2016 Summer Paralympics
The 2016 Summer Paralympics, the 15th Summer Paralympic Games, were a major international multi-sport event for athletes with disabilities governed by the International Paralympic Committee, held in Rio de Janeiro, from 7 September to 18 September 2016. The Games marked the first time a Latin American and South American city hosted the event, the second Southern Hemisphere city and nation, the first one being the 2000 Summer Paralympics in Sydney, the first time a Lusophone country hosted the event; these Games saw the introduction of two new sports to the Paralympic program: canoeing and the paratriathlon. The lead-up to these Paralympics were met with financial shortcomings attributed to tepid sponsor interest and ticket sales, which resulted in cuts to volunteer staffing and transport, the re-location of events and the partial deconstruction of the Deodoro venue cluster. However, ticket sales began to increase as the Games drew nearer, over 2 million tickets were sold in total—overtaking Beijing 2008 as the second-most-attended Paralympic Games on record.
The Russian doping scandal affected these Paralympics. A team of two refugee athletes participated in Rio, "hosted" by the Greek and American Paralympic Committees. For the fourth consecutive Summer Paralympics, China topped the medal table, winning 107 gold medals, while Georgia, Malaysia and Vietnam won their first Paralympic gold medals. For the first time in Paralympic history, the first time in the Olympics or Paralympics since 1960, an athlete—Iranian cyclist Bahman Golbarnezhad—died during competition; as part of a formal agreement between the International Paralympic Committee and the International Olympic Committee first established in 2001, the winner of the bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics was to host the 2016 Summer Paralympics. Following the third and final round of voting at the 121st IOC Session in Copenhagen on 2 October 2009, the right to host the 2016 Summer Olympics and Paralympics were awarded to Rio de Janeiro; the 2007 Pan American Games and Parapan American Games in Rio de Janeiro marked the first time that the Pan Am Games and Parapan Am Games were hosted as parallel events in the same host city.
Andrew Parsons, president of the Brazilian Paralympic Committee, remarked that the organizing teams responsible for the Olympics and Paralympics were maintaining a good relationship and "speaking the same language" in relation to their organizational duties. Parsons praised how well-organized the 2012 Summer Paralympics were, felt that his team had learned lessons from London that could be applied in Rio; as had been common practice since the Olympics and Paralympics began to formally share host cities, the Paralympics' venues were shared with those of the 2016 Summer Olympics. Barra da Tijuca hosted most of the venues, with the remainder located in Copacabana Beach, Maracanã and Deodoro. Barra da Tijuca housed the athletes' village. Carioca Arena 1 – Wheelchair basketball, wheelchair rugby Carioca Arena 2 – Boccia Carioca Arena 3 – Judo, wheelchair fencing Future Arena – Goalball Olympic Aquatics Stadium – Swimming Olympic Tennis Centre – 5-a-side football, wheelchair tennis Pontal Beach – Road cycling Riocentro – Powerlifting, Sitting volleyball, table tennis Rio Olympic Arena – Wheelchair basketball Rio Olympic Velodrome – Track cycling National Shooting Center – shooting National Equestrian Center – equestrian Deodoro Stadium - 7-a-side football Maracanã Stadium – opening and closing ceremonies Estádio Olímpico João Havelange – athletics Sambadrome Marquês de Sapucaí – archery Fort Copacabana – Athletics and Road Cycling Marina da Glória – sailing Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas – canoeing and rowing The medal design for the 2016 Olympics and Paralympics were unveiled on 14 June 2016.
The bronze and silver medals contain 30% recycled materials, while the gold medals were produced using gold, mined and extracted using means that met a series of sustainability criteria, such as being extracted without the use of mercury. The obverse of the Paralympic medals feature the Paralympic emblem and an inscription in braille, while each medal contains differing numbers of metal balls to allow the visually impaired to audibly distinguish their color by shaking them, they are accompanied by a wooden carrying box, a plush toy of Paralympic mascot Tom with hair leaves that match the medal's color. The initial financial shortcomings of the 2016 Paralympics were attributed to slow ticket sales, along a poor public interest, despite the cheapest tickets only costing a quarter of those for the Olympics. During the Olympics, organizers stated that only 12% of an original target of 3.3 million tickets had been sold. By early September, only half of the tickets to medal events had been sold. On 23 August 2016, Greg Nugent, head of marketing of the 2012 Summer Olympics and 2012 Summer Paralympics, began a campaign on Twitter known as "#FillTheSeats", encouraging users to donate money to supply local youth and people with disabilities with tickets to the Paralympics.
Nugent began the campaign after noticing the large number of empty seats at competition venues during the 2016 Summer Olympics. Following endorsements of the campaign by prominent figures, such as British band Coldplay, it raised over US$15,000 by 30 August. On 31 August 2016, the IPC an
2016 Summer Olympics
The 2016 Summer Olympics known as the Games of the XXXI Olympiad and known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event, held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, with preliminary events in some sports beginning on 3 August. These were the first Olympic Games to be held in South America and the second to be held in a developing country, after the 1968 games in Mexico City. More than 11,000 athletes from 205 National Olympic Committees, including first time entrants Kosovo, South Sudan, the Refugee Olympic Team, took part. With 306 sets of medals, the games featured 28 Olympic sports, including rugby sevens and golf, which were added to the Olympic program in 2009; these sporting events took place at 33 venues in the host city, at five separate venues in the Brazilian cities of São Paulo, Belo Horizonte, Brasília, Manaus. These were the first Summer Olympic Games to take place under the International Olympic Committee presidency of Thomas Bach; the host city Rio de Janeiro was announced at the 121st IOC Session in Copenhagen, Denmark, on 2 October 2009.
Rio became the first South American city to host the Olympic Games. These were the first games to be held in a Portuguese-speaking country, the first summer edition to be held in the host country's winter season, the first since 1968 to be held in Latin America, the first since 2000 to be held in the Southern Hemisphere; the lead-up to these Games was marked by controversies, including the Brazil's political and economic crisis. However, nobody competing in or attending the Olympics contracted the Zika virus and the Games took place without any major incident; the United States topped the medal table, winning the most gold and overall medals, 46 and 121, as well as its 1,000th Summer Olympic gold medal overall. Great Britain finished second and became the first country of modern Olympics history to increase its tally of medals in the subsequent games after being the host nation. China finished third. Host country Brazil won seven gold medals, its most at any single Summer Olympics, finishing in thirteenth place.
Bahrain, Jordan, Puerto Rico, Tajikistan, Ivory Coast and Vietnam each won their first gold medals, as did the group of Independent Olympic Athletes. The process for the 2016 Olympic Games was launched on 16 May 2007; the first step for each city was to submit an initial application to the International Olympic Committee by 13 September 2007, confirming their intention to bid. Completed official bid files, containing answers to a 25-question IOC form, were to be submitted by each 14 January 2008. Four candidate cities were chosen for the shortlist on 4 June 2008: Chicago, Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo, which hosted the 1964 Summer Olympics and will host again in 2020; the IOC did not promote Doha to the candidature phase, despite scoring higher than selected candidate city Rio de Janeiro, because of their intent of hosting the Olympics in October, outside of the IOC's sporting calendar. Prague and Baku failed to make the cut. Nawal El Moutawakel of Morocco headed the 10-member Evaluation Commission, having chaired the evaluation commission for the 2012 Summer Olympics bids.
The commission made on-site inspections in the second quarter of 2009. They issued a comprehensive technical appraisal for IOC members on 2 September, one month before elections. Many restrictions are in place designed to prevent bidding cities from communicating with or influencing directly the 115 voting members. Cities may not invite any IOC member to visit nor may they send anything that could be construed as a gift. Nonetheless, bidding cities invest large sums in their PR and media programs in an attempt to indirectly influence the IOC members by garnering domestic support, support from sports media and general international media; the final voting was held on 2 October 2009, in Copenhagen with Madrid and Rio de Janeiro perceived as favourites to land the games. Chicago and Tokyo were eliminated after the first and second rounds of voting while Rio de Janeiro took a significant lead over Madrid heading into the final round; the lead held and Rio de Janeiro was announced as host of 2016 Summer Olympics.
On 26 June 2011, it was reported on AroundTheRings.com that Roderlei Generali, the COO of the Rio de Janeiro Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games, resigned just one year after taking the job at ROOC. This comes. Pestana withdrew during the 2012 Summer Paralympics. Renato Ciuchin was appointed as COO. Events took place at eighteen existing venues, nine new venues constructed for the Games, seven temporary venues; each event was held in one of four geographically segregated Olympic clusters: Barra, Copacabana and Maracanã. The same was done for the 2007 Pan American Games. Several of the venues were located at the Barra Cluster Olympic Park. Athletes could access their venues in shorter than ten minutes and about 75 percent could do so in less than 25 minutes. Of the 34 competition locations, eight of them underwent permanent works, seven were limited, nine were perpetual legacy venues; the largest venue at the games in terms of seating capacity was the 74,738-seat Maracanã Stadium, which served as the ceremonies venue and site of the football finals.
The second largest stadium was the 60,000-seat Estádio Olímpico João Havelange, which hosted track and field events. The athletes' village was said to be the largest in Olympic history. Fittings inc
Ash Wednesday
Ash Wednesday is a Christian holy day of prayer and fasting. It is preceded by Shrove Tuesday and falls on the first day of Lent, the six weeks of penitence before Easter. Ash Wednesday is traditionally observed by Western Christians. Most Latin Rite Roman Catholics observe it, as do some Protestants like Anglicans, Methodists, some Reformed churches, Baptists and Independent Catholics; as it is the first day of Lent, Christians begin Ash Wednesday by marking a Lenten calendar, praying a Lenten daily devotional, abstaining from a luxury that they will not partake of until Eastertide arrives. Ash Wednesday derives its name from the placing of repentance ashes on the foreheads of participants to either the words "Repent, believe in the Gospel" or the dictum "Remember that you are dust, to dust you shall return." The ashes are prepared by burning palm leaves from the previous year's Palm Sunday celebrations. Many Christian denominations emphasize fasting, as well as abstinence during the season of Lent and in particular, on its first day, Ash Wednesday.
The First Council of Nicæa spoke of Lent as a period of fasting for forty days, in preparation for Eastertide. In many places, Christians abstained from food for a whole day until the evening, at sunset, Western Christians traditionally broke the Lenten fast, known as the Black Fast. In India and Pakistan, many Christians continue this practice of fasting until sunset on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, with some fasting in this manner throughout the whole season of Lent. In the Roman Catholic Church, Ash Wednesday is observed by fasting, abstinence from meat, repentance – a day of contemplating one's transgressions. On Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, Roman Catholics between the ages of 18 and 59 are permitted to consume one full meal, along with two smaller meals, which together should not equal the full meal; some Catholics will go beyond the minimum obligations put forth by the Church and undertake a complete fast or a bread and water fast until sunset. Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are days of abstinence from meat, as are all Fridays during Lent.
Some Roman Catholics continue fasting throughout Lent, as was the Church's traditional requirement, concluding only after the celebration of the Easter Vigil. Where the Ambrosian Rite is observed, the day of fasting and abstinence is postponed to the first Friday in the Ambrosian Lent, nine days later. A number of Lutheran parishes teach communicants to fast on Ash Wednesday, with some people choosing to continue doing so throughout the entire season of Lent on Good Friday. One Lutheran congregation's A Handbook for the Discipline of Lent recommends that the faithful "Fast on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday with only one simple meal during the day without meat". In the Church of England, throughout much of the Worldwide Anglican Communion, the entire forty days of Lent are designated days of fasting, while the Fridays are designated as days of abstinence in the 1662 Book of Common Prayer, with the Traditional Saint Augustine's Prayer Book: A Book of Devotion for Members of the Anglican Communion defining "Fasting meaning not more than a light breakfast, one full meal, one half meal, on the forty days of Lent."
The same text defines abstinence as refraining from flesh meat on all Fridays of the Church Year, except for those during Christmastide. The historic Methodist homilies regarding the Sermon on the Mount stress the importance of the Lenten fast, which begins on Ash Wednesday; the United Methodist Church therefore states that: There is a strong biblical base for fasting during the 40 days of Lent leading to the celebration of Easter. Jesus, as part of his spiritual preparation, went into the wilderness and fasted 40 days and 40 nights, according to the Gospels. Rev. Jacqui King, the minister of Nu Faith Community United Methodist Church in Houston explained the philosophy of fasting during Lent as "I'm not skipping a meal because in place of that meal I'm dining with God"; the Reformed Church in America describes Ash Wednesday as a day "focused on prayer and repentance." The liturgy for Ash Wednesday thus contains the following "Invitation to Observe a Lenten Discipline" read by the presider: We begin this holy season by acknowledging our need for repentance and our need for the love and forgiveness shown to us in Jesus Christ.
I invite you, therefore, in the name of Christ, to observe a Holy Lent, by self-examination and penitence, by prayer and fasting, by practicing works of love, by reading and reflecting on God's Holy Word. Many of the Churches in the Reformed tradition retained the Lenten fast in its entirety, although it was made voluntary, rather than obligatory. Ashes are ceremonially placed on the heads of Christians on Ash Wednesday, either by being sprinkled over their heads or, in English-speaking countries, more by being marked on their foreheads as a visible cross; the words used traditionally to accompany this gesture are, "Memento, quia pulvis es, et in pulverem reverteris." This custom is credited to Pope Gregory I the Great. In the 1969 revision of the Roman Rite, an alternative formula was introduced and given first place "Repent, believe in the Gospel" and the older formula was translated as "Remember that you are dust, to dust you shall return." The old formula, based on the words spoken to Adam and Eve after their sin, reminds worshippers of their sinfulness and mortality and thus, implicitly, of their need to repent in time.
The newer formula makes explicit. Various manners of placing the ash
Nirvana (band)
Nirvana was an American rock band formed in Aberdeen, Washington, in 1987. It was founded by guitarist Kurt Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic. Nirvana went through a succession of drummers, the longest-lasting and best-known being Dave Grohl, who joined in 1990. Though the band dissolved in 1994 after the death of Cobain, their music maintains a popular following and continues to influence modern rock and roll culture. In the late 1980s, Nirvana established itself as part of the Seattle grunge scene, releasing its first album, for the independent record label Sub Pop in 1989, they developed a sound that relied on dynamic contrasts between quiet verses and loud, heavy choruses. After signing to major label DGC Records, Nirvana found unexpected worldwide success with "Smells Like Teen Spirit", the first single from the band's second album Nevermind, which has now been ranked as one of the greatest songs in the history of rock music. Nevermind has been called one of the greatest albums of all time and has sold over 30 million copies worldwide.
Nirvana's sudden success popularized alternative rock and grunge, Cobain found himself referred to in the media as the "spokesman of a generation", with Nirvana considered the "flagship band" of Generation X. After touring and releasing Incesticide and Hormoaning, Nirvana's third studio album, In Utero, was released to critical acclaim; the album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 album chart and featured an abrasive, less mainstream sound and challenged the group's audience and has since sold over 15 million copies worldwide. In Utero would be Nirvana's last studio album in their active career. Nirvana's active career ended following the death of Cobain in 1994, but many various posthumous releases have been issued since, overseen by Novoselic and Cobain's widow Courtney Love; the posthumous release MTV Unplugged in New York won the Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album in 1996. Overall, Nirvana have received twelve awards from twenty-five nominations winning an American Music Award, Brit Award, Grammy Award, seven MTV Video Music Awards and two NME Awards Since its debut, the band has sold over 25 million records in the United States alone, over 75 million records worldwide, making them one of the best-selling bands of all time.
Nirvana has been ranked as one of the greatest music artists of all time with Rolling Stone placing them at number 27 on their list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time" in 2004, at number 30 on their updated list in 2011. Nirvana was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in its first year of eligibility. Cobain and Novoselic met while attending Aberdeen High School, although they never connected, according to Cobain; the pair became friends while frequenting the practice space of the Melvins. Cobain wanted to form a band with Novoselic, but Novoselic did not respond for a long period of time. In persuading Novoselic to form a band, Cobain gave him a demo tape of his project Fecal Matter. Three years after the two first met, Novoselic notified Cobain that he had listened to the Fecal Matter demo and suggested they start a group; the pair recruited Bob McFadden on drums. In early 1987, Cobain and Novoselic recruited drummer Aaron Burckhard; the three practiced material from Cobain's Fecal Matter tape but started writing new material soon after forming.
During its initial months, the band went through a series of names, starting with Skid Row and including Fecal Matter and Ted Ed Fred. The group settled on Nirvana, which Cobain said was chosen because "I wanted a name, kind of beautiful or nice and pretty instead of a mean, raunchy punk name like the Angry Samoans". With Novoselic and Cobain having moved to Tacoma and Olympia, Washington the two temporarily lost contact with Burckhard; the pair instead practiced with Dale Crover of the Melvins, Nirvana recorded its first demos in January 1988. In early 1988, Crover moved to San Francisco but recommended Dave Foster to the band as his replacement on drums. Foster's tenure with Nirvana lasted only a few months. Cobain and Novoselic put an ad in Seattle music publication The Rocket seeking a replacement drummer, which only yielded unsatisfactory responses. Meanwhile, a mutual friend introduced them to Chad Channing, the three musicians agreed to jam together. Channing continued to jam with Cobain and Novoselic, although the drummer noted, "They never said'okay, you're in,'" and Channing played his first show with the group that May.
Nirvana released its first single, a cover of Shocking Blue's "Love Buzz", in November 1988 on the Seattle independent record label Sub Pop. They did their first interview with John Robb in Sounds who made the release single of the week; the following month, the band began recording its debut album, with local producer Jack Endino. Bleach was influenced by the heavy dirge-rock of the Melvins and Mudhoney, 1980s punk rock, the 1970s heavy metal of Black Sabbath. Novoselic said in a 2001 interview with Rolling Stone that the band had played a tape in their van while on tour that had an album by The Smithereens on one side and an album by the extreme metal band Celtic Frost on the other, noted that the combination played an influence as well; the money for the recording sessions for Bleach, listed as $606.17 on the album sleeve, was supplied by Jason Everman, subsequently brought into the band as the second guitarist. Though Everman did not play on the album, he received a credit on
Coldplay
Coldplay are a British rock band formed in London in 1996. The four members, lead singer and pianist Chris Martin, lead guitarist Jonny Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman and drummer Will Champion were at University College London and came together from 1996 to 1998, during which time the band changed names from Pectoralz, to Starfish Coldplay. Creative director and former manager Phil Harvey is referred to as the fifth member by the band, they recorded and released two EPs: Safety in 1998 and The Blue Room in 1999. The latter was their first release on a major label, after signing to Parlophone. Coldplay achieved worldwide fame with the release of the song "Yellow" in 2000, followed in the same year by their debut album Parachutes, nominated for the Mercury Prize; the band's second album, A Rush of Blood to the Head, was released to critical acclaim and won many awards, including NME's Album of the Year. Their next release, X&Y, the best-selling album worldwide in 2005, received positive reviews, though some critics felt it was inferior to its predecessor.
Their fourth studio album, Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends, the best-selling album worldwide of 2008, was produced by Brian Eno and released to positive reviews, earning three Grammy Awards. In October 2011, Coldplay released their fifth studio album, Mylo Xyloto, which topped the charts in over 34 countries, was the UK's best-selling rock album of 2011, received mixed reviews. In 2014, they released their sixth album, Ghost Stories, which received mixed reviews and topped several national album charts. In December 2015, the band released their seventh album, A Head Full of Dreams, which reached the top two in most major markets, but received mixed reviews. Coldplay have won numerous awards throughout their career, including nine Brit Awards, six MTV Video Music Awards, seven MTV Europe Music Awards and seven Grammy Awards from 29 nominations, they have sold more than 100 million records worldwide, making them one of the world's best-selling music artists. Three of their albums: Parachutes, A Rush of Blood to the Head and X&Y are among the best-selling albums in UK chart history.
In December 2009, Rolling Stone readers voted the group the fourth-best artist of the 2000s. Coldplay have supported various social and political causes, such as Oxfam's Make Trade Fair campaign and Amnesty International, they have performed at charity projects, including Band Aid 20, Live 8, Global Citizen Festival, Sound Relief, Hope for Haiti Now: A Global Benefit for Earthquake Relief, One Love Manchester, The Secret Policeman's Ball, Sport Relief and the UK Teenage Cancer Trust. Chris Martin and Jonny Buckland first met during their orientation week at University College London in September 1996; the pair spent the rest of the university year planning a band forming a group called Pectoralz. Guy Berryman, a classmate of Martin and Buckland joined the group. By 1997, the group, who had renamed themselves Starfish, performed gigs for local Camden promoters at small clubs. Martin had recruited his longtime school friend Phil Harvey, studying classics at the University of Oxford, to be the band's manager.
Coldplay have since accepted Harvey as the fifth member of the group. The band's line-up was completed. Champion had grown up playing piano, guitar and tin whistle; the band settled on the name "Coldplay", suggested by Tim Crompton, a local student, using the name for his group. By 1997, Martin had met Classics student Tim Rice-Oxley. During a weekend in the English village Virginia Water in Surrey they asked each other to play their own songs on the piano. Martin, finding Rice-Oxley to be talented, asked him to be Coldplay's keyboard player but Rice-Oxley refused as his own band, was active. Days after, this event would shape the second line-up of Keane and keep Coldplay's unaltered, thus leaving both bands as quartets. In 1998, the band released 500 copies of the EP Safety. Most of the discs were given to record friends. In December of that year, Coldplay signed to the independent label Fierce Panda, their first release was the single "Brothers & Sisters", which they had recorded over four days in February 1999.
After completing their final examinations Coldplay signed a five-album contract with Parlophone in early 1999. After making their first appearance at Glastonbury the band went into the studio to record a second EP, titled The Blue Room. Five thousand copies were made available to the public in October, the single "Bigger Stronger" received BBC Radio 1 airplay; the recording sessions for The Blue Room were tumultuous. Champion was fired from the band, but Martin pleaded with him to return after kicking him out, because of his guilt, went on a drinking binge; the band worked out their differences and put in place a new set of rules to keep the group intact. Inspired by bands like U2 and R. E. M. Coldplay decided. Additionally, the band determined; the band planned to record their debut album in the space of two weeks. However and other live performances caused the recording to spread out between September 1999 and April–May 2000; the album was recorded at Rockfield Studios, Matrix Studios, Wessex Sound Studios with producer Ken Nelson, although the majority of Parachutes' tracks were recorded at Liverpool's Parr Street Studios.
The mixing process on all songs for the album was done by American engineer Michael Brauer in
Samba school
A samba school is a dancing and drumming school. They practice and perform in a huge square-compounds and are devoted to practicing and exhibiting samba, an African-Brazilian dance and drumming style; the schools have a strong community basis and are traditionally associated with a particular neighborhood. They are seen to affirm the cultural validity of the Afro-Brazilian heritage in contrast to the mainstream education system, and have evolved in contrast to authoritarian development. The phrase "escola de samba" is popularly held to derive from the schoolyard location of the first group's early rehearsals. In Rio de Janeiro they are associated with particular shanty towns. Samba and the samba school can be interwoven with the daily lives of the shanty-town dwellers. Throughout the year the samba schools have various happenings and events, most important of which are rehearsals for the main event, the yearly carnival parade; each of the main schools spend many months each year designing the theme, holding a competition for their song, building the floats and rehearsing.
It is overseen by carnival director. From 2005, some fourteen of the top samba schools in Rio have used a specially designed warehouse complex, the size of ten football pitches, called Samba City to build and house the elaborate floats; each school's parade may consist of about 3,000 performers or more, the preparations producing the many different costumes, provide work for thousands of the poorest in Brazilian society. The resulting competition is a major economic and media event, with tens of thousands in the live audience and screened live to millions across South America; the formal parades during carnival, are a showcase of each main "escola" enhanced by the participation of celebrities and guests who pay large sums of money for their elaborate costumes. In Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and Porto Alegre, the formal parades are held in specially constructed arenas called Sambadromes designed by influential architect, Oscar Niemeyer, the Sambadromo Complexo Cultural Porto Seco in Porto Alegre and the Sambadromo de Uruguaiana in Uruguaiana where "escolar de samba" from Brazil and Argentina participate.
Sambadromes are designed to accommodate all social classes, with VIP lounges, tourist sections, various types of seating right down to cheapest seats for poorest sections of the community. Those who choose to only watch the parade may be charged for the best seats. In Uruguay, the major samba parades are in Montevideo; the Artigas Samba Parade and the Montevideo Samba Parade are the most importants in Uruguay. Each school displays glamour in colorful costumes and floats with special effects and is organized into different segments or "alas"; the "alas" represent different components of the school's theme, or "enredo", as they act out a homage to a myth, historic event or figure, or express their view on a social, environmental or international issue. The "alas" display distinct costumes or "fantasias" and reflect traditional samba school roles developed years ago. Thus, each samba school parade has the "comissao de frente"; the "porta-bandeira", or the female flag holder, the "mestre-sala", or male cortsy and salute the school's flag, as they dance and strive to show harmony and samba expertise, as their performance is observed and scored by the judges.
"Cariocas", the Rio natives, "Paulistanos", São Paulo natives, are overtaken with emotion while performing or watching their favorite school, much more so in Rio, where a carnival samba school culture has been developed since the 1930s and samba rehearsals, costume making, planning is a year-round event. It is said that a samba school slum dweller may not have a job or food on the table the whole year, but they will make sure they have the money for their costume to show their "samba no pe'" or dancing skills expertise; as samba schools originated in Rio de Janeiro, they are today the most famous ones and, produce the most spectacular parades or the "greatest show on Earth". The city of São Paulo has a number of samba schools with some tradition, linked to an interesting mixture of African-Brazilian display of pride, immigrant or working class activism, soccer team fondness, as schools such as "Gavioes da Fiel", "Mancha Verde" began as a singing/dancing group that cheered and rooted during matches in São Paulo stadiums.
Nearly all Brazilian states have samba schools, but states such as Bahia and Pernambuco tend to have floats that lead a crowd composed of general people, without the need for membership, rehearsals or a special attire. Some groups do charge a certain amount of money for the "abadás", or colorful T-shirts that display affiliation to a specific group, or "bloco". A significant majority of the samba schools in Rio de Janeiro, have in their name the words Grêmio Recreativo Escola de S
Justin Bieber
Justin Drew Bieber is a Canadian singer-songwriter. After talent manager Scooter Braun discovered his YouTube videos covering songs, he was signed to RBMG in 2008. Bieber released his debut EP, My World, in late 2009, it was certified platinum in the US. Bieber released his first studio album, My World 2.0, in 2010. It debuted at number one in several countries, was certified triple platinum in the US, contained his single "Baby", which debuted at number five on the Billboard Hot 100 and sold 12 million units. Following his debut album and promotional tours, he released his 3D biopic-concert film Justin Bieber: Never Say Never and his second studio album, Under the Mistletoe, which debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, his third studio album, Believe generated the single "Boyfriend", which reached number one in Canada. His fourth studio album Purpose was released in 2015, spawning three number one singles: "What Do You Mean?", "Sorry", "Love Yourself". Afterwards, Bieber was featured on several successful collaborations, including "Cold Water", "Let Me Love You", "Despacito", "I'm the One".
His US album and singles sales total 44.7 million. He has sold an estimated 150 million records, making him one of the world's best-selling music artists, became the second person to reach 100 million followers on Twitter in August 2017 after Katy Perry. Bieber has won numerous awards throughout his career, including an American Music Award for Artist of the Year in 2010 and 2012, a Grammy Award for Best Dance Recording for the song "Where Are Ü Now", a Latin Grammy Award, he has been listed three times by Forbes magazine among the top ten most powerful celebrities in the world, in 2011, 2012, 2013. In 2016, Bieber became the first artist to surpass 10 billion total video views on Vevo. Bieber was born on March 1, 1994, in London, Ontario, at St Joseph's Hospital, was raised in Stratford, Ontario, he is the only child of Jeremy Jack Patricia "Pattie" Mallette, who were never married. Mallette was was underage when she gave birth, her mother Diane and stepfather Bruce helped her raise her son.
His mother is of French-Canadian descent. He has claimed that he has some undetermined Aboriginal Canadian ancestry. Through Jeremy, Bieber has three younger half-siblings. Jeremy and his ex-girlfriend Erin Wagner, who broke up in 2014 after seven years together, have two children, daughter Jazmyn and son Jaxon. Jeremy married his girlfriend Chelsey in February 2018, they have a daughter named Bay. Bieber has a stepsister named Allie, the daughter of his stepmother. Pattie worked a series of low-paying office jobs, raising Bieber as a single mother in low-income housing. Bieber has maintained contact with his father. Bieber attended a French-language immersion elementary school in Stratford, the Jeanne Sauvé Catholic School. Growing up, he learned to play the piano, drums and trumpet, he graduated from high school in Stratford, the St. Michael Catholic Secondary School in 2012 with a 4.0 GPA. In early 2007, aged 12, Bieber sang Ne-Yo's "So Sick" for a local singing competition in Stratford and was placed second.
Mallette posted a video of the performance on YouTube for their family and friends to see. She continued to upload videos of Bieber singing covers of various R&B songs, Bieber's popularity on the site grew. In the same year, Bieber busked shows in front of Avon Theatre steps during tourism season; when searching for videos of a different singer, Scooter Braun, a former marketing executive of So So Def Recordings, clicked on one of Bieber's 2007 videos by accident. Impressed, Braun tracked down the theatre that Bieber was performing in, located Bieber's school, contacted Mallette, reluctant because of Braun's Judaism, she remembered praying, "God, I gave him to you. You could send me a Christian man, a Christian label!", and, "God, you don't want this Jewish kid to be Justin's man, do you?" However, church elders convinced her to let Bieber go with Braun. At 13, Bieber went to Atlanta, with Braun to record demo tapes. Bieber began singing for Usher one week later. Bieber was soon signed to a joint venture between Braun and Usher.
Justin Timberlake was reportedly in the running to sign Bieber but lost the bidding war to Usher. Usher sought assistance in finding a label home for the artist from manager Chris Hicks, who helped engineer an audition with his contact L. A. Reid of The Island Def Jam Music Group. Reid signed Bieber to Island Records in October 2008 and appointed Hicks as executive Vice-President of Def Jam, where he could manage Bieber's career at the label. Bieber moved to Atlanta with his mother to pursue further work with Braun and Usher. Braun became Bieber's manager in 2008. Bieber's first single, "One Time", was released to radio while Bieber was still recording his debut album; the song reached number 12 on the Canadian Hot 100 during its first week of release in July 2009 and peaked at number 17 on the Billboard Hot 100. During fall 2009, it had success in international markets; the song was certified the US and gold in Australia and New Zealand. His first release, an extended play entitled My World, was released on November 17, 2009.
The album's second single, "One Less Lonely Girl", two promo singles, "Love Me" and "Favorite Girl", were released on the iTunes Store and charted within the top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100."One Less Lonely Girl" was also released
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