Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction set in a fictional universe inspired by real world myth and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which became fantasy literature and drama. From the twentieth century it has expanded further into various media, including film, graphic novels and video games. Fantasy is distinguished from the genres of science fiction and horror by the absence of scientific or macabre themes though these genres overlap. In popular culture, the fantasy genre predominantly features settings of a medieval nature. In its broadest sense, fantasy consists of works by many writers, artists and musicians from ancient myths and legends to many recent and popular works. Most fantasy uses other supernatural elements as a main plot element, theme, or setting. Magic and magical creatures are common in many of these worlds. An identifying trait of fantasy is the author's use of narrative elements that do not have to rely on history or nature to be coherent; this differs from realistic fiction in that realistic fiction has to attend to the history and natural laws of reality, where fantasy does not.

In writing fantasy the author creates characters and settings that are not possible in reality. Many fantasy authors use real-world mythology as inspiration. For instance, a narrative that takes place in an imagined town in the northeastern United States could be considered realistic fiction as long as the plot and characters are consistent with the history of a region and the natural characteristics that someone, to the northeastern United States expects. Fantasy has been compared to science fiction and horror because they are the major categories of speculative fiction. Fantasy is distinguished from science fiction by the plausibility of the narrative elements. A science fiction narrative is unlikely, though possible through logical scientific or technological extrapolation, where fantasy narratives do not need to be scientifically possible. Authors have to rely on the readers' suspension of disbelief, an acceptance of the unbelievable or impossible for the sake of enjoyment, in order to write effective fantasies.

Despite both genres' heavy reliance on the supernatural and horror are distinguishable from one another. Horror evokes fear through the protagonists' weaknesses or inability to deal with the antagonists. Elements of the supernatural and the fantastic were a part of literature from its beginning. Fantasy elements occur throughout the ancient Akkadian Epic of Gilgamesh; the ancient Babylonian creation epic, the Enûma Eliš, in which the god Marduk slays the goddess Tiamat, contains the theme of a cosmic battle between good and evil, characteristic of the modern fantasy genre. Genres of romantic and fantasy literature existed in ancient Egypt; the Tales of the Court of King Khufu, preserved in the Westcar Papyrus and was written in the middle of the second half of the eighteenth century BC, preserves a mixture of stories with elements of historical fiction and satire. Egyptian funerary texts preserve mythological tales, the most significant of which are the myths of Osiris and his son Horus. Myth with fantastic elements intended.

The comedies of Aristophanes are filled with fantastic elements his play The Birds, in which an Athenian man builds a city in the clouds with the birds and challenges Zeus's authority. Ovid's Metamorphoses and Apuleius's The Golden Ass are both works that influenced the development of the fantasy genre by taking mythic elements and weaving them into personal accounts. Both works involve complex narratives in which humans beings are transformed into animals or inanimate objects. Platonic teachings and early Christian theology are major influences on the modern fantasy genre. Plato used allegories to convey many of his teachings, early Christian writers interpreted both the Old and New Testaments as employing parables to relay spiritual truths; this ability to find meaning in a story, not true became the foundation that allowed the modern fantasy genre to develop. The most well known fiction from the Islamic world was One Thousand and One Nights, a compilation of many ancient and medieval folk tales.

Various characters from this epic have become cultural icons in Western culture, such as Aladdin and Ali Baba. Hindu mythology was an evolution of the earlier Vedic mythology and had many more fantastical stories and characters in the Indian epics; the Panchatantra, for example, used various animal fables and magical tales to illustrate the central Indian principles of political science. Chinese traditions have been influential in the vein of fantasy known as Chinoiserie, including such writers as Ernest Bramah and Barry Hughart. Beowulf is among the best known of the Nordic tales in the English speaking world, has had deep influence on the fantasy genre. Norse mythology, as found in the Elder Edda and the Younger Edda, includes such figures as Odin and his fellow Aesir, dwarves, elves and giants; these elements have been directly imported into various fantasy works. The separate folklore of Ireland and Scotland has sometimes been used indiscrimi

The guitarrón mexicano or Mexican guitarrón is a large, deep-bodied Mexican six-string acoustic bass played traditionally in Mariachi groups. Although similar to the guitar, it is not a derivative of that instrument, but was independently developed from the sixteenth-century Spanish bajo de uña; because its great size gives it volume, it does not require electric amplification for performances in small venues. The guitarrón is fretless with heavy gauge strings, most nylon for the high three and wound metal for the low three; the guitarrón is played by doubling notes at the octave, a practice facilitated by the standard guitarrón tuning A1 D2 G2 C3 E2 A2. Unlike a guitar, the pitch of the guitarrón strings does not always rise as strings move directionally downward from the lowest-pitched string; the guitarrón was the inspiration behind Ernie Ball's development of the first modern acoustic bass guitar, released on the market in 1972. The guitarrón is used in Mexican Mariachi groups, which consist of at least two violins, two trumpets, one Spanish guitar, a vihuela, the guitarrón.

A strap is used to keep the instrument up and playable. The guitarrón is the principal rhythm instrument in the mariachi group, it serves as the bass instrument, playing deep pitches; the rhythmic propulsion of the basslines played on it help to keep the other instruments together. It is unusual for a group to have more than one guitarrón player. Guitarrón players need good left-hand strength to stop the heavy strings of the instrument and a strong right hand the index, middle finger, thumb, to pluck the thick, heavy strings; the right hand is used to pluck two strings at a time, to play the bassline in octaves though it is notated as a single note bass part. Since the strings are so thick, the player has to keep on or a bit ahead of the beat, rather than behimd the beat; the instrument is used to play basslines that "walk" through the chord progression with rising and falling arpeggio figures and scales. The instrument plays more ornamented lines to embellish meter, or tempo changes. Mexican composer Julián Carrillo adapted the guitarrón for microtonal music by adding frets to enable it to play eighths of a tone.

He scored for this instrument, under the name octavina, in several compositions, most notably the Preludio a Colón. The guitarrón is played by Roy Estrada on the 1966 Mothers of Invention album Freak Out!. Randy Meisner of the Eagles plays the guitarrón on the track "New Kid in Town" from the album Hotel California. One American player using the guitarrón in a non-traditional context is Aaron Goldsmith of the New York-based multicultural acoustic ensemble Luminescent Orchestrii. Played by Simon Edwards, the guitarrón was a defining element of the 1980s British folk-pop band Fairground Attraction. In addition, Edwards plays the guitarrón on the Talk Talk album Spirit of Eden The back of the guitarrón is made of two pieces of wood that are set at an angle making the back shaped like a shallow letter V; this design feature increases the depth and overall size of the instrument. The arched shape helps the instrument to project a deep tone; the sides and back are made from Mexican cedar and the top is made from tacote, a wood, both lightweight and strong.

Tuning machines with worm gears serve to increase or decrease the tension on the strings, how the instrument is tuned. Acoustic bass guitar Bass guitar Mariachi Guitarrón chileno Music sheets for guitarrón and other mariachi instruments http://musicaldots.com/

Meenakshi Shirodkar, born Ratan Pednekar, was an Indian actress who worked in Marathi films, Marathi theatre and television. She continued to act in films until the early 1970s, her appearance in a swimsuit in the Marathi film Brahmachari with Master Vinayak stunned the traditional audience. She is a grandmother of Namrata Shirodkar and Shilpa Shirodkar. Shirodkar was born Ratan Pednekar on 11 October 1916 to a Konkani family with roots in Goa, she started learning Indian classical music at an early age. In 1936, she married Dr. Shirodkar, her granddaughters are the Bollywood actresses Namrata Shirodkar and Shilpa Shirodkar, who worked in the film industry. Namrata was crowned as Miss India in 1993. On 4 June 1997, Shirodkar died at the age of 80 in Mumbai. In 1935, Shirodkar joined All India Radio. After her marriage in 1936, she got a film offer from Pandurang Naik, one of the partners in a film company called Hans Pictures. Though Shirodkar declined the offer in the beginning, Naik convinced Shirodkar's husband that she should make a film debut.

Shirodkar debuted opposite Master Vinayak. The writer of the film Pralhad Keshav Atre, better known as "Āchārya Atre", changed her name from "Ratan" to "Meenaxi" to suit her big eyes, she created a stir by appearing in a swimsuit in the song "Yamuna Jali Khelu Khel" in the film and stunned the traditional audience. She rose to fame for her daring act, for her twin-plait hairstyle in the song, but got criticized heavily; the song became a hit. It was reused in the play by the same name, years in other films as well, she continued to do several other films with Master Vinayak such as Brandichi Batli, Ghar Ki Rani and Majhe Bal. After retiring from major roles in 1950, Shirodkar played a few minor roles in films and joined Marathi theatre with "Nutan Sangeet Natak Mandali". During the period 1950-75, she worked in twelve Sangeet Nataks including Mruchhakatik, Ekach Pyaala and others. Meenakshi Shirodkar on IMDb