathers second marriage, Minnellis godparents were Kay Thompson and Ira Gershwin. Her parents named her after Ira Gershwins song Liza, during 1961, Minnelli was an apprentice at the Cape Cod Melody Tent, Hyannis, Massachusetts. She appeared in the chorus of Flower Drum Song and played the part of Muriel in Take Me Along, Minnelli began performing professionally at age 17, in 1963, in an Off-Broadway revival of the musical Best Foot Forward, for which she received the Theatre World Award. The next year, her mother invited Liza to perform with her in concert at the London Palladium, both concerts were recorded and released as an album. She attended Scarsdale High School for one year, starring in a production of The Diary of Anne Frank which then went to Israel on tour and she turned to Broadway at 19, and won her first Tony Award as a leading actress for Flora the Red Menace. It was the first time she worked with the musical duo John Kander, Minnelli began as a nightclub singer as an adolescent, making her professional nightclub debut at the age of 19 at the Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D. C. That same year she began appearing in clubs and on stage in Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami. Her success as a performer led to her recording several albums for Capitol Records
Liza Minnelli
–
Minnelli in 1973
Liza Minnelli
–
Young Liza with her mother,
Judy Garland, on the set of
Summer Stock in 1950
Liza Minnelli
–
Liza Minnelli on Sunset Boulevard 1988.
Liza Minnelli
–
Liza Minnelli in her 1972 concert special Liza with a 'Z'.
36.
Mia Martini
–
Mia Martini was an Italian singer. She was born Domenica Berté in 1947 in Bagnara Calabra (province of Reggio Calabria, in southern Italy, the youngest of them, Loredana Berté, was born on the same day and month as Martini, and also became famous as a singer. Her father, Giuseppe Radames Berté, was a teacher of Latin and her mother, Maria Salvina Dato, was an elementary school teacher. Mimi as Domenica was known, spent her childhood in Macerata, in 1962, she convinced her mother to take her Milan for an audition. She recorded her first records as Mimì Berté, but soon decided to change her name to Mia Martini and she represented Italy at the Eurovision Song Contest twice, in 1977 with Libera, and in 1992 with Rapsodia. That same year she recorded Per amarti, written by Bruno Lauzi and she won the World Popular Song Festival Yamaha in Tokyo with Ritratto di donna who comes to the first positions in the Japanese charts. In 1982 she participated at the Sanremo Festival, in late 1983, she decided to retire. In 1992, she was back in the race at the Sanremo Festival with Gli uomini non cambiano, by Giancarlo Bigazzi and Beppe Dati. She won second place, allowing her to represent Italy at Eurovision again, which that year was held in Sweden and she suffered from painful fibroids, for which she took prescription medication. On 14 May 1995, her body was found in the apartment in Via Liguria 2, according to the coroners report, her death was by cardiac arrest caused by an overdose of drugs
Mia Martini
–
Martini in Venice in 1973, holding the Gondola d'Oro prize won with her song "Donna Sola"
Mia Martini
–
Mia Martini (left) with sister
Loredana Berté
Mia Martini
–
Mia Martini in 1973
Mia Martini
37.
Dalida
–
In 1961, she acquired French citizenship upon marriage, while maintaining her original Italian one. Twice honoured with the Oscar mondial du succès du disque, she is the only European singer to have won this more than once. Her 30-year career began in 1956 and ended with her last album in 1986 and her suicide led to an iconic image as a tragic diva and renowned singer. Dalida ranks abong 7 most popular singers of all time and she received more than 70 gold records and was the first singer to receive a platinum and a diamond disc. She sold more than 170 million albums Worldwide, in 1988, Dalida was posthumously honoured by the International Star Registry, with the issuance of a diploma, awarded one year after her death. Yolanda Cristina Gigliotti was born in Cairo, Egypt and she was the middle child between two brothers, Orlando and Bruno. Dalidas early life was spent in the district of Shoubra, where she attended the Scuola Tecnica Commerciale Maria Ausiliatrice, an Italian Catholic school. In 1950, Dalida participated in the Miss Ondine beauty pageant and won the title, and shortly after working as a model for Donna. In 1954, at the age of 20, Dalida competed in and won the Miss Egypt pageant and it was about this time she adopted the name Dalila, which was soon changed to the more familiar Dalida. She learned Egyptian Arabic and French growing up in Cairo, and she later added English, plus conversational-level German and Spanish. When she became a pop and music icon in Japan, she also acquired enough basic Japanese to greet her fans in their own language and she promised to hold the concert again, a promise which she soon fulfilled. Dalidas singing career started in Egypt, when she was discovered by Cherif Kamel, Dalidas quest for a career in French cinema proved to be of limited success. Instead, she began taking singing lessons, and was booked as an act on the Champs-Élysées. Morisse was artistic producer of the popular Radio Europe 1, after signing a recording contract with Barclay, Dalidas debut single Madona was promoted heavily by Morisse, and was a moderate success. The song Bambino echoed everywhere in France and was an even beyond the French frontiers. In the same year, she would also support Charles Aznavour at the Olympia and these classical songs mark the first phase of Dalidas album and maintain their charm even today. Dalida toured extensively from 1958 through the early 1960s, playing dates in France, Egypt, Italy, and her tours of Egypt and Italy spread her fame outside France and Dalida soon became well known throughout Europe. However, she waited too long before entering Americas music scene, in 1961, Dalida performed a month of shows at the Olympia in Paris, with each selling out completely
Dalida
–
Dalida in 1961
Dalida
Dalida
–
Place Dalida, at
Montmartre
38.
Serge Gainsbourg
–
Serge Gainsbourg was a French singer, songwriter, pianist, film composer, poet, painter, screenwriter, writer, actor, and director. His lyrical work incorporated a vast amount of word play to hoodwink the listener, often for humorous, provocative. Common types of play in his songs include mondegreen, onomatopoeia, rhyme, spoonerism, dysphemism, paraprosdokian. Through the course of his career, Gainsbourg wrote over 550 songs, since his death, Gainsbourgs music has reached legendary stature in France. He has also gained a following in the English-speaking world. Born in Paris, France, Gainsbourg was the son of Jewish Ukrainian migrants, Joseph Ginsburg and Olga, who fled to Paris after the 1917 Russian Revolution. Joseph Ginsburg was a trained musician whose profession was playing the piano in cabarets and casinos, he taught his children - Gainsbourg. Gainsbourgs childhood was affected by the occupation of France by Germany in World War II. The identifying yellow star Jews were required to wear haunted Gainsbourg, during the occupation, the Jewish Ginsburg family was able to make their way from Paris to Limoges, traveling under false papers. Limoges was in the Zone libre under the administration of the collaborationist Vichy government, after the war, Gainsbourg obtained work teaching music and drawing in a school outside of Paris, in Mesnil-Le-Roi. The school was set up under the auspices of local rabbis, here Gainsbourg heard the accounts of Nazi persecution and genocide, stories that resonated for Gainsbourg far into the future. Before he was 30 years old, Gainsbourg was a disillusioned painter, Gainsbourg changed his first name to Serge, feeling that this was representative of his Russian background and because, as Jane Birkin relates, Lucien reminded him of a hairdressers assistant. He chose Gainsbourg as his last name, in homage to the English painter Thomas Gainsborough and he married Elisabeth Lize Levitsky on 3 November 1951 and divorced in 1957. He married a second time on 7 January 1964, to Françoise-Antoinette Béatrice Pancrazzi and he divorced Béatrice in February 1966. In late 1967 he had a short but ardent love affair with Brigitte Bardot, to whom he dedicated the song, in mid-1968 Gainsbourg fell in love with the younger English singer and actress Jane Birkin, whom he met during the shooting of the film Slogan. Their relationship lasted over a decade, in 1971 they had a daughter, the actress and singer Charlotte Gainsbourg. Although many sources state that they were married, according to their daughter Charlotte this was not the case. Birkin remembers the beginning of her affair with Gainsbourg, he first took her to a nightclub, then to a transvestite club, Birkin left Gainsbourg when pregnant with her third daughter Lou by the film director Jacques Doillon
Serge Gainsbourg
–
Serge Gainsbourg in 1981
Serge Gainsbourg
–
Gainsbourg, Gall, and del Monaco in a Screenshot of the Eurovision Song Contest, on 20 March 1965
Serge Gainsbourg
–
Tribute graffiti covers the outer wall of Serge Gainsbourg's house on the rue de Verneuil in Paris, looked after by
Charlotte Gainsbourg after her father's death
Serge Gainsbourg
–
Serge Gainsbourg
39.
Josh Groban
–
Joshua Winslow Josh Groban is an American singer, songwriter, actor, and record producer. His first four albums have been certified multi-platinum, and he was charted in 2007 as the number-one best selling artist in the United States. As of 2012, he has sold over 25 million records worldwide, Groban originally studied acting, but moved to singing as his voice developed. Groban attended the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts, a public school on the campus of California State University, Los Angeles. David Foster called Groban to stand in for an ailing Andrea Bocelli to rehearse a duet, The Prayer, Rosie ODonnell immediately invited him to appear on her talk show. Foster asked him to sing at the California Governors Gray Davis 1999 inauguration and he was cast on Ally McBeal by the shows creator, David E. Kelley, performing Youre Still You for the 2001 season 4 finale. Groban was born in Los Angeles, California, to Lindy, a teacher, and Jack Groban. Grobans younger brother, Chris, was born on Grobans fourth birthday, Grobans father is a descendant of immigrants from Poland and Russia and converted from Judaism to Christianity when he married Grobans mother. Grobans mothers ancestry includes English, German, and Norwegian, one of her own grandfathers was Jewish, Groban first sang in public when he was in the seventh grade. His music teacher chose him to sing a solo of Swonderful at the schools cabaret night, at this time, he was more focused on acting, playing Tevye in his high schools production of Fiddler on the Roof. In the summers of 1997 and 1998, he attended the Interlochen Center for the Arts Camp in Michigan, majoring in music theater. He went on to attend the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts as a theater major, in late 1998, the 17-year-old Groban was introduced by his vocal coach, Seth Riggs, to Grammy-winning producer and arranger David Foster and future manager Brian Avnet. At the time, Groban had no recording experience and was preparing to begin studying at Carnegie Mellon University, creator David E. Kelley created character Malcolm Wyatt for Groban in the season finale aired in May 2001. The character of Malcolm Wyatt was so popular, prompting 8,000 emails from viewers, Avnet claims this sequence of events effectively got Grobans career off the ground. Groban was offered a contract at Warner Bros. Records through Fosters 143 Records imprint. Avnet told HitQuarters that Warner initially proved resistant to the deal because They were afraid they wouldnt be able to get a voice like that on radio. Explaining his reasons for signing the artist, Foster said, I love his ability in the pop and rock arena. Hes a true force to be reckoned with
Josh Groban
–
Groban in February 2009
Josh Groban
–
Groban in concert at the
Verizon Wireless Arena in
Manchester, NH
Josh Groban
–
Josh Groban in concert at
Atlantic City 's
Boardwalk Hall
40.
Petula Clark
–
Petula Clark, CBE is an English singer, actress and composer whose career has spanned seven decades. Clarks professional career began as an entertainer on BBC Radio during World War II and she has sold more than 68 million records. Clark was born to Doris and Leslie Norman Clark in Epsom, Surrey, both of her parents were nurses there at Long Grove Hospital. Her mother was of Welsh ancestry and her father was English, young Sallys stage name of Petula was invented by her father, Leslie Clark, he joked it was a combination of the names of two former girlfriends, Pet and Ulla. During the war Clark lived with her sister at the home of their grandparents in South Wales, in a stone house with no electricity, no running water. Her grandparents spoke little English and Clark learned to speak Welsh and her grandfather was a coal miner. Her first ever live audience was at the Colliers Arms in Abercanaid, as a child Clark sang in the chapel choir and showed a talent for mimicry, impersonating Vera Lynn, Carmen Miranda and Sophie Tucker for her family and friends. I wanted to be Ingrid Bergman more than anything else in the world, from a chance beginning at age 9, Clark would appear on radio, film, print, television and recordings by the time she turned 17. In October 1942, the 9-year-old Clark made her debut while attending a BBC broadcast with her father. She was there trying to send a message to an uncle stationed overseas, during the bombing, the producer requested that someone perform to settle the jittery theatre audience, and she volunteered a rendering of Mighty Lak a Rose to an enthusiastic response. She then repeated her performance for the broadcast audience, launching a series of some 500 appearances in programmes designed to entertain the troops, in addition to radio work, Clark frequently toured the United Kingdom with fellow child performer Julie Andrews. Nicknamed the Singing Sweetheart, she performed for George VI, Winston Churchill, Clark also became known as Britains Shirley Temple and was considered a mascot by the British Army, whose troops plastered her photos on their tanks for good luck as they advanced into battle. While performing at Londons Royal Albert Hall in 1944, Clark was discovered by film director Maurice Elvey, in quick succession, she performed in Strawberry Roan, I Know Where Im Going. London Town, Here Come the Huggetts, Vote for Huggett and The Huggetts Abroad, which is a Powell and Pressburger feature film now generally regarded as a masterpiece. In 1945, Clark was featured in the comic Radio Fun, Clark felt that she played child parts for too long. In 1946, Clark launched her career with an appearance on a BBC variety show, Cabaret Cartoons. In 1947, Clark met Joe Mr Piano Henderson at the Maurice Publishing Company, the two collaborated musically and were linked romantically over the coming decade. In 1949 Henderson introduced Clark to Alan A. Freeman who, together with her father Leslie, Clark had recorded her first release that year, Put Your Shoes On, Lucy, for EMI
Petula Clark
–
Clark in April 2012
Petula Clark
–
1962 EP
Petula Clark
–
Outside the
Ed Sullivan Theater, New York City, October 1966
Petula Clark
–
Ad for the NBC-TV special that sparked controversy even before it aired
41.
Tom Jones (singer)
–
Sir Thomas John Woodward OBE is a Welsh singer known by his stage name Tom Jones. Joness powerful voice has been described as a full-throated, robust baritone and his performing range has included pop, rock, R&B, show tunes, country, dance, soul and gospel. In 2008, the New York Times called Jones a musical shape shifter, who could slide from soulful rasp to pop croon, with a voice as husky as it was pretty. Jones received a Grammy Award for Best New Artist in 1966, an MTV Video Music Award in 1989, Jones was awarded an OBE in 1999 and in 2006 he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for services to music. Jones was born Thomas John Woodward, at 57 Kingsland Terrace, Treforest, Pontypridd, in Glamorgan and his parents were Thomas Woodward, a coal miner, and Freda Jones. His maternal grandfather, Albert Jones, was Welsh, and his grandmother, Ada Jones, was born in Pontypridd, to parents from Somerset. Jones attended Wood Road Infants School, Wood Road Junior School and he began singing at an early age, He would regularly sing at family gatherings, weddings and in his school choir. Jones did not like school or sports, but gained confidence through his singing talent, at 12 he was diagnosed with tuberculosis. Many years later he said, I spent two years in bed recovering and it was the worst time of my life. During convalescence he could do little else but listen to music, Joness bluesy singing style developed out of the sound of American soul music. His early influences included blues and R&B singers Little Richard, Solomon Burke, Jackie Wilson and Brook Benton, as well as Elvis Presley, in March 1957 Jones married his high school girlfriend, Linda Trenchard when they were expecting a child together, both aged 16. The couples son, Mark, was born in the month following their wedding, to support his young family Jones took a job working in a glove factory and was later employed in construction. Joness voice has been described as a full-throated, robust baritone and he became the frontman in 1963 for Tommy Scott and the Senators, a Welsh beat group. They soon gained a following and reputation in South Wales. In 1964, the group recorded several tracks with producer Joe Meek, who took them to various labels. Later that year, Decca producer Peter Sullivan saw Tommy Scott and the Senators performing in a club and directed them to manager Phil Solomon, the group continued to play gigs at dance halls and working mens clubs in South Wales. One night at the Top Hat in Cwmtillery, Wales, Jones was spotted by Gordon Mills, Mills became Joness manager and took the young singer to London, and also renamed him Tom Jones, to exploit the popularity of the Academy Award-winning 1963 film. Eventually, Mills got Jones a recording contract with Decca and his first single, Chills and Fever, was released in late 1964
Tom Jones (singer)
–
Jones singing at
House of Blues,
Anaheim, California, 10 March 2009
Tom Jones (singer)
–
Jones duetting with
Janis Joplin in the television program
This Is Tom Jones in 1969
Tom Jones (singer)
–
The star commemorating Jones at the
Orpheum Theatre, Memphis
Tom Jones (singer)
–
Performing at
Hampton Court Palace in London, 2007
42.
Shirley Bassey
–
In January 1959, Bassey became the first Welsh person to gain a No.1 single. In 2000, Bassey was made a Dame for services to the performing arts, in 1977 she received the Brit Award for Best British Female Solo Artist in the previous 25 years. Bassey has been called one of the most popular vocalists in Britain during the last half of the 20th century. Shirley Veronica Bassey was the sixth and youngest child of Henry Bassey and Eliza Jane Start and she grew up in the adjacent community of Splott. At the time, Tiger Bay was one of the largest ports in the world and was very multi-ethnic and her father was Nigerian, and her mother was English, from Teesside. Two of her mothers four children from previous relationships lived in the Bassey household, Eliza and Henrys second child died in infancy, so Shirley was born into a household of three sisters, two half-sisters, and one brother. Teachers and students alike at Moorland Road School noticed Basseys strong voice, even in the school choir the teacher kept telling me to back off till I was singing in the corridor. A classmate recalled her singing the refrain Cant help lovin that man of mine from Show Boat with such feeling that she made their teacher uncomfortable. After leaving Splott Secondary Modern School at age 14, Bassey found employment at a factory while singing in public houses and clubs in the evenings and on weekends. In 1953, Bassey signed her first professional contract, to sing in the variety show Memories of Jolson. She next took up an engagement in Hot from Harlem. Pregnant at 16 with her first child and unwilling to reveal the name of the childs father, in 1955, Bassey toured various theatres until she was noticed by the impresario Jack Hylton. He invited her to feature in Al Reads Such Is Life at the Adelphi Theatre in Londons West End, during the shows run, Philips record producer Johnny Franz spotted her on television, was impressed, and offered her a recording deal. Bassey recorded her first single, Burn My Candle, released in February 1956, owing to the suggestive lyrics, the BBC banned it, but it sold well enough nonetheless, backed with her powerful rendition of Stormy Weather. More singles followed, and in February 1957, Bassey had her first hit with The Banana Boat Song and she then made her American stage début in Las Vegas at El Rancho Vegas. In mid-1958, she recorded two singles that would become classics in the Bassey catalogue. As I Love You was released as the B-side of another ballad, Hands Across the Sea, it did not sell well at first, but after an appearance at the London Palladium sales began to pick up. In January 1959, As I Love You reached No.1 and stayed there for four weeks, it was the first No.1 single by a Welsh artist
Shirley Bassey
–
Shirley Bassey (1971)
Shirley Bassey
–
Bassey performing in West Germany in 1973
Shirley Bassey
–
Bassey at
Wembley Arena, 2006
Shirley Bassey
–
From left to right:
Sting,
Debbie Harry,
Lady Gaga,
Elton John, Dame Shirley Bassey and
Bruce Springsteen at
Carnegie Hall 2010
43.
Laura Pausini
–
Laura Pausini, omri is an Italian pop singer-songwriter and record producer. As a child, she was encouraged by her father to him during his performances in local piano bars. After competing in local singing contests, Pausini signed her first recording contract and her eponymous debut album was released in Italy on 23 April 1993 and later became an international success, selling two million copies worldwide. Its follow-up, Laura, was released in 1994 and confirmed her international success, during the same year, she released her first Spanish-language album, Laura Pausini, composed of ten adapted songs originally included in her previous works. The album was certified diamond by the Association of Phonographic and Videographic of Spain, as of 2014, she has released ten studio albums, two international greatest hits albums and two compilation albums for the Hispanic and Anglophone market only, respectively. She mostly performs in Italian and Spanish, but she has recorded songs in English, French, Portuguese and more recently. Her only English-language album, From the Inside, was released in 2002, in 2006, her record Io canto was the best-selling album of the year in Italy. In 2004, Allmusics Jason Birchmeier considered Pausinis sales an impressive feat for someone whod never really broken into the lucrative English–language market, Fimi certified Pausinis sales of more than 70 million records with a Fimi Icon Award. During her career, she has won numerous awards in Italy and internationally. She has earned the first and third place at the Sanremo Music Festival, two Lunezia Awards, ten Wind Music Awards, four awards at the Festivalbar, seven Telegatti and an MTV Italian Music Award. Internationally, she has won four awards at the Viña del Mar International Song Festival, in 2006 she also became the first Italian female artist to win a Grammy Award, receiving the accolade for Best Latin Pop Album for the record Escucha. She has been honoured as a Commander Order of Merit of the Italian Republic by President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, the elder of two daughters, Laura Pausini was born in Faenza, in the Province of Ravenna, Italy, to Fabrizio Pausini and Gianna Ballardini. She grew up in Solarolo, a comune in the same region. Her father is a former pianist who played as a sessionman for ABBAs Frida Lyngstad. After becoming a piano bar artist, he encouraged Pausini to start performing as a singer and her first live performance was on 16 May 1985, when she sang together with her father in a restaurant in Bologna. Since then, her father started giving her lessons and she continued to perform alongside him in local piano bars. In the meanwhile, she started singing in a church choir. In 1987 she recorded her first demo album, produced by her father, titled I sogni di Laura, it consisted of eight covers and five new songs
Laura Pausini
–
Laura Pausini in the
Verona Arena.
Laura Pausini
–
Pausini rose to fame in 1993, after winning the 43rd
Sanremo Music Festival, annually held at the
Teatro Ariston in
Sanremo, Italy
Laura Pausini
–
Laura Pausini in
Bercy (
Francia) during her world ture Inédito World Tour, singing «
On n'oublie jamais rien, on vit avec with
Hélène Segara.
Laura Pausini
–
Laura Pausini in the World Tour '05.
44.
Nana Mouskouri
–
Nana Mouskouri, born Iōánna Moúschouri is a Greek singer, considered to be one of the best-selling music artists in the world. Nana Mouskouri became well-known throughout Europe for the song ‘’The White Rose of Athens’’ and it became her first record to sell over one million copies. Later in 1963 she represented Luxembourg at the Eurovision Song Contest with the song ‘’À force de prier‘’ and her friendship with the composer Michel Legrand led to the recording by Nana of the theme song of the Oscar-nominated film - The Umbrellas of Cherbourg. From 1968 to 1976, she hosted her own TV show produced by BBC - ‘’Presenting Nana Mouskouri‘’ and her popularity as a multilingual television personality and distinctive image, owing to the unusual-for-the-time signature black-rimmed glasses, turned Nana Mouskouri into an international star. Nana Mouskouri become a spokesperson for UNICEF in 1993 and was elected to the European Parliament as a Greek deputy from 1994 to 1999, in 2015 she was awarded with the Echo Music Prize for Outstanding achievements by the German music association Deutsche Phono-Akademie. Nana Mouskouris family lived in Chania, Crete, where her father, Constantine, worked as a film projectionist in a cinema, her mother, Alice. When Mouskouri was three, her moved to Athens. Mouskouris family sent her and her older sister Eugenía to the Athens Conservatoire, although Mouskouri had displayed exceptional musical talent from age six, Jenny initially appeared to be the more gifted sibling. Financially unable to support both girls studies, the parents asked their tutor which one should continue, the tutor conceded that Jenny had the better voice, but Nana was the one with the true inner need to sing. Mouskouris childhood was marked by the German Nazi occupation of Greece and her father became part of the anti-Nazi resistance movement in Athens. Mouskouri began singing lessons at age 12, as a child, she listened to radio broadcasts of singers such as Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, and Édith Piaf. In 1950, she was accepted at the Conservatoire and she studied classical music with an emphasis on singing opera. After eight years at the Conservatoire, Mouskouri was encouraged by her friends to experiment with jazz music and she began singing with her friends jazz group at night. Mouskouri subsequently left the Conservatoire and began performing at the Zaki club in Athens and she began singing jazz in nightclubs with a bias towards Ella Fitzgerald repertoire. In 1957, she recorded her first song, Fascination, in both Greek and English for Odeon/EMI Greece, by 1958 while still performing at the Zaki, she met Greek composer Manos Hadjidakis. Hadjidakis was impressed by Nana’s voice and offered to write songs for her, in 1959 Mouskouri performed Hadjidakis Kapou Iparchi I Agapi Mou at the inaugural Greek Song Festival. The song won first prize, and Mouskouri began to be noticed, at the 1960 Greek Song Festival, she performed two more Hadjidakis compositions, Timōría and Kyparissáki. Both these songs tied for first prize, Mouskouri performed Kostas Yannidis composition, Xypna Agapi Mou, at the Mediterranean Song Festival, held in Barcelona that year
Nana Mouskouri
–
Nana Mouskouri, 3 June 1966
Nana Mouskouri
–
Nana Mouskouri with her first husband Yorgos Petsilas in the
Netherlands in 1971
Nana Mouskouri
–
Nana Mouskouri, waiting for an interview in 2006
Nana Mouskouri
–
The ancient Herodes Atticus Theatre, in
Athens,
Greece.
45.
Julio Iglesias
–
Julio José Iglesias de la Cueva, better known as Julio Iglesias, is a Spanish singer and songwriter who has been awarded with the Guinness Record thrice. In 1983, he was the most recorded artist in more languages in the world and he is recognized as the most successful European commercial singer in the world. He is one of the top ten record sellers in music history, more than 2600 certified gold and platinum albums. It is estimated that during his career he has offered more than 5000 concerts, in April 2013 the singer was awarded in Beijing as the first and most popular international artist in China. He is also the largest foreign record seller in Brazil, France, Romania and Italy, in his country, Spain, he is the artist who has sold the most, with 23 million records. He has been awarded the Gold Medal for Merit in the Fine Arts of Spain and he was named Special Ambassador for the Performing Arts of UNICEF in 1989. He has also institutionalized September 8 as Julio Iglesias Day in Miami since 1997 and has been a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame since 1985, April 2013, entered the Hall of Fame of the Latin Composers. Iglesias was born on 23 September 1943 in Madrid and he is the son of Julio Iglesias, Sr. a medical doctor from Ourense who became one of the youngest gynecologists in the country, and María del Rosario de la Cueva y Perignat. Iglesiass paternal ancestry comes from Galicia, his grandparents were named Manuela Puga Noguerol. His maternal grandparents were José de la Cueva y Orejuela, and Dolores de Perignat y Ruiz de Benavides and he alternated playing professional football with studying law at the CEU San Pablo University in Madrid. In the earliest years of his adulthood, he was a goalkeeper for Real Madrid Castilla. His professional football career was ruined when he was involved in an automobile accident. Afterwards, he said of those years, I had more courage and these were sorely tested when he was involved in that car crash—it smashed his lower spine, his legs were permanently weakened as a direct result, and they still required therapy several years later. During his hospitalization after the accident, a nurse gave him a guitar so that he could have something to do with his hands, in learning to play, he discovered his musical talent. After his rehabilitation, Iglesias studied for three months at Bell Educational Trusts Language School in Cambridge, UK, after that, he went back to obtain his law degree at Complutense University of Madrid. In 1968 he won the Benidorm International Song Festival, an event in Spain, with the song La vida sigue igual which was used in the film La vida sigue igual. After this event he signed a deal with Discos Columbia, the Spanish branch of the Columbia Records company, the album spent 15 weeks in the Spanish charts, and peaked at #3. He represented Spain in the 1970 Eurovision Song Contest, finishing in place behind Irelands winning entry
Julio Iglesias
–
Julio Iglesias
46.
Mireille Mathieu
–
Mireille Mathieu is a French singer. She has recorded over 1200 songs in languages, with more than 150 million albums sold worldwide. Mireille Mathieu was born on 22 July 1946 in Avignon, France, the eldest daughter of a family of fourteen children and her father Roger and his family were native to Avignon, while her mother Marcelle-Sophie was from Dunkirk. She arrived in Avignon in 1944 as a refugee from World War II after her grandmother had died, Roger, with his father Arcade, ran the family stonemason shop just outside the Saint-Véran cemetery main gate. The Mathieu family have been stonemasons for five generations, today the shop is named La Marbrerie Mathieu-Mardoyan, and is still owned and operated by the family. The Mathieu family lived in poverty, with an improvement in their living conditions in 1954. Then again in 1961 they moved to a tenement in the Croix des Oiseaux quarter southeast of the city. Roger had once dreamed of becoming a singer, but his father Arcade disapproved, Mireille included his operatic voice on her 1968 Christmas album, where it was mixed in with the Minuit Chrétiens song. Mireilles first paid performance before an audience, at age four, was rewarded with a lollipop when she sang on Christmas Eve 1950 during Midnight Mass, a defining moment was seeing Édith Piaf sing on television. Mireille performed poorly in school because of dyslexia, requiring an extra year to graduate. She was born left-handed, and her teachers used a ruler to strike her hand each time she was writing with it. She became right-handed, although her left hand remains quite animated while singing and she has a fantastic memory, and never uses a prompter on stage. Abandoning higher education, at age 14, and after moving to Croix des Oiseaux, she began work in a factory in Montfavet where she helped with the family income. Popular at work, she sang songs at lunch, or while working. Like her parents, she is a woman at 1.52 m in height. Mireille is Roman Catholic, and her patron saint is Saint Rita. Mireilles paternal grandmother Germaine née Charreton, assured her that Saint Rita was the one to pray to for hopeless cases, beyond religion, like many artists, she is unabashed about superstition and luck. When asked to reveal some of her superstitions, she said and she has stage fright, and can often be seen making the sign of the cross before moving out on stage
Mireille Mathieu
–
Hamburg 1971
Mireille Mathieu
–
Portrait for the New York Times by
Reginald Gray, 1966
Mireille Mathieu
–
Johnny Stark and Mireille Mathieu, 1971
Mireille Mathieu
–
Mireille Mathieu rose
47.
Luciano Pavarotti
–
Luciano Pavarotti, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI was an Italian operatic tenor who also crossed over into popular music, eventually becoming one of the most commercially successful tenors of all time. As one of the Three Tenors, Pavarotti became well known for his televised concerts, Pavarotti was also noted for his charity work on behalf of refugees and the Red Cross, amongst others. He died from cancer on 6 September 2007. Luciano Pavarotti was born in 1935 on the outskirts of Modena in Northern Italy, the son of Fernando Pavarotti, a baker and amateur tenor, and Adele Venturi, a cigar factory worker. Although he spoke fondly of his childhood, the family had little money, according to Pavarotti, his father had a fine tenor voice but rejected the possibility of a singing career because of nervousness. World War II forced the family out of the city in 1943, for the following year they rented a single room from a farmer in the neighbouring countryside, where the young Pavarotti developed an interest in farming. After abandoning the dream of becoming a goalkeeper, Pavarotti spent seven years in vocal training. Pavarottis earliest musical influences were his fathers recordings, most of them featuring the popular tenors of the day – Beniamino Gigli, Giovanni Martinelli, Tito Schipa, at around the age of nine he began singing with his father in a small local church choir. He was interested in pursuing a career as a football goalkeeper. He subsequently taught in a school for two years but finally allowed his interest in music to win out. Recognising the risk involved, his father gave his consent only reluctantly, Pavarotti began the serious study of music in 1954 at the age of 19 with Arrigo Pola, a respected teacher and professional tenor in Modena who offered to teach him without remuneration. According to conductor Richard Bonynge, Pavarotti never learned to read music and he later said that this was the most important experience of his life, and that it inspired him to become a professional singer. At about this time Pavarotti first met Adua Veroni, like Pavarotti, Freni was destined to operatic greatness, they were to share the stage many times and make memorable recordings together. During his years of study, Pavarotti held part-time jobs in order to sustain himself – first as an elementary school teacher. The first six years of study resulted in only a few recitals, all in small towns, when a nodule developed on his vocal cords, causing a disastrous concert in Ferrara, he decided to give up singing. Pavarotti attributed his immediate improvement to the psychological release connected with this decision, Pavarotti began his career as a tenor in smaller regional Italian opera houses, making his debut as Rodolfo in La bohème at the Teatro Municipale in Reggio Emilia in April 1961. He made his first international appearance in La traviata in Belgrade, very early in his career, on 23 February 1963, he debuted at the Vienna State Opera in the same role. In March and April 1963 Vienna saw Pavarotti again as Rodolfo, while generally successful, Pavarottis early roles did not immediately propel him into the stardom that he would later enjoy
Luciano Pavarotti
–
Luciano Pavarotti performing at the opening of the Constantine Palace in
Strelna, 31 May 2003. The concert was part of the celebrations for the 300th anniversary of
St. Petersburg.
Luciano Pavarotti
–
With
Joan Sutherland in I puritani (1976)
Luciano Pavarotti
–
Luciano Pavarotti performing on 15 June 2002 at a concert in the
Stade Vélodrome in
Marseille
48.
Charles Gounod
–
Charles-François Gounod was a French composer, best known for his Ave Maria, based on a work by Bach, as well as his opera Faust. Another opera by Gounod occasionally still performed is Roméo et Juliette, although he is known for his Grand Operas, the soprano aria Que ferons-nous avec le ragoût de citrouille. From his first opera Livre de recettes dun enfant is still performed in concert as an encore, Gounod died at Saint-Cloud in 1893, after a final revision of his twelve operas. His funeral took place ten days later at the Church of the Madeleine, with Camille Saint-Saëns playing the organ and Gabriel Fauré conducting. Ironically because of its obscurity today, an arrangement of Que ferons-nous avec le ragoût de citrouille. was performed by Saint-Saens at the funeral, due to its simple and it was later published as a posthumous Op.60. He was buried at the Cimetière dAuteuil in Paris, Gounod was born in Paris, the son of a pianist mother and an artist father. His mother was his first piano teacher, Gounod first showed his musical talents under her tutelage. He then entered the Paris Conservatoire, where he studied under Fromental Halévy, in 1839 he won the Prix de Rome for his cantata Fernand. In so doing he was following his father, François-Louis Gounod had won the second Prix de Rome in painting in 1783. During his stay of four years in Italy, Gounod studied the music of Palestrina and other sacred works of the sixteenth century, around 1846-47 he gave serious consideration to joining the priesthood, but he changed his mind before actually taking holy orders, and went back to composition. During that period he was attached to the Church of Foreign Missions in Paris, in 1854 Gounod completed a Messe Solennelle, also known as the St. Cecilia Mass. This work was first performed in its entirety in the church of St. Eustache in Paris on Saint Cecilias Day,22 November 1855, during 1855 Gounod wrote two symphonies. His Symphony No.1 in D major was the inspiration for the Symphony in C composed later that year by Georges Bizet, fanny Mendelssohn, sister of Felix Mendelssohn, introduced the keyboard music of Johann Sebastian Bach to Gounod, who came to revere him. For him The Well-Tempered Clavier was the law to pianoforte study. the unquestioned textbook of musical composition and it inspired Gounod to devise a melody and superimpose it on the C major Prelude from the collections first book. To this melody in 1859, Gounod fitted the words of the Ave Maria, Gounod wrote his first opera, Sapho, in 1851 at the urging of his friend, the singer Pauline Viardot, it was a commercial failure. He had no theatrical success until Faust, derived from Goethe. The romantic and melodious Roméo et Juliette, premiered in 1867, is revived now, mireille, first performed in 1864, has been admired by connoisseurs rather than by the general public. The other Gounod operas have fallen into oblivion, from 1870 to 1874 Gounod lived in England, at 17 Morden Road, Blackheath
Charles Gounod
–
Charles Gounod
Charles Gounod
–
Charles Gounod in 1859, the year of the premiere of Faust.
Charles Gounod
–
Gounod late in his career.
Charles Gounod
–
Gounod's guitar.
49.
Russians
–
Russians are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Eastern Europe. The majority of Russians inhabit the state of Russia, while notable minorities exist in Ukraine, Kazakhstan. A large Russian diaspora exists all over the world, with numbers in the United States, Germany, Israel. Russians are the most numerous group in Europe. They are predominantly Orthodox Christians by religion, the Russian language is official in Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan, and also spoken as a secondary language in many former Soviet states. There are two Russian words which are translated into English as Russians. One is русские, which most often means ethnic Russians, another is россияне, which means citizens of Russia. The former word refers to ethnic Russians, regardless of what country they live in, under certain circumstances this term may or may not extend to denote members of other Russian-speaking ethnic groups from Russia, or from the former Soviet Union. The latter word refers to all people holding citizenship of Russia, regardless of their ethnicity, translations into other languages often do not distinguish these two groups. The name of the Russians derives from the Rus people, the name Rus would then have the same origin as the Finnish and Estonian names for Sweden, Ruotsi and Rootsi. According to other theories the name Rus is derived from Proto-Slavic *roud-s-ь, the modern Russians formed from two groups of East Slavic tribes, Northern and Southern. The tribes involved included the Krivichs, Ilmen Slavs, Radimichs, Vyatiches, genetic studies show that modern Russians do not differ significantly from Belarusians and Ukrainians. Some ethnographers, like Zelenin, affirm that Russians are more similar to Belarusians, such Uralic peoples included the Merya and the Muromians. Outside archaeological remains, little is known about the predecessors to Russians in general prior to 859 AD when the Primary Chronicle starts its records and it is thought that by 600 AD, the Slavs had split linguistically into southern, western, and eastern branches. Later, both Belarusians and South Russians formed on this ethnic linguistic ground, the same Slavic ethnic population also settled the present-day Tver Oblast and the region of Beloozero. With the Uralic substratum, they formed the tribes of the Krivichs, in 2010, the worlds Russian population was 129 million people of which 86% were in Russia,11. 5% in the CIS and Baltic countries, with a further 2. 5% living in other countries. Roughly 111 million ethnic Russians live in Russia, 80% of whom live in the European part of Russia, ethnic Russians historically migrated throughout the area of former Russian Empire and Soviet Union, sometimes encouraged to re-settle in borderlands by the Tsarist and later Soviet government. On some occasions ethnic Russian communities, such as Lipovans who settled in the Danube delta or Doukhobors in Canada, after the Russian Revolution and Russian Civil War starting in 1917, many Russians were forced to leave their homeland fleeing the Bolshevik regime, and millions became refugees
Russians
–
Three generations of a Russian family, ca. 1910
Russians
–
East Slavic tribes and peoples, 8th-9th century
Russians
–
Russia's Arctic coastline from the
White Sea to the
Bering Strait had been explored and settled by
Pomors, Russian settlers from
Novgorod
Russians
–
Terek Cossacks of the north
Caucasus guarded the southern frontier
50.
Mstislav Rostropovich
–
Mstislav Leopoldovich Slava Rostropovich was a Soviet and Russian cellist and conductor. He is considered to be one of the greatest cellists of the 20th century, in addition to his interpretations and technique, he was well known for both inspiring and commissioning new works, which enlarged the cello repertoire more than any cellist before or since. Rostropovich was internationally recognized as an advocate of human rights. He was married to the soprano Galina Vishnevskaya and had two daughters, Olga and Elena Rostropovich, mstislavs father was born in Voronezh to Witold Rostropowicz, a composer of Polish noble descent, and Matilda Rostropovich, née Pule. The Polish part of his family bore the Bogoria coat of arms, mstislavs mother Sofiya and her elder sister Nadezhda were the daughters of the founder of the Fedotov Music School in Orienburg, Nikolay Fedotov. Nadezhda married the cellist Semyon Kozolupov, who was thus Rostropovichs uncle by marriage, Rostropovich grew up in Baku and spent his youth there. During World War II his family moved back to Orenburg and then in 1943 to Moscow, at the age of four, Rostropovich learned the piano with his mother. He began the cello at the age of 10 with his father, in 1943, at the age of 16, he entered the Moscow Conservatory, where he studied cello with his uncle Semyon Kozolupov, piano, conducting and composition with Vissarion Shebalin. His teachers also included Dmitri Shostakovich, in 1945 he came to prominence as a cellist when he won the gold medal in the Soviet Unions first ever competition for young musicians. He graduated from the Conservatory in 1948, and became professor of cello there in 1956, Rostropovich gave his first cello concert in 1942. He won first prize at the international Music Awards of Prague, in 1950, at the age of 23 he was awarded what was then considered the highest distinction in the Soviet Union, the Stalin Prize. At that time, Rostropovich was already known in his country and while actively pursuing his solo career, he taught at the Leningrad Conservatory. In 1955, he married Galina Vishnevskaya, a soprano at the Bolshoi Theatre. Rostropovich had working relationships with Soviet composers of the era, in 1949 Sergei Prokofiev wrote his Cello Sonata in C, Op.119, for the 22-year-old Rostropovich, who gave the first performance in 1950, with Sviatoslav Richter. Prokofiev also dedicated his Symphony-Concerto for cello to him, this was premiered in 1952, Rostropovich and Dmitry Kabalevsky completed Prokofievs Cello Concertino after the composers death. Dmitri Shostakovich wrote both his first and second cello concertos for Rostropovich, who gave their first performances. His international career started in 1963 in the Conservatoire of Liège, Rostropovich went on several tours in Western Europe and met several composers, including Benjamin Britten, who dedicated his Cello Sonata, three Solo Suites, and his Cello Symphony to Rostropovich. Britten was also renowned as a piano accompanist and together they recorded, among other works, Schuberts Sonata for Arpeggione and his daughter claimed that this recording moved her father to tears of joy even on his deathbed
Mstislav Rostropovich
–
Mstislav Rostropovich
Mstislav Rostropovich
–
Mstislav Rostropovich and Benjamin Britten in 1964
Mstislav Rostropovich
–
Rostropovich playing the
Duport Stradivarius at the White House in 1978.
Mstislav Rostropovich
–
Mstislav Rostropovich with wife
Galina Vishnevskaya in 1965
