1.
Morocco
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Morocco, officially known as the Kingdom of Morocco, is a sovereign country located in the Maghreb region of North Africa. Geographically, Morocco is characterized by a mountainous interior, large tracts of desert. Morocco has a population of over 33.8 million and an area of 446,550 km2 and its capital is Rabat, and the largest city is Casablanca. Other major cities include Marrakesh, Tangier, Tetouan, Salé, Fes, Agadir, Meknes, Oujda, Kenitra, a historically prominent regional power, Morocco has a history of independence not shared by its neighbours. Marinid and Saadi dynasties continued the struggle against foreign domination, the Alaouite dynasty, the current ruling dynasty, seized power in 1666. In 1912 Morocco was divided into French and Spanish protectorates, with a zone in Tangier. Moroccan culture is a blend of Arab, indigenous Berber, Sub-Saharan African, Morocco claims the non-self-governing territory of Western Sahara as its Southern Provinces. Morocco annexed the territory in 1975, leading to a war with indigenous forces until a cease-fire in 1991. Peace processes have thus far failed to break the political deadlock, Morocco is a constitutional monarchy with an elected parliament. The King of Morocco holds vast executive and legislative powers, especially over the military, foreign policy, the king can issue decrees called dahirs which have the force of law. He can also dissolve the parliament after consulting the Prime Minister, Moroccos predominant religion is Islam, and the official languages are Arabic and Tamazight. The Moroccan dialect, referred to as Darija, and French are also widely spoken, Morocco is a member of the Arab League, the Union for the Mediterranean, and the African Union. It has the fifth largest economy of Africa, the full Arabic name al-Mamlakah al-Maghribiyyah translates to Kingdom of the West, although the West in Arabic is الغرب Al-Gharb. The basis of Moroccos English name is Marrakesh, its capital under the Almoravid dynasty, the origin of the name Marrakesh is disputed, but is most likely from the Berber words amur akush or Land of God. The modern Berber name for Marrakesh is Mṛṛakc, in Turkish, Morocco is known as Fas, a name derived from its ancient capital of Fes. The English name Morocco is an anglicisation of the Spanish Marruecos, the area of present-day Morocco has been inhabited since Paleolithic times, sometime between 190,000 and 90,000 BC. During the Upper Paleolithic, the Maghreb was more fertile than it is today, twenty-two thousand years ago, the Aterian was succeeded by the Iberomaurusian culture, which shared similarities with Iberian cultures. Skeletal similarities have been suggested between the Iberomaurusian Mechta-Afalou burials and European Cro-Magnon remains, the Iberomaurusian was succeeded by the Beaker culture in Morocco
2.
Algeria
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Algeria, officially the Peoples Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a sovereign state in North Africa on the Mediterranean coast. Its capital and most populous city is Algiers, located in the far north. With an area of 2,381,741 square kilometres, Algeria is the tenth-largest country in the world, the country is a semi-presidential republic consisting of 48 provinces and 1,541 communes. Abdelaziz Bouteflika has been President since 1999, Berbers are the indigenous inhabitants of Algeria. Algeria is a regional and middle power, the North African country supplies large amounts of natural gas to Europe, and energy exports are the backbone of the economy. According to OPEC Algeria has the 16th largest oil reserves in the world, Sonatrach, the national oil company, is the largest company in Africa. Algeria has one of the largest militaries in Africa and the largest defence budget on the continent, most of Algerias weapons are imported from Russia, with whom they are a close ally. Algeria is a member of the African Union, the Arab League, OPEC, the countrys name derives from the city of Algiers. The citys name in turn derives from the Arabic al-Jazāir, a form of the older Jazāir Banī Mazghanna. In the region of Ain Hanech, early remnants of hominid occupation in North Africa were found, neanderthal tool makers produced hand axes in the Levalloisian and Mousterian styles similar to those in the Levant. Algeria was the site of the highest state of development of Middle Paleolithic Flake tool techniques, tools of this era, starting about 30,000 BC, are called Aterian. The earliest blade industries in North Africa are called Iberomaurusian and this industry appears to have spread throughout the coastal regions of the Maghreb between 15,000 and 10,000 BC. Neolithic civilization developed in the Saharan and Mediterranean Maghreb perhaps as early as 11,000 BC or as late as between 6000 and 2000 BC and this life, richly depicted in the Tassili nAjjer paintings, predominated in Algeria until the classical period. The amalgam of peoples of North Africa coalesced eventually into a native population that came to be called Berbers. These settlements served as market towns as well as anchorages, as Carthaginian power grew, its impact on the indigenous population increased dramatically. Berber civilization was already at a stage in which agriculture, manufacturing, trade, by the early 4th century BC, Berbers formed the single largest element of the Carthaginian army. In the Revolt of the Mercenaries, Berber soldiers rebelled from 241 to 238 BC after being unpaid following the defeat of Carthage in the First Punic War. They succeeded in obtaining control of much of Carthages North African territory, the Carthaginian state declined because of successive defeats by the Romans in the Punic Wars
3.
Maghreb
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The Maghreb, or the Greater Maghreb, is usually defined as much or most of the region of western North Africa or Northwest Africa, west of Egypt. Historical terms for the region or various portions of the Maghreb include Mauretania, Numidia, Libya, the term maghrib is Arabic for west, from the verb gharaba. In the strict sense, the definite form al-maghrib denotes the country of Morocco in particular and it identified the westernmost territories that fell to the Islamic conquests of the 7th century. Today, it is a noun for the present region of the Maghreb. The Berber languages alternative term for the region, Tamazgha, has been popularized by Berber activists since the second half of the 20th century. As recently as the late 19th century it was used to refer to the Western Mediterranean region of coastal North Africa in general, and to Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia in particular. The region was unified as an independent political entity during the rule of the Berber kingdom of Numidia. The most enduring rule was that of the local Berber empires of the Almoravids, Almohads, Hammadids, Zirids, Marinids, Saadi, the Ottoman Turks ruled the region as well. Mauritania, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, and Libya established the Maghreb Union in 1989 to promote cooperation and it was envisioned initially by Muammar Gaddafi as a superstate. The union included Western Sahara implicitly under Moroccos membership, putting Moroccos long cold war with Algeria to a rest, however, this progress was short-lived, and the union is now frozen. Tensions between Algeria and Morocco over Western Sahara re-emerged strongly, reinforced by the unsolved borderline issue between the two countries and these two main conflicts have hindered progress on the unions joint goals and practically made it inactive as a whole. Around 3,500 BC a tilt in the Earths orbit created a rapid desertification of the Sahara, the Maghreb or western North Africa is believed to have been inhabited by Berbers since from at least 10,000 BC. Maghreb coast ports were predominantly occupied or constructed by the Phoenicians, the main Phoenician settlements centered in the Gulf of Tunis along the North African littoral between the Pillars of Hercules and the Libyan coast east of ancient Cyrenaica. They dominated the trade and intercourse of the Western Mediterranean for centuries, Rome was greatly helped by the defection of King Massinissa and Carthaginians eastern Numidian Massylii client-allies. A century later, the Byzantine emperor Justinian I sent a force under General Belisarius that succeeded in destroying the Vandal kingdom, the Berbers contested outside-the-area control although after the 640s-700 AD period the Arabs controlled the entire region. The Arabs reached the Maghreb in early Umayyad times, Arab expansion and the spread of Islam pushed the development of trans-Saharan trade. While restricted due to the cost and dangers, the trade was highly profitable, commodities traded included such goods as salt, gold, ivory, and slaves. Arab control over the Maghreb was quite weak, various Islamic variations, such as the Ibadis and the Shia, were adopted by some Berbers, often leading to scorning of Caliphal control in favour of their own interpretation of Islam
4.
Sufism
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Sufism or Taṣawwuf, which is often defined as Islamic mysticism, the inward dimension of Islam, or the phenomenon of mysticism within Islam, is a mystical trend in Islam characterized. These orders meet for sessions in meeting places known as zawiyas, khanqahs. They strive for ihsan as detailed in a hadith, Ihsan is to worship Allah as if you see Him, if you cant see Him, Rumi stated, The Sufi is hanging on to Muhammad, like Abu Bakr. Sufis regard Muhammad as al-Insān al-Kāmil, the perfect man who exemplifies the morality of God. The orders largely follow one of the four madhhabs of Sunni Islam, classical Sufis were characterized by their asceticism, especially by their attachment to dhikr, the practice of repeating the names of God, often performed after prayers. According to William Chittick, In a broad sense, Sufism can be described as the interiorization, historically, Muslims have used the Arabic word taṣawwuf to identify the practice of Sufis. In this view, it is necessary to be a Muslim to be a true Sufi. However, Islamic scholars themselves are not by any means in agreement about the meaning of the word sufi, Sufis themselves claim that Tasawwuf is an aspect of Islam similar to Sharia, inseparable from Islam and an integral part of Islamic belief and practice. Classical Sufi scholars have defined Tasawwuf as a science whose objective is the reparation of the heart and turning it away from all else, two origins of the word sufi have been suggested. Commonly, the root of the word is traced to ṣafā. Another origin is ṣūf, wool in Arabic, referring to the simple cloaks the early Muslim ascetics wore, the two were combined by the Sufi al-Rudhabari, who said, The Sufi is the one who wears wool on top of purity. Scholars generally agree that ṣūf or wool is probably the word of Sufi. This term was given to them because they wore woollen garments, the term labisal-suf meant he clad himself in wool and applied to a person who renounced the world and became an ascetic. Others have suggested that the word comes from the term ahl aṣ-ṣuffah and these men and women who sat at al-Masjid an-Nabawi are considered by some to be the first Sufis. Al-Qushayri and Ibn Khaldun both rejected all other than ṣūf on linguistic grounds. Sufi orders are based on the bayah that was given to the Prophet Muhammad by his Sahaba, by pledging allegiance to the Prophet Muhammad, the Sahaba had committed themselves to the service of God. According to Islamic belief, by pledging allegiance to Prophet Muhammad and it is through the Prophet Muhammad that Sufis aim to learn about, understand and connect with God. Such a concept may be understood by the hadith, which Sufis regard to be authentic, in which Prophet Muhammad said, I am the city of knowledge, eminent Sufis such as Ali Hujwiri refer to Ali as having a very high ranking in Tasawwuf
5.
Scorpion
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Scorpions are predatory arachnids of the order Scorpiones. Scorpions range in size from 9 mm /0.3 in. to 23 cm /9 in, the evolutionary history of scorpions goes back to the Silurian era 430 million years ago. They have adapted to a range of environmental conditions and can now be found on all continents except Antarctica. Scorpions number about 1750 described species, with 13 extant families recognised to date, only about 25 of these species are known to have venom capable of killing a human being. The taxonomy has undergone changes and is likely to change further, Scorpion stings are painful but are usually harmless to humans. For stings from species found in North America, no treatment is normally needed for healthy adults, although care should be sought for children. More harmful stings from species found in South America, Africa, Scorpions are found on all major land masses except Antarctica. The greatest diversity of scorpions in the Northern Hemisphere is to be found in the areas lying between latitudes 23° N and 38° N. Above these latitudes, the diversity decreases, with the northernmost natural occurrence of scorpions being the northern scorpion Paruroctonus boreus at Medicine Hat, Alberta, five colonies of scorpions have established themselves in Sheerness on the Isle of Sheppey in the United Kingdom. This small population has been resident since the 1860s, having arrived with imported fruit from Africa. This scorpion species is small and completely harmless to humans, at just over 51° N, this marks the northernmost limit where scorpions live in the wild. There are thirteen families and about 1,750 described species and subspecies of scorpions, in addition, there are 111 described taxa of extinct scorpions. This classification is based on that of Soleglad & Fet, which replaced the older, additional taxonomic changes are from papers by Soleglad et al. The following classification covers extant taxa to the rank of family, L. Koch,1837 Family Buthidae C. L. The oldest known scorpions lived around 430 million years ago in the Silurian period and these first scorpions were believed to have had gills instead of the present forms book lungs though this has subsequently been refuted. The oldest Gondwanan scorpiones comprise the earliest known terrestrial animals from Gondwana, currently,111 fossil species of scorpion are known. Unusually for arachnids, there are species of Palaeozoic scorpion than Mesozoic or Cenozoic ones. The eurypterids, marine creatures that lived during the Palaeozoic era, share several traits with scorpions
6.
Cymbal
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A cymbal is a common percussion instrument. Often used in pairs, cymbals consist of thin, normally round plates of various alloys, the majority of cymbals are of indefinite pitch, although small disc-shaped cymbals based on ancient designs sound a definite note. Cymbals are used in ensembles ranging from the orchestra, percussion ensembles, jazz bands, heavy metal bands. Drum kits usually incorporate at least a crash, ride or crash/ride, a player of cymbals is known as a cymbalist. The word cymbal is derived from the Latin cymbalum, which is the latinisation of the Greek word κύμβαλον kymbalon, cymbal, which in turn derives from κύμβη kymbē, cup, bowl. In orchestral scores, cymbals may be indicated by the French cymbales, German Becken, Schellbecken, Tellern, or Tschinellen, Italian piatti or cinelli, many of these derive from the word for plates. Cymbals have existed since ancient times, representations of cymbals may be found in reliefs and paintings from Hittite Anatolia, Larsa, Babylon, Assyria, ancient Egypt, ancient Greece, and ancient Rome. References to cymbals also appear throughout the Bible, through many Psalms, cymbals may have been introduced to China from Central Asia in the 3rd or 4th century AD. Cymbals were employed by Turkish janissaries in the 14th century or earlier, by the 17th century, such cymbals were used in European music, and more commonly played in military bands and orchestras by the mid 18th century. Since the 19th century, some composers have called for larger roles for cymbals in musical works, and a variety of shapes, techniques. The anatomy of the plays a large part in the sound it creates. A hole is drilled in the center of the cymbal, which is used to mount the cymbal on a stand or for tying straps through. The bell, dome, or cup is the section immediately surrounding the hole. The bell produces a higher pinging pitch than the rest of the cymbal, the bow is the rest of the surface surrounding the bell. The bow is sometimes described in two areas, the ride and crash area, the ride area is the thicker section closer to the bell while the crash area is the thinner tapering section near the edge. The edge or rim is the circumference of the cymbal. Cymbals are measured by their diameter either in inches or centimeters, the size of the cymbal affects its sound, larger cymbals usually being louder and having longer sustain. The weight describes how thick the cymbal is, Cymbal weights are important to the sound they produce and how they play
7.
Western culture
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The term also applies beyond Europe, to countries and cultures whose histories are strongly connected to Europe by immigration, colonization, or influence. For example, Western Culture includes countries in the Americas and Australasia, whose language, before the Cold War era, the traditional Western viewpoint identified Western Civilization with the Western Christian countries and culture. Ancient Greece is considered the birthplace of Western culture, with the worlds first democratic system of government and major advances in philosophy, science, Greece was followed by Rome, which made key contributions in law, government, engineering and political organization. European culture developed with a range of philosophy, medieval scholasticism, and mysticism. Rational thinking developed through an age of change and formation, with the experiments of the Enlightenment. More often an ideology is what will be used to categorize it as a Western society. There is some disagreement about what nations should or should not be included in the category, many parts of the Eastern Roman Empire are considered Western today but were Eastern in the past. Since the context is highly biased and context-dependent, there is no agreed definition what the West is and it is difficult to determine which individuals fit into which category and the East–West contrast is sometimes criticized as relativistic and arbitrary. Globalism has spread Western ideas so widely that almost all cultures are, to some extent. Stereotyped views of the West have been labeled Occidentalism, paralleling Orientalism—the term for the 19th-century stereotyped views of the East, as Europe discovered the wider world, old concepts adapted. The area that had formerly considered the Orient became the Near East, as the interests of the European powers interfered with Meiji Japan and Qing China for the first time. Thus, the Sino-Japanese War in 1894–1895 occurred in the Far East, the Greeks contrasted themselves to their Eastern neighbors, such as the Trojans in Iliad, setting an example for later contrasts between east and west. In the Middle Ages, the Near East provided a contrast to the West, concepts of what is the West arose out of legacies of the Western Roman Empire and the Eastern Roman Empire. Later, ideas of the west were formed by the concepts of Latin Christendom, Western culture is neither homogeneous nor unchanging. As with all cultures, it has evolved and gradually changed over time. Nevertheless, it is possible to follow the evolution and history of the West, and appreciate its similarities and differences, its borrowings from, and contributions to, other cultures of humanity. Nevertheless, the Greeks felt they were the most civilized and saw themselves as something between the wild barbarians of most of Europe and the soft, slavish Middle-Easterners. In the meantime, however, Greece, under Alexander, had become a capital of the East, the Celts also created some significant literature in the ancient world whenever they were given the opportunity
8.
Brian Jones
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Lewis Brian Hopkin Jones was an English musician, the founder and the original leader of the Rolling Stones. Although he was originally the leader of the band, Joness fellow band members Mick Jagger and Keith Richards soon overshadowed him, Jones developed a serious drug problem over the years and his role in the band steadily diminished with help from Jagger and Richards. The band asked Jones to leave the Rolling Stones in June 1969, Jones died less than a month later by drowning in the swimming pool at his home on Cotchford Farm in Hartfield, East Sussex. Original Rolling Stones bass guitarist Bill Wyman said of Jones, He formed the band and he chose the music we played. He was very influential, very important, and then slowly lost it – highly intelligent – and just kind of wasted it, Lewis Brian Hopkin Jones was born in the Park Nursing Home in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, on 28 February 1942. An attack of croup at the age of four left him with asthma and his middle-class parents, Lewis Blount Jones and Louisa Beatrice Jones were of Welsh descent. Brian had two sisters, Pamela, who was born on 3 October 1943 and died on 14 October 1945 of leukemia, in 1957 Jones first heard Cannonball Adderleys music, which inspired his interest in jazz. Jones persuaded his parents to buy him a saxophone, and two years later his parents gave him his first acoustic guitar as a 17th birthday present and he enjoyed badminton and diving at school and attained first clarinet in the school orchestra. In 1957 he reportedly obtained seven O-level passes, then he continued into the sixth form and he also took three A-levels in Physics, Chemistry and Biology and passed in Physics and Chemistry, but failed in Biology. Jones was able to well in exams despite a lack of academic effort. However, he found school regimented and disliked conforming and he disliked the school uniforms and angered teachers with his behaviour, though he was popular with classmates. Jones himself said, When I made the sixth form I found myself accepted by the older boys and his hostility to authority figures resulted in his suspension from school on two occasions. According to Dick Hattrell, a friend, He was a rebel without a cause. In late summer 1959, Joness 17-year-old girlfriend, a Cheltenham schoolgirl named Valerie Corbett, although Jones is said to have encouraged her to have an abortion, she carried the child to term and placed baby Barry David for adoption. Jones quit school in disgrace and left home, travelling for a summer through Northern Europe, during this period, he lived a bohemian lifestyle, busking with his guitar on the streets for money, and living off the charity of others. Eventually, he ran short of money and returned to England, Jones listened to classical music as a child, but preferred blues, particularly Elmore James and Robert Johnson. He began performing at blues and jazz clubs, while busking and working odd jobs. He reportedly stole small amounts of money from work to pay for cigarettes, in November 1959, Jones went to the Wooden Bridge Hotel in Guildford to see a band perform
9.
Robert Plant
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Robert Anthony Plant, CBE is an English singer, songwriter, and musician, best known as the lead singer and lyricist of the rock band Led Zeppelin. A powerful and wide range has given him a successful solo career spanning over 30 years. Plant is regarded as one of the greatest singers in the history of rock and roll, he has influenced fellow rock singer-songwriters such as Freddie Mercury, Axl Rose, in 2006, Heavy Metal magazine Hit Parader named Plant the Greatest Metal Vocalist of All Time. In 2009, Plant was voted the greatest voice in rock in a poll conducted by Planet Rock, in 2008, Rolling Stone editors ranked him number 15 on their list of the 100 best singers of all time. In 2011, Rolling Stone readers ranked Plant the greatest of all lead singers, Robert Anthony Plant was born in the Black Country town of West Bromwich, Staffordshire to Robert C. Plant, a civil engineer who worked in the Royal Air Force during World War II, and Annie Celia Plant. He grew up in Kidderminster, Worcestershire, Plant gained an interest in singing and rock and roll music at an early age. When I was a kid I used to hide behind the curtains at home at Christmas and I used to try, there was a certain ambience between the curtains and the French windows, there was a certain sound there for a ten-year-old. That was all the ambience I got at ten years old, and I always wanted to be a curtain, a bit similar to that. I suppose I was quite interested in my collection and Romano-British history. I was a grammar school boy and I could hear this kind of calling through the airwaves. He abandoned training as an accountant after only two weeks to attend college in an effort to gain more GCE passes and to become part of the English Midlands blues scene. I left home at 16, he said, and I started my real education musically, moving from group to group, furthering my knowledge of the blues, Plants early blues influences included Johnson, Bukka White, Skip James, Jerry Miller, and Sleepy John Estes. Plant had various jobs while pursuing his career, one of which was working for the major British construction company Wimpey in Birmingham in 1967 laying tarmac on roads. He also worked at Woolworths in Halesowen town for a period of time. He cut three singles on CBS Records and sang with a variety of bands, including the Crawling King Snakes. They both went on to play in the Band of Joy, merging blues with newer psychedelic trends, a version of Somebody to Love by Jefferson Airplane was sung by Plant in front of Page, leading Page to the end of his search. As recalled by Plant and Page, Plant, I was appearing at this college when Peter and Jimmy turned up and asked me if Id like to join the Yardbirds
10.
Jimmy Page
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James Patrick Jimmy Page, OBE is an English musician, songwriter, and record producer who achieved international success as the guitarist and founder of the rock band Led Zeppelin. Page began his career as a session musician in London and, by the mid-1960s. He was a member of the Yardbirds from 1966 to 1968, in late 1968, he founded Led Zeppelin. Page is widely considered to be one of the greatest and most influential guitarists of all time, Rolling Stone magazine has described Page as the pontiff of power riffing and ranked him number 3 in their list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time. In 2010, he was ranked number two in Gibsons list of Top 50 Guitarists of All Time and, in 2007, number four on Classic Rocks 100 Wildest Guitar Heroes. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice, once as a member of the Yardbirds, Page has been described by Uncut as rocks greatest and most mysterious guitar hero. Los Angeles Times magazine voted Jimmy Page the 2nd greatest guitarist of all time, Page was born to James Patrick Page and Patricia Elizabeth Gaffikin in the west London suburb of Heston on 9 January 1944. His father was a personnel manager and his mother, who was of Irish descent, was a doctors secretary. In 1952, they moved to Feltham and then to Miles Road, Epsom in Surrey, I dont know whether was left behind by the people before, or whether it was a friend of the familys—nobody seemed to know why it was there. First playing the instrument at age 12, he took a few lessons in nearby Kingston, there was one other guitarist in my school who actually showed me the first chords that I learned and I went on from there. I was bored so I taught myself the guitar from listening to records, so obviously it was a very personal thing. Among Pages early influences were rockabilly guitarists Scotty Moore and James Burton, presleys song Baby Lets Play House is cited by Page as being his inspiration to take up the guitar. Although he appeared on BBC1 in 1957 with a Höfner President, Page states that his first guitar was a second-hand 1959 Futurama Grazioso, later replaced by a Fender Telecaster. Pages musical tastes included skiffle and acoustic folk playing, and the sounds of Elmore James, B. B. King, Otis Rush, Buddy Guy, Freddie King. Basically, that was the start, a mixture between rock and blues, at 13, Page appeared on Huw Wheldons All Your Own talent quest programme in a skiffle quartet, one performance of which aired on BBC1 in 1957. The group played Mama Dont Want to Skiffle Anymore and another American-flavoured song, when asked by Wheldon what he wanted to do after schooling, Page said, I want to do biological research to find a cure for cancer, if it isnt discovered by then. In an interview with Guitar Player magazine, Page stated that there was a lot of busking in the early days, Page took a guitar to school each day only to have it confiscated and returned to him after class. Although interviewed for a job as an assistant, he ultimately chose to leave Danetree Secondary School, West Ewell
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