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Damon Albarn

Damon Albarn (, ; born 23 March 1968) is an English singer, musician, songwriter and record producer from Whitechapel, London. He is the frontman and main lyricist of the rock band Blur and the co-creator and primary musical contributor of the virtual band Gorillaz.

Raised in Leytonstone, East London, and around Colchester, Essex, Albarn attended the Stanway School, where he met the guitarist Graham Coxon, with whom he would later form Blur. They released their debut album Leisure in 1991. After spending long periods touring the US, Albarn's songwriting became increasingly influenced by British bands from the 1960s. The result was the Blur albums Modern Life Is Rubbish (1993), Parklife (1994) and The Great Escape (1995). All three received critical acclaim, while Blur gained mass popularity in the UK, aided by a Britpop chart rivalry with Oasis. Chart-topping albums such as Blur (1997), 13 (1999) and Think Tank (2003) incorporated influences from lo-fi, art rock, electronic and world music. These were followed by The Magic Whip (2015), Blur's first studio album in 12 years, and The Ballad of Darren in 2023.

Albarn formed the virtual band Gorillaz in 1998 with the comic book artist Jamie Hewlett. Drawing influences from hip hop, dub, pop, trip hop and world music, Gorillaz released their self-titled debut album in 2001 to worldwide success, spawning numerous successful follow-ups and continuing to release albums and tour into the 2020s. Albarn remains the group's only consistent musical contributor. His other notable projects include the supergroups the Good, the Bad & the Queen and Rocket Juice & the Moon. He co-founded the non-profit musical organisation Africa Express and has composed film soundtracks. Albarn also scored the stage productions Monkey: Journey to the West (2008), Dr Dee (2012) and Wonder.land (2016). His debut solo album, Everyday Robots, was released in 2014, followed by The Nearer the Fountain, More Pure the Stream Flows in 2021.

In 2008, The Daily Telegraph named Albarn the 18th-most powerful person in British culture. In 2016, Albarn received the Ivor Novello Award for Lifetime Achievement from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors. He was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2016 New Year Honours for services to music. In 2020, Albarn was granted Icelandic citizenship.

Early life
Albarn was born in Whitechapel, London. He is the eldest child of artist Keith Albarn and his wife Hazel (née Dring). He has some Danish descent through his mother. Their daughter Jessica (born 1971) also went on to become an artist. Hazel, originally from Lincolnshire, was a theatrical set designer for Joan Littlewood's theatre company at the Theatre Royal Stratford East in London, and was working on the satirical play Mrs Wilson's Diary just before Damon was born. Keith, originally from Nottinghamshire, was briefly the manager of Soft Machine and was once a guest on BBC's Late Night Line-Up. He was head of the Colchester School of Art at Colchester Institute.

Damon's paternal grandfather Edward, an architect, had been a conscientious objector during the Second World War and was involved in a farming community in Lincolnshire, becoming a peace activist. In 2002 Edward Albarn died; Damon stated in an interview that Edward did not want to live any longer and decided to go on a hunger strike. In 1968, at the age of six months, Albarn was a "testing expert" for designs for educational aids and toys for children including fibreglass furniture and play-structures fancifully called "The Kissmequiosk". "The Apollo Cumfycraft" and "The Tailendcharlie" produced by his father's company "Keith Albarn & Partners Ltd" under the trade-name of "Playlearn, Ltd." When Damon and Jessica were growing up, their family moved to Leytonstone, East London. The household was described as "bohemian" and their upbringing as "liberal". Damon and Jessica were also raised in the Quaker religion. Albarn agreed with his parents' views, later claiming, "I always thought my parents were absolutely dead right. I went against the grain in a weird way – by continually following them." His parents primarily listened to blues, Indian ragas and African music. When Albarn was nine years old, his family took a holiday trip to Turkey for three months before settling in Aldham Fordstreet, Essex, an area described by Albarn as "one of those burgeoning Thatcher experiments where they were building loads of small estates". The population of the area was predominantly white as opposed to the ethnically mixed part of London which he had become used to. He described himself as "not really fitting in with the politics of the place."

"Right-on" Albarn was interested in music from an early age, attending an Osmonds concert at the age of six. He started playing guitar, piano and violin in his youth and was interested in composing music, one of his compositions winning a heat in the nationwide Young Composer of the Year competition. Damon and Jessica both attended a primary school nearby which, according to Damon, was burnt down seven times over a period of 18 months by one of the teachers. After both siblings failed their Eleven-Plus exams, they started attending Stanway Comprehensive School, where Damon described himself as being "really unpopular" and "[irritating to] a lot of people". However, he developed an interest in drama and started acting in various school productions. It was at Stanway where he would meet future Blur guitarist Graham Coxon, who recalls seeing him act and feeling that he was a "confident performer" as well as a "show off". Albarn's first words directed at Coxon were "Your brogues are crap, mate. Look, mine are the proper sort" as he was showing off his leather shoes, fashionable footwear at the time influenced by the Mod Revival. Nevertheless, the pair went on to become good friends, owing to their shared passion for music, particularly bands such as the Jam, the Beatles, the Human League, XTC and Madness. Albarn has also credited the Specials and Fun Boy Three as some of his earliest influences, and John Lennon in his taking up songwriting.

He studied acting at the East 15 Acting School in Debden, but left after the first year. On leaving drama school he entered a production and management contract with Marijke Bergkamp and Graeme Holdaway, owners of the Beat Factory recording studio, where the members of Blur, then known as Seymour, did their first recordings. His first band was the synthpop group, Two's a Crowd. Before Blur, he played with the Aftermath and Real Lives.

Formation and Leisure
Albarn enrolled on a part-time music course at London's Goldsmiths College in 1988, claiming that his sole intention was to gain access to the student union bar. Albarn was in a group named Circus alongside Coxon and drummer Dave Rowntree. Alex James, a fellow student at Goldsmiths, eventually joined as the group's bassist. They changed their name to Seymour in December 1988, inspired by J.D. Salinger's Seymour: An Introduction. In March 1990, after changing their name to Blur, they signed to Food Records.

In October 1990, Blur released their first single, "She's So High", which reached number 48 in the UK Singles Chart. The band had trouble creating a follow-up single, but made progress when paired with producer Stephen Street. The resulting single, "There's No Other Way", became a hit, peaking at number eight. As a result of the single's success, Blur became pop stars and were accepted into a clique of bands who frequented the Syndrome club in London dubbed the "Scene That Celebrates Itself". The recording of the group's debut album was hindered by Albarn having to write his lyrics in the studio. Although the resulting album Leisure (1991) peaked at number seven on the UK Albums Chart, it received mixed reviews, and according to journalist John Harris, "could not shake off the odour of anti-climax". Albarn has since referred to Leisure as "awful".

Britpop era
After discovering they were £60,000 in debt, Blur toured the US in 1992 in an attempt to recoup their losses. Albarn and the band became increasingly unhappy and homesick during the two-month American tour and began writing songs which "created an English atmosphere". Blur had undergone an ideological and image shift intended to celebrate their English heritage in contrast to the popularity of American grunge bands like Nirvana. Although sceptical of Albarn's new manifesto, Balfe gave his assent for the band's choice of Andy Partridge of the band XTC to produce their follow-up to Leisure. The sessions with Partridge proved unsatisfactory, but a chance reunion with Stephen Street resulted in him returning to produce the group.

The second Blur album, Modern Life Is Rubbish, was released in May 1993 and peaked at number 15 on the British charts, but failed to break into the US Billboard 200, selling only 19,000 copies. Despite the album's poor performance, Albarn was happy with the band's direction and wrote prolifically for Blur's next album. Parklife was released in 1994 and revived Blur's commercial fortunes, with the album's first single, the disco-influenced "Girls & Boys", achieving critical acclaim and chart success. Parklife entered the British charts at number one and stayed in the album charts for 90 weeks. Enthusiastically greeted by the music press, Parklife is regarded as one of Britpop's defining records. Blur won four awards at the 1995 Brit Awards, including Best British Group and British Album of the Year for Parklife. Coxon later pointed to Parklife as the moment when "[Blur] went from being regarded as an alternative, leftfield arty band to this amazing new pop sensation". Albarn was uncomfortable with fame, however, and he suffered from panic attacks.

Blur began working on their fourth album The Great Escape at the start of 1995. Building upon the band's previous two albums, Albarn's lyrics for the album consisted of several third-person narratives. James reflected, "It was all more elaborate, more orchestral, more theatrical, and the lyrics were even more twisted ... It was all dysfunctional, misfit characters fucking up." The release of the album's lead single "Country House" played a part in Blur's public rivalry with Manchester band Oasis termed the "Battle of Britpop". Partly due to increasing antagonism between the groups, Blur and Oasis decided to release their new singles on the same day, an event the NME called the "British Heavyweight Championship". The debate over which band would top the British singles chart became a media phenomenon, and Albarn appeared on News at Ten. At the end of the week, "Country House" outsold Oasis' "Roll With It" by 274,000 copies to 216,000, becoming Blur's first number-one single.

The Great Escape was released in September 1995 to positive reviews, and entered the UK charts at number one. However, opinion quickly changed and Blur found themselves largely out of favour with the media. BBC Music writer James McMahon recalled how the "critical euphoria" surrounding the album lasted "about as long as it took publishers to realise Oasis would probably shift more magazines for them". Following the worldwide success of Oasis' (What's the Story) Morning Glory?, the media quipped that Blur "wound up winning the battle but losing the war." Blur became perceived as an "inauthentic middle-class pop band" in comparison to "working-class heroes" Oasis, which Albarn said made him feel "stupid and confused". Bassist James said: "After being the People's Hero, Damon was the People's Prick for a short period ... basically, he was a loser – very publicly." In the New Statesman, Stuart Maconie noted "Albarn... was mocked as the posh boy of Britpop when in fact he’d gone to a comprehensive in Essex and his family was just mildly bohemian. Nowadays he’d be decidedly 'below stairs'".

Post-Britpop and hiatus
An early 1996 Q interview reported that relations between Blur members had become strained; journalist Adrian Deevoy wrote that he found them "on the verge of a nervous breakup." Coxon, in particular, began to resent his bandmates and, in a rejection of the group's Britpop aesthetic, made a point of listening to noisy American alternative rock bands such as Pavement. Albarn grew to appreciate Coxon's tastes in lo-fi and underground music, and recognised the need to change Blur's musical direction once again. "I can sit at my piano and write brilliant observational pop songs all day long but you've got to move on," he said, and decided to give Coxon more creative control over their new album. Albarn visited Iceland during this period: "I used to have a recurring dream, as a child, of a black sand beach. And one hazy, lazy day [laughs], I was watching the TV and I saw a programme about Iceland, and they had black beaches. So I got on a plane ... I was on my own. I didn't know anybody. I went into the street, Laugavegur, where the bars are, and that was it."

After initial sessions in London, the band left to record the rest of the album in Iceland, away from the Britpop scene. The result was Blur, the band's fifth studio album, released in February 1997. Although the music press predicted that the lo-fi sonic experimentation would alienate Blur's teenage girl fanbase, they generally applauded the effort. Pointing out lyrics such as "Look inside America / She's alright", and noting Albarn's "obligatory nod to Beck, [and promotion of] the new Pavement album as if paid to do so", reviewers felt the band had come to accept American values during this time – an about-face of their attitude during the Britpop years. Despite cries of "commercial suicide," the album and its first single, "Beetlebum", debuted at number one in the UK. Although the album could not match the sales of their previous albums in the UK, Blur became the band's most successful internationally, particularly in the US, helped by the successful single "Song 2". After the success of Blur, the band embarked on a nine-month world tour.

Blur's sixth studio album 13, released in March 1999, saw them drift further from Britpop. Albarn's lyrics – more heartfelt, personal and intimate than on previous occasions – were reflective of his break-up with Elastica frontwoman Justine Frischmann, his partner of eight years. Recording for Blur's next album began in London in November 2001. Not long after the sessions began, Coxon left the group. Coxon stated "there were no rows" and "[the band] just recognised the feeling that we needed some time apart". Think Tank, released in May 2003, was filled with atmospheric, brooding electronic sounds, featuring simpler guitar lines by Albarn, and largely relying on other instruments to replace Coxon. The guitarist's absence also meant that Think Tank was written mostly by Albarn. Its sound was seen as testament to Albarn's increasing interest in African and Middle Eastern music and to his control over the group's direction. Think Tank was another UK No. 1 and achieved Blur's highest US position of No. 56. The album was also nominated for best album at the 2004 Brit Awards.

Reunion
In December 2008, Blur announced they would reunite for a concert at London's Hyde Park on 3 July 2009. Days later, the band added a second date, for 2 July. A series of June preview shows were also announced, ending at Manchester Evening News arena on the 26th. All the shows were well received; The Guardian's music critic Alexis Petridis gave their performance at Goldsmiths College a full five stars, and wrote that "Blur's music seems to have potentiated by the passing of years ... they sound both more frenetic and punky and more nuanced and exploratory than they did at the height of their fame". Blur headlined the Glastonbury Festival on 28 June, where they played for the first time since their headline slot in 1998. Reviews of the Glastonbury performance were enthusiastic; The Guardian called them "the best Glastonbury headliners in an age".

The band released their second greatest-hits album Midlife: A Beginner's Guide to Blur in June 2009. After the completion of the reunion dates, Albarn told Q that the band had no intention of recording or touring live again. He said, "I just can't do it anymore", and explained that the main motivation for participating in the reunion was to repair his relationship with Coxon, which succeeded.

In January 2010, No Distance Left to Run, a documentary about the band, was released in cinemas and a month later on DVD and was nominated as Best Long Form Music Video for the 53rd Grammy Awards, Blur's first-ever Grammy nomination. In April 2010, Blur released their first new recording since 2003, "Fool's Day" in April 2010 as part of the Record Store Day event as a vinyl record limited to 1000 copies; it was later made available as a free download on their website.

In February 2012, Blur were awarded the Outstanding Contribution to Music award at the 2012 Brit Awards. Later that month, Albarn and Coxon premiered a new track together live, "Under the Westway". Blur entered the studio early that year to record material for a new album, but in May producer William Orbit told the NME that Albarn had halted recording. Blur released two singles "The Puritan" and "Under the Westway" on 2 July. That August, Blur headlined a show at Hyde Park for the 2012 Summer Olympics closing ceremony which was followed by a world tour the following year. On 19 February 2015, Blur announced on social media that they would be releasing their eighth studio album on 27 April, titled The Magic Whip, Blur's first album in 12 years and first in 16 years in their original line-up.

Gorillaz
Albarn and Jamie Hewlett met in 1990 when Coxon, a fan of Hewlett's work, asked him to interview Blur. The interview was published in Deadline magazine, home of Hewlett's comic strip, Tank Girl. Hewlett initially thought Albarn was "arsey, a wanker", and despite becoming one of the band's acquaintances, Hewlett often did not get on with its members, especially after he started going out with Coxon's ex-girlfriend, Jane Olliver. Nonetheless, Albarn and Hewlett started sharing a flat on Westbourne Grove in London in 1997. Hewlett had recently broken up with Olliver and Albarn was also at the end of his highly publicised relationship with Frischmann.

The idea to create Gorillaz came about when the two were watching MTV: "If you watch MTV for too long, it's a bit like hell—there's nothing of substance there. So we got this idea for a cartoon band, something that would be a comment on that," Hewlett said. The band's music is a collaboration between various musicians, Albarn being the only permanent musical contributor, and incorporates influences including alternative rock, Britpop, dub, hip-hop, and pop music. In 2001, the band's eponymous debut album sold over seven million copies, and featured hits such as the songs "19-2000" and "Clint Eastwood," earning them an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records as the Most Successful Virtual Band. The second Gorillaz studio album, Demon Days, was released in 2005 and included the singles "Feel Good Inc.", "Dare", "Dirty Harry", "Kids with Guns" and "El Mañana". Demon Days went five times platinum in the UK, double platinum in the United States and earned five Grammy Award nominations for 2006 and won one of them in the Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals category. The combined sales of Gorillaz and Demon Days had, by 2007, exceeded 15 million albums. Gorillaz released their third studio album, Plastic Beach, in early 2010, which was received with high praise. In December 2010, the group released The Fall, recorded over 32 days during their North American tour.

In a 2012 interview, Albarn talked about the unlikelihood of any future Gorillaz releases; his relationship with Hewlett had soured when Albarn chose to undercut the role of animation on their Escape to Plastic Beach World Tour. Albarn later rescinded this claim, stating "When Jamie [Hewlett] and I have worked out our differences, I'm sure we'll make another record." On 23 March 2017, the fifth Gorillaz studio album, Humanz, was announced and released worldwide on 28 April 2017. The sixth Gorillaz album, The Now Now, was announced on 31 May 2018 and released on 29 June 2018. In 2020, Gorillaz began a project called Song Machine, in which new songs with collaborations would be released as monthly "episodes". The first nine episodes were compiled together along with more songs in Gorillaz's seventh studio album, Song Machine, Season One: Strange Timez, which was released on 23 October 2020 to positive reviews. A second season of Song Machine was planned, though it was later scrapped. On 31 August 2022, their eighth studio album, Cracker Island was announced, and was later released on 24 February 2023.

Solo career and side projects
In 2000, Albarn participated in the soundtrack of Ordinary Decent Criminal Albarn released Mali Music in 2002, recorded in Mali, during a trip he made to support Oxfam in 2000. He has visited Nigeria to record music with Nigerian drummer Tony Allen.

In 2003, Albarn released an EP, Democrazy, a compilation of demos he recorded in various hotel rooms during the United States portion of Think Tank's tour.

Albarn collaborated with producers Dan the Automator, XL Recordings, Richard Russell & Rodaidh McDonald, Jneiro Jarel, DJ Darren Cunningham aka Actress, Marc Antoine, Alwest, Remi Kabaka Jr., Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs and Kwes as part of his week-long visit to Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo to record an album, Kinshasa One Two, released in 2011. All proceeds benefit Oxfam's work in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Maison Des Jeunes, an album for Albarn's project Africa Express, was released in 2013. In 2014, Albarn appeared in the song "Go Back" in Tony Allen's albums Film of Life and The Source.

In a 2013 interview with Rolling Stone, Albarn announced that a forthcoming solo record would be produced by Richard Russell of XL Recordings. He also said he would be taking his album on tour, and that he would play songs from all of his other bands, including Blur and Gorillaz. Albarn's debut solo album, Everyday Robots, was released on 25 April 2014 to generally positive reviews. The album peaked at No. 2 on the UK charts and produced five singles: "Everyday Robots", "Lonely Press Play", "Hollow Ponds", "Mr Tembo", and "Heavy Seas of Love". It was nominated for the 2014 Mercury Prize for Best Album.

In June 2021, Transgressive Records announced that they had signed Albarn and would be releasing his second solo album, after which Albarn revealed the title The Nearer the Fountain, More Pure the Stream Flows and 12 November release date alongside the title track's release.

The Good, the Bad & the Queen
In May 2006, NME reported that Albarn was working with Danger Mouse on his first solo album, with the group billed as the Good, the Bad & the Queen. It featured Paul Simonon, Simon Tong and Tony Allen. The album was awarded Best Album at the 2007 MOJO Awards on 18 June.

The first single by the line-up, "Herculean", was released in late October 2006, and peaked at No. 22 in the UK Singles Chart. A second single, "Kingdom of Doom", and the band's debut album were then released in January 2007. That single fared slightly better than "Herculean", peaking at No. 20, while the album peaked at No. 2 in the UK Albums Chart and went gold during its first week of release in the UK. "Green Fields" was released as the third single from the album in April 2007, just missing out on the Top 50. On 27 April 2008, the Good, the Bad & the Queen headlined the Love Music Hate Racism Carnival in Victoria Park where they introduced on stage several guests including ex-Specials keyboard player Jerry Dammers. He also worked with Syrian rapper and friend Eslam Jawaad on the song "Mr. Whippy", though the song does not appear on the album it is a B-side on the Herculean single.

Rocket Juice and the Moon
Rocket Juice & the Moon is the title of Albarn's side-project featuring Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea and afrobeat legend Tony Allen. Albarn has stated that he is not responsible for the name; someone in Lagos did the sleeve design and that was the name it was given. Albarn has claimed that he is content with the outcome, as trying to come up with band names is difficult for him. The band performed together for the first time on 28 October 2011 in Cork, Ireland, as part of the annual Cork Jazz Festival. They performed under the moniker Another Honest Jon's Chop Up!. Their debut album was released on 26 March 2012.

Studio 13
Albarn, along with Tom Girling and Jason Cox, established Studio 13, a recording studio for their own use, with the first projects at 13 being pre-production work for Blur's similarly-named album, as well as Albarn's contributions to the Ravenous soundtrack. Since then, Studio 13 has been used not only for Albarn's projects, but also by other notable artists, including Paul Simonon, Jorja Smith, and others.

Other projects
In 1998, Albarn and Michael Nyman recorded the song "London Pride" for the tribute album, Twentieth-Century Blues: The Songs of Noël Coward, a patriotic song Noël Coward had written in the spring of 1941 during the Blitz.

Collaboration with Terry Hall during 1994–2003: Having cited Hall as one of his early influences very often, Albarn and Hall went on and held a friendship for many years. They collaborated for multiple times including The Rainbows EP, in which Albarn co-wrote lead track "Chasing A Rainbow" with Hall. Later in Hall’s second solo album Laugh released in 1997, the two co-wrote "For The Girl" and "A Room Full Of Nothing". Hall also sang on a non-album track "911" by Gorillaz; they were both lead vocals on "Lil' Dub Chefin'" by Spacemonkeyz vs Gorillaz for both album and single version. In 2003, Hall and Mushtaq released The Hour of Two Lights, in which Albarn co-wrote and sang on the track "Ten Eleven". The album was also released on Albarn's label Honest Jon's Records in the UK.

In 2003, Albarn worked with the garage rock band the Strokes on their album Room on Fire. Producer Gordon Raphael claims that Albarn was experimenting with backing vocals on the record. In the end, however, Albarn's contributions did not make the record. "Well, I guess the songs are just perfect the way they are," Albarn stated. In the same year he performed "Fashion" live with David Bowie.

Albarn has contributed backing vocals to the songs "FM" on Nathan Haines' Squire for Hire and "Small Time Shot Away" on Massive Attack's 100th Window, which were released in 2003, however, for both tracks, credit was given to Gorillaz frontman 2-D instead. More recently, on Massive Attack's 2010 Heligoland album, he sang on the track "Saturday Come Slow" and contributed keyboards to the track "Splitting the Atom".

Albarn also produced soul singer Bobby Womack's twenty-seventh studio album The Bravest Man in the Universe, released in 2012. He recently performed on Jools Holland's Hootenanny on New Year's Eve, performing the track "Love is Gonna Lift You Up". Albarn appeared with Womack at the Glastonbury Festival 2013.

In 2016, Albarn appeared on De La Soul's studio album And the Anonymous Nobody... on the song "Here in After". Albarn had previously collaborated with the group on Gorillaz' albums Demon Days, Plastic Beach, and Humanz on the songs "Feel Good Inc", "Superfast Jellyfish", and "Momentz", respectively.

In 2017, Albarn sung with Alex Crossan (Mura Masa) on "Blu", the last track of their debut album.

Film, theatre and soundtrack work
"Closet Romantic" appeared on the soundtrack for Trainspotting alongside an early Blur recording, "Sing", which is from their debut album. Albarn composed the score with collaboration by Michael Nyman for the 1999 movie Ravenous, and was nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Music for his work.

In their first major work together since Gorillaz, Albarn and Hewlett, along with acclaimed Chinese theatre and opera director Chen Shi-zheng, adapted for stage the Chinese story Journey to the West as Monkey: Journey to the West, which received its world premiere as the opening show of the 2007 Manchester International Festival, on 28 June 2007 at the Palace Theatre, Manchester.

In collaboration with theatre director Rufus Norris, Albarn has created an opera for the 2011 Manchester International Festival based on the life of Elizabethan scientist John Dee and titled Doctor Dee.

Albarn recorded the film score for the film version of the book The Boy in the Oak, which was written by his sister, Jessica Albarn. The film was set for a spring 2011 release in select theatres.

In 2014, Albarn contributed the song "Sister Rust" to the soundtrack of science fiction film Lucy.

Albarn wrote the music for a musical based on Alice in Wonderland called Wonder.land with Rufus Norris and Moira Buffini, which officially premiered in the Manchester International Festival on 29 June 2015.

Albarn provided a track for the film The White Helmets called "Crashing Down", an abandoned track initially planned for the Gorillaz album Plastic Beach.

The Heavy Seas
Albarn's live band is called the Heavy Seas, and features guitarist Seye, drummer Pauli the PSM, guitarist Jeff Wootton and Mike Smith on keyboards. Both Smith and Wootton had previously been a part of Gorillaz' Escape to Plastic Beach World Tour. With the exception of drummer Pauli, all members have played live with Gorillaz.

Acting appearances
Albarn starred in Antonia Bird's 1997 film Face alongside Ray Winstone and Robert Carlyle. Albarn was also featured in Gunar Karlsson's 2007 film, Anna and the Moods, along with Terry Jones and Björk. Albarn played "Bull" in Joe Orton's Up Against It, a Radio 4 play originally written for the Beatles broadcast in 1998.

Personal life
Albarn had a long-standing and publicized relationship with Elastica frontwoman Justine Frischmann from 1991 to 1998. This relationship profoundly influenced his songwriting, notably on the Blur album (1997) on the track "Beetlebum" – said to be about their experiences with heroin – and a number of tracks on 13 (1999), such as "Tender" and "No Distance Left to Run", said to be about their break-up in 1998.

Albarn began a relationship with artist Suzi Winstanley in 1998. Winstanley gave birth to their daughter, Missy, named after hip hop artist Missy Elliott, on 2 October 1999. Albarn described becoming a father as "witnessing a life force" and saying:"It massively changes you. It slowly sort of shaves off the unpleasant thorny bits and hopefully creates a nicely rounded... I don't know, having a kid, you just become far more, inevitably you look to the future far more and, you know, it's desperate sometimes when you have a particularly bad few weeks of the newspaper just reminding you about this is wrong, this is wrong. We've got ten more years everyone." Albarn and Winstanley are speculated to have separated in 2023, with reviewers noting allusions to a breakup in the lyrics of Blur's ninth studio album The Ballad of Darren (2023). Albarn has declined to specify if these lyrics are related to his relationship status with Winstanley. However, in an interview with Paris Match, he stated that he had had a difficult breakup within the last few months, without mentioning anyone by name.

In 2006, Albarn was awarded an honorary Master of Arts degree from the University of East London, saying it was "great to receive [the] award from an institution where my dad used to work and which I, as a child, used to think of as that big building with lots of interesting people in".

In 2015, Albarn was made an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the Queen's New Year Honours list of December 31, which recognises British citizens for their achievements in public life and service to the United Kingdom.

In 2016, Albarn, a long-time advocate of the music of Mali, titling his 2002 album Mali Music, has been given the title "Local King", and has had a school of music and dance named after him south of Bamako.

In 2020, Albarn was granted Icelandic citizenship. He visited the country in the mid-90s for recording, as well as on holiday, and subsequently bought a house in Reykjavík.

Albarn is known to have homes in the Notting Hill neighbourhood of London, and Devon. Albarn is a fan of Chelsea F.C.

Philanthropy
Albarn has been an active supporter of various charities and philanthropic efforts throughout his career as a musician and has been involved in various charity albums and singles. DRC Music, a collective formed by Albarn, released their debut album Kinshasa One Two as a charity album in which all of the money earned is given to Oxfam. Albarn has also formed a collective with Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea, Yeah Yeah Yeahs guitarist Nick Zinner, and Franz Ferdinand frontman Alex Kapranos to make a charity single with the money earned from that single also donated to Oxfam. In 2013 Albarn, alongside fellow Blur bandmate Graham Coxon, performed live with former rival Noel Gallagher of Oasis and Paul Weller of the Jam to play Blur's 1999 single "Tender" in support of Teenage Cancer Trust.

Politics and activism
In 2005, Albarn, among others, criticised the London Live 8 concert for not featuring enough black artists; among the few included were Ms. Dynamite, Snoop Dogg, and Youssou N'Dour. Eventually the organisers added a separate concert at the Eden Project in Cornwall to the programme to showcase African musicians. Albarn said he did not want to perform at Live 8 because he thought it was too "exclusive" and may have been motivated by self-promotion.

Albarn has been a vocal critic of celebrity culture, saying: "We need to dismantle very significant parts of our culture and really re-examine them. I suppose you start with the celebrity thing... you have to get rid of things like The X Factor immediately."

Albarn was a vocal critic of the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union, describing it as "wrong" and saying that "it doesn't make any sense to me whatsoever." Albarn was a signatory on a 2018 editorial advocating for a "Citizen's Assembly" to resolve the parliamentary deadlock over withdrawal terms. Albarn stated that the Good, the Bad & the Queen album Merrie Land (2018) was inspired by Brexit and his reaction to it.

Albarn has been a vocal supporter of Palestinian rights, cancelling concerts in Israel following the Gaza flotilla raid in 2010 and played a concert at the Labour Friends of Palestine and the Middle East Gala Dinner in 2014. During Glastonbury Festival 2024, Albarn gave a pro-Palestine speech, labeling the Israel–Hamas war an "unfair war" and encouraging people to vote in the upcoming UK general election.

Anti-war activism
Albarn is anti-war, holding views shared by others in his family, including his grandfather Edward Albarn, who died during a hunger strike in 2002. In November 2001, shortly after the United States invasion of Afghanistan in response to September 11 attacks, the MTV Europe Music Awards were held in Frankfurt, where Gorillaz won awards for Best Song and Best Dance. As Albarn and Jamie Hewlett walked onto stage to make a speech after receiving the latter award, Albarn wore a T-shirt with the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament logo on it. In his speech, he said "So, fuck the music. Listen. See this symbol here, [pointing to the T-shirt] this the symbol for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. Bombing one of the poorest countries in the world is wrong. You've got a voice and you have got to do what you can about it alright?"

In 2002, Iraq was under threat of invasion from a United States-led coalition. Opposition to the planned invasion led to protests being organised by a number of organisations. Albarn spoke out against the invasion. Albarn teamed up with Robert "3D" Del Naja of Massive Attack and worked with Stop the War Coalition, CND and the Muslim Association of Britain to organise campaigns to oppose British involvement in the war. This included spending £15,000 on anti-war adverts which ran in the NME, featuring quotes from Tony Benn and the former US Attorney-General, Ramsey Clark.

Albarn revealed that originally, many people whom he knew were against the Iraq War were reluctant to take a stand, stating "to be honest with you when Robert Del Naja and myself started really stepping up prior to the war it was very difficult to find anyone. And I don't want to name any names because they are people who I respect but they were really, for some reason, very reticent to stand with us. A lot of people who you would now associate with being anti-war at that particular point didn't seem to be prepared to do it."

He was due to speak in Hyde Park on the rally in February 2003 when a million people took to the streets of London in protest at the imminent war. In the event, he was too emotional to deliver his speech. Albarn later revealed that he had "this image of my grandad in his slippers reading the paper, knowing that his grandson had been involved in something which he'd put so much of his life into" and "got over-emotional". He also stated that "it obviously wasn't the best moment to get in that state, when you're at the head of the biggest peace march in the history of this country." Albarn also attended a protest in November where he commented on the diversity of people in attendance, saying that "It represents everybody. It's the voice in our democracy and that's why we should be listened to." Speaking about the experience in 2008, Albarn stated:"I think in this case the only reason we went to war was the result of our individual apathy in the end. You know, our inability to really express what was I think was a consensus that this was a terrifying idea and a very badly thought-out one."

Discography
Solo albums
 * Everyday Robots (2014)
 * The Nearer the Fountain, More Pure the Stream Flows (2021)

Collaboration albums
 * Mali Music (2002) (with Afel Bocoum, Toumani Diabaté & Friends)
 * The Good, the Bad & the Queen (2007) (with The Good, the Bad & the Queen)
 * Kinshasa One Two (2011) (as part of DRC Music)
 * Rocket Juice & the Moon (2012) (with Flea and Tony Allen as part of "Rocket Juice and the Moon")
 * Maison Des Jeunes (2013) (as part of Africa Express)
 * In C Mali (2014) (as part of Africa Express)
 * The Orchestra of Syrian Musicians and Guests (2016) (with Africa Express)
 * Merrie Land (2018) (with The Good, the Bad & the Queen)
 * Molo (EP) (2019) (with Africa Express)
 * Egoli (2019) (with Africa Express)

Denmark GAFFA Awards

 * rowspan=2|2022
 * Himself
 * International Solo Act
 * Pending
 * rowspan=2|
 * The Nearer the Fountain, More Pure the Stream Flows
 * International Album
 * Pending
 * International Album
 * Pending

Mercury Prize
The Mercury Prize is a highly prestigious annual music prize awarded for the best album from the United Kingdom and Ireland. Nominations are chosen by a panel of musicians, music executives, journalists and other figures in the music industry in the UK and Ireland.

 * 2014 || Everyday Robots || Album of the Year || Nominated
 * 2014 || Everyday Robots || Album of the Year || Nominated

Brit Awards
The Brit Awards are the British Phonographic Industry's annual popular music awards.

 * 2013 || Damon Albarn || British Producer of the Year || Nominated
 * 2015 || Damon Albarn || British Male Solo Artist || Nominated
 * 2015 || Damon Albarn || British Male Solo Artist || Nominated
 * 2015 || Damon Albarn || British Male Solo Artist || Nominated

title: Damon Albarn


text:
Signalling System No. 7

Signalling System No. 7 (SS7) is a set of telephony signaling protocols developed in the 1970s, which is used to set up and tear down telephone calls in most parts of the world-wide public switched telephone network (PSTN). The protocol also performs number translation, local number portability, prepaid billing, Short Message Service (SMS), and other services.

The protocol was introduced in the Bell System in the United States by the name Common Channel Interoffice Signaling in the 1970s for signalling between No. 4ESS switch and No. 4A crossbar toll offices. The SS7 protocol is defined for international use by the Q.700-series recommendations of 1988 by the ITU-T. Of the many national variants of the SS7 protocols, most are based on variants standardized by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI). National variants with striking characteristics are the Chinese and Japanese Telecommunication Technology Committee (TTC) national variants.

SS7 has been shown to have several security vulnerabilities, allowing location tracking of callers, interception of voice data, intercept two-factor authentication keys, and possibly the delivery of spyware to phones.

The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) has defined the SIGTRAN protocol suite that implements levels 2, 3, and 4 protocols compatible with SS7. Sometimes also called Pseudo SS7, it is layered on the Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP) transport mechanism for use on Internet Protocol networks, such as the Internet.

In North America SS7 is also often referred to as Common Channel Signaling System 7 (CCSS7). In the United Kingdom, it is called C7 (CCITT number 7), number 7 and Common Channel Interoffice Signaling 7 (CCIS7). In Germany, it is often called Zentraler Zeichengabekanal Nummer 7 (ZZK-7).

History
Signaling System No. 5 and earlier systems use in-band signaling, in which the call-setup information is sent by generating special multi-frequency tones transmitted on the telephone line audio channels, also known as bearer channels. As the bearer channel are directly accessible by users, it can be exploited with devices such as the blue box, which plays the tones required for call control and routing. As a remedy, SS6 and SS7 implements out-of-band signaling, carried in a separate signaling channel, thus keeping the speech path separate. SS6 and SS7 are referred to as common-channel signaling (CCS) protocols, or Common Channel Interoffice Signaling (CCIS) systems.

Another element of in-band signaling addressed by SS7 is network efficiency. With in-band signaling, the voice channel is used during call setup which makes it unavailable for actual traffic. For long-distance calls, the talk path may traverse several nodes which reduces usable node capacity. With SS7, the connection is not established between the end points until all nodes on the path confirm availability. If the far end is busy, the caller gets a busy signal without consuming a voice channel.

Since 1975, CCS protocols have been developed by major telephone companies and the International Telecommunication Union Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T); in 1977 the ITU-T defined the first international CCS protocol as Signaling System No. 6 (SS6). In its 1980 Yellow Book Q.7XX-series recommendations ITU-T defined the Signalling System No. 7 as an international standard. SS7 replaced SS6 with its restricted 28-bit signal unit that was both limited in function and not amendable to digital systems. SS7 also replaced Signaling System No. 5 (SS5), while R1 and R2 variants are still used in numerous countries.

The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) defined SIGTRAN protocols which translate the common channel signaling paradigm to the IP Message Transfer Part (MTP) level 2 (M2UA and M2PA), Message Transfer Part (MTP) level 3 (M3UA) and Signaling Connection Control Part (SCCP) (SUA). While running on a transport based upon IP, the SIGTRAN protocols are not an SS7 variant, but simply transport existing national and international variants of SS7.

Functionality
Signaling in telephony is the exchange of control information associated with the setup and release of a telephone call on a telecommunications circuit. Examples of control information are the digits dialed by the caller and the caller's billing number.

When signaling is performed on the same circuit as the conversation of the call, it is termed channel-associated signaling (CAS). This is the case for analogue trunks, multi-frequency (MF) and R2 digital trunks, and DSS1/DASS PBX trunks.

In contrast, SS7 uses common channel signaling, in which the path and facility used by the signaling is separate and distinct from the signaling without first seizing a voice channel, leading to significant savings and performance increases in both signaling and channel usage.

Because of the mechanisms in use by signaling methods prior to SS7 (battery reversal, multi-frequency digit outpulsing, A- and B-bit signaling), these earlier methods cannot communicate much signaling information. Usually only the dialed digits are signaled during call setup. For charged calls, dialed digits and charge number digits are outpulsed. SS7, being a high-speed and high-performance packet-based communications protocol, can communicate significant amounts of information when setting up a call, during the call, and at the end of the call. This permits rich call-related services to be developed. Some of the first such services were call management related, call forwarding (busy and no answer), voice mail, call waiting, conference calling, calling name and number display, call screening, malicious caller identification, busy callback.

The earliest deployed upper-layer protocols in the SS7 suite were dedicated to the setup, maintenance, and release of telephone calls. The Telephone User Part (TUP) was adopted in Europe and the Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) User Part (ISUP) adapted for public switched telephone network (PSTN) calls was adopted in North America. ISUP was later used in Europe when the European networks upgraded to the ISDN. North America has not accomplished full upgrade to the ISDN, and the predominant telephone service is still Plain Old Telephone Service. Due to its richness and the need for an out-of-band channel for its operation, SS7 is mostly used for signaling between telephone switches and not for signaling between local exchanges and customer-premises equipment.

Because SS7 signaling does not require seizure of a channel for a conversation prior to the exchange of control information, non-facility associated signaling (NFAS) became possible. NFAS is signaling that is not directly associated with the path that a conversation will traverse and may concern other information located at a centralized database such as service subscription, feature activation, and service logic. This makes possible a set of network-based services that do not rely upon the call being routed to a particular subscription switch at which service logic would be executed, but permits service logic to be distributed throughout the telephone network and executed more expediently at originating switches far in advance of call routing. It also permits the subscriber increased mobility due to the decoupling of service logic from the subscription switch. Another ISUP characteristic SS7 with NFAS enables is the exchange of signaling information during the middle of a call.

SS7 also enables Non-Call-Associated Signaling, which is signaling not directly related to establishing a telephone call. This includes the exchange of registration information used between a mobile telephone and a home location register database, which tracks the location of the mobile. Other examples include Intelligent Network and local number portability databases.

Signaling modes
Apart from signaling with these various degrees of association with call set-up and the facilities used to carry calls, SS7 is designed to operate in two modes: associated mode and quasi-associated mode.

When operating in the associated mode, SS7 signaling progresses from switch to switch through the Public Switched Telephone Network following the same path as the associated facilities that carry the telephone call. This mode is more economical for small networks. The associated mode of signaling is not the predominant choice of modes in North America.

When operating in the quasi-associated mode, SS7 signaling progresses from the originating switch to the terminating switch, following a path through a separate SS7 signaling network composed of signal transfer points. This mode is more economical for large networks with lightly loaded signaling links. The quasi-associated mode of signaling is the predominant choice of modes in North America.

Physical network
SS7 separates signaling from the voice circuits. An SS7 network must be made up of SS7-capable equipment from end to end in order to provide its full functionality. The network can be made up of several link types (A, B, C, D, E, and F) and three signaling nodes – Service Switching Points (SSPs), Signal Transfer Points (STPs), and Service Control Points (SCPs). Each node is identified on the network by a number, a signaling point code. Extended services are provided by a database interface at the SCP level using the SS7 network.

The links between nodes are full-duplex 56, 64, 1,536, or 1,984 kbit/s graded communications channels. In Europe they are usually one (64 kbit/s) or all (1,984 kbit/s) timeslots (DS0s) within an E1 facility; in North America one (56 or 64 kbit/s) or all (1,536 kbit/s) timeslots (DS0As or DS0s) within a T1 facility. One or more signaling links can be connected to the same two endpoints that together form a signaling link set. Signaling links are added to link sets to increase the signaling capacity of the link set.

In Europe, SS7 links normally are directly connected between switching exchanges using F-links. This direct connection is called associated signaling. In North America, SS7 links are normally indirectly connected between switching exchanges using an intervening network of STPs. This indirect connection is called quasi-associated signaling, which reduces the number of SS7 links necessary to interconnect all switching exchanges and SCPs in an SS7 signaling network.

SS7 links at higher signaling capacity (1.536 and 1.984 Mbit/s, simply referred to as the 1.5 Mbit/s and 2.0 Mbit/s rates) are called high-speed links (HSL) in contrast to the low speed (56 and 64 kbit/s) links. High-speed links are specified in ITU-T Recommendation Q.703 for the 1.5 Mbit/s and 2.0 Mbit/s rates, and ANSI Standard T1.111.3 for the 1.536 Mbit/s rate. There are differences between the specifications for the 1.5 Mbit/s rate. High-speed links utilize the entire bandwidth of a T1 (1.536 Mbit/s) or E1 (1.984 Mbit/s) transmission facility for the transport of SS7 signaling messages.

SIGTRAN provides signaling using SCTP associations over the Internet Protocol. The protocols for SIGTRAN are M2PA, M2UA, M3UA and SUA.

SS7 protocol suite
The SS7 protocol stack may be partially mapped to the OSI Model of a packetized digital protocol stack. OSI layers 1 to 3 are provided by the Message Transfer Part (MTP) and the Signalling Connection Control Part (SCCP) of the SS7 protocol (together referred to as the Network Service Part (NSP)); for circuit related signaling, such as the BT IUP, Telephone User Part (TUP), or the ISDN User Part (ISUP), the User Part provides layer 7. Currently there are no protocol components that provide OSI layers 4 through 6. The Transaction Capabilities Application Part (TCAP) is the primary SCCP User in the Core Network, using SCCP in connectionless mode. SCCP in connection oriented mode provides transport layer for air interface protocols such as BSSAP and RANAP. TCAP provides transaction capabilities to its Users (TC-Users), such as the Mobile Application Part, the Intelligent Network Application Part and the CAMEL Application Part.

The Message Transfer Part (MTP) covers a portion of the functions of the OSI network layer including: network interface, information transfer, message handling and routing to the higher levels. Signaling Connection Control Part (SCCP) is at functional Level 4. Together with MTP Level 3 it is called the Network Service Part (NSP). SCCP completes the functions of the OSI network layer: end-to-end addressing and routing, connectionless messages (UDTs), and management services for users of the Network Service Part (NSP). Telephone User Part (TUP) is a link-by-link signaling system used to connect calls. ISUP is the key user part, providing a circuit-based protocol to establish, maintain, and end the connections for calls. Transaction Capabilities Application Part (TCAP) is used to create database queries and invoke advanced network functionality, or links to Intelligent Network Application Part (INAP) for intelligent networks, or Mobile Application Part (MAP) for mobile services.

BSSAP
BSS Application Part (BSSAP) is a protocol in SS7 used by the Mobile Switching Center (MSC) and the Base station subsystem (BSS) to communicate with each other using signaling messages supported by the MTP and connection-oriented services of the SCCP. For each active mobile equipment one signalling connection is used by BSSAP having at least one active transactions for the transfer of messages.

BSSAP provides two kinds of functions:

 * The BSS Mobile Application Part (BSSMAP) supports procedures to facilitate communication between the MSC and the BSS pertaining to resource management and handover control.
 * The Direct Transfer Application Part (DTAP) is used for transfer of those messages which need to travel directly to mobile equipment from MSC bypassing any interpretation by BSS. These messages are generally pertaining to mobility management (MM) or call management (CM).

Protocol security vulnerabilities
In 2008, several SS7 vulnerabilities were published that permitted the tracking of mobile phone users.

In 2014, the media reported a protocol vulnerability of SS7 by which anyone can track the movements of mobile phone users from virtually anywhere in the world with a success rate of approximately 70%. In addition, eavesdropping is possible by using the protocol to forward calls and also facilitate decryption by requesting that each caller's carrier release a temporary encryption key to unlock the communication after it has been recorded. The software tool SnoopSnitch can warn when certain SS7 attacks occur against a phone, and detect IMSI-catchers that allow call interception and other activities.

In February 2016, 30% of the network of the largest mobile operator in Norway, Telenor, became unstable due to "unusual SS7 signaling from another European operator".

The security vulnerabilities of SS7 have been highlighted in U.S. governmental bodies, for example when in April 2016 Congressman Ted Lieu called for an oversight committee investigation.

In May 2017, O2 Telefónica, a German mobile service provider, confirmed that the SS7 vulnerabilities had been exploited to bypass two-factor authentication to achieve unauthorized withdrawals from bank accounts. The perpetrators installed malware on compromised computers, allowing them to collect online banking account credentials and telephone numbers. They set up redirects for the victims' telephone numbers to telephone lines controlled by them. Confirmation calls and SMS text messages of two-factor authentication procedures were routed to telephone numbers controlled by the attackers. This enabled them to log into victims' online bank accounts and effect money transfers.

In March 2018, a method was published for the detection of the vulnerabilities, through the use of open-source monitoring software such as Wireshark and Snort. The nature of SS7 normally being used between consenting network operators on dedicated links means that any bad actor's traffic can be traced to its source.

An investigation by The Guardian and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism revealed that the SS7 protocol was exploited in an attempt to locate Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed Al Maktoum (II) on 3 March 2018, a day before her abduction.

In 2024, Kevin Briggs, an official at the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, reported to the FCC that hacks related to SS7 and Diameter had been used "numerous attempts" to acquire location data, voice and text messages, deliver spyware, and influence voters in the US.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Signalling System No. 7


text:
Yama in world religions

Yama (Devanagari: यम) is the Hindu deity of death, dharma, the south direction, and the underworld. Belonging to an early stratum of Rigvedic Hindu deities, Yama is said to have been the first mortal who died in the Vedas. By virtue of precedence, he became the ruler of the departed.

Mentioned in the Pāli Canon of Theravada Buddhism, Yama subsequently entered Buddhist mythology in East Asia, Southeast Asia and Sri Lanka as a Dharmapala. He is also recognized in Sikhism as an angel.

Background
Yama is the Hindu god of Death and Justice, and is responsible for the dispensation of law and punishment of sinners in his abode, Naraka. Yama is also one of the oldest deities in the pantheon and some of his earliest appearances are found in the Rigveda. From there, he has remained a significant deity, appearing in some of the most important texts of Hinduism which include the Ramayana, the Mahabharata and the Puranas.

Yama is also one of the Lokapalas (guardians of the directions), appointed as the protector of the southern direction. Yama is described as having four arms, protruding fangs, and complexion of storm clouds with a wrathful expression; surrounded by a garland of flames; dressed in red, yellow, or blue garments; riding a water-buffalo and holding a sword, noose and a mace to capture the souls of those who have sinned. Legends describe him as the twin of Yamuna, a river goddess associated with life, and the son of the Sun god Surya and Saranyu. Other than Yamuna, he also has many siblings, such as the Ashvins, Shani, Shraddhadeva Manu, Revanta and Tapati. Some of his major appearances include in the tales of the Pandavas, Savitri Satyavan and the sage Markandeya. His assistant is Chitragupta, another deity associated with death.

Buddhism
In Buddhism, Yama is a dharmapala, a wrathful god or the Enlightened Protector of Buddhism that is considered worldly, said to judge the dead and preside over the Narakas ("Hell" or "Purgatory") and the cycle of rebirth. In the Jātakas the Narakas are mentioned as Yama's abode (referred to in Pali as Yamakkhaya, Yamanivesana, Yamasādana, etc.). It is also noted that all of Samsāra is subject to Yama's rule, and escape from samsāra means escape from Yama's influence.

The Vetaranī River is said to form the boundary of Yama's kingdom. Elsewhere, it is referred to as consisting of Ussadaniraya (Pali; Sanskrit: Ussadanaraka), the four woeful planes, or the preta realm.

The Buddhist Yama has, however, developed different myths and different functions from the Hindu deity. In Pali Canon Buddhist myths, Yama takes those who have mistreated elders, holy spirits, or their parents when they die. Contrary though, in the Majjhima Nikaya commentary by Buddhagosa, Yama is a vimānapeta – a preta with occasional suffering.

In other parts of Buddhism, Yama's main duty is to watch over purgatorial aspects of Hell (the underworld), and has no relation to rebirth. His sole purpose is to maintain the relationships between spirits that pass through the ten courts, similar to Yama's representation in several Chinese religions.

He has also spread widely and is known in every country where Buddhism is practiced, including China, Korea, Vietnam, Japan, Bhutan, Mongolia, Nepal, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos.

China
In Chinese Buddhism, Yama is regarded as one of the Twenty Devas (二十諸天 Èrshí Zhūtiān) or the Twenty-Four Devas (二十四諸天 Èrshísì zhūtiān), a group of protective dharmapalas consisting of devas adopted from Hinduism and Taoism. His statue is usually enshrined in the Mahavira halls of Chinese Buddhist temples along with the statues of the other devas.

In Chinese texts, Yama only holds transitional places in Hell where he oversaw the deceased before he, and the Generals of Five Paths, were assigned a course of rebirth. Yama was later placed as a King in the Fifth Court when texts led to the fruition of the underworld that marked the beginnings of systemizations.

The Chinese concept of Diyu (地狱, Japanese: Jigoku, Korean: Jiok, Địa ngục) literally "earth prison", is the realm of the dead or Hell in Chinese mythology and Japanese mythology. It is based upon the Buddhist concept of Naraka combined with local afterlife beliefs. Incorporating ideas from Taoism and Buddhism as well as traditional religion in China, Di Yu is a kind of purgatory place which serves not only to punish but also to renew spirits ready for their next incarnation. This is interchangeable with the concept of Naraka.

Japan
Yama can be found in one of the oldest Japanese religious works called Nipponkoku Genpō Zen'aku Ryōiki, a literary work compiled by the Monk Keikai in 822. Yama was introduced to Japan through Buddhism, where he was featured as a Buddhist divinity. He holds the same position title as other works depict him – a judge who imposes decisions on the dead who have mistreated others.

In Japanese mythology, Enma-O(閻魔王) or Enma Dai-O (閻魔大王:, Great King Enma) judges souls in Meido, the kingdom of the waiting dead. Those deemed too horrible are sent to Jigoku, a land more comparable to the Christian hell. It is a land of eternal toil and punishment. Those of middle note remain in meido for a period awaiting reincarnation. Others, of high note, become honored ancestors, watching over their descendants.

In the Buddhism of the Far East, Yama is one of the twelve Devas, as guardian deities, who are found in or around Buddhist shrines (Jūni-ten, 十二天). In Japan, he has been called "Enma-Ten". He joins these other eleven Devas of Buddhism, found in Japan and other parts of southeast Asia: Indra (Taishaku-ten), Agni (Ka-ten), Yama (Emma-ten), Nirrti (Rasetsu-ten), Vayu (Fu-ten), Ishana (Ishana-ten), Kubera (Tamon-ten), Varuna (Sui-ten) Brahma (Bon-ten), Prithvi (Chi-ten), Surya (Nit-ten), Chandra (Gat-ten).

Sikhism
In Sikhism, Yamaraja is referred to as Dharam Rai, Dharam Raj and Dharam Raja (in which, dharma is spelt as dharam instead). In Sikhism, Dharam Rai is considered to be a servant of God instead of a god, who works for God. It is believed that the One God had seated Dharam Rai with the task of reading out the being's deeds after the being dies and then assigns them into heaven or hell accordingly.

The idea of Naraka in Sikhism is the equivalent of Hell. Naraka is a place where sinners are punished. Each sin has a particular punishment. For a lustful person, there is a door to a fire chamber. There is a doorway for those who had listened to other people's gossip. They are punished by having red hot liquid iron poured into their ears. Liars have their tongues cut off. Thieves have their hands cut off.

After the perhaps being has spent time in heaven or hell accordingly, then they are assigned to re-enter the 8.4 million life-form cycle again in which they will reincarnate through various lifeforms until they re-attain the human life again. Some Sikhs interpret Dharam Raj literally, however, there are many interpretations where Dharam Raj is representative of the role of the divine judge of actions. The imagery of Yama would have been used in order to explain such a concept to followers of the Sikh Gurus who came from Hindu backgrounds: there is also imagery of the Islamic angel of death that was also used to help followers from Islamic backgrounds. Sikhism does not focus all that much on any type of mythology, and rather believes that all mythologies are creations of Waheguru: thus there is not a large focus on them and their details, as Waheguru is the only being to be worshipped. Thus, within the doctrine of Sikhism, Yama represents a divine judge who reads records of people's actions: references to him are more conceptual, rather than the more literal depiction of him in Hindu scripture

Those souls who merge into God, become God, and attain full enlightenment or salvation (known as Moksha and Nirvana) will not be judged by Dharam Rai and will go into another heaven known as Sach Khand.

Also, Dharam Rai is referred to as 'The Righteous Judge of Dharma' in the English translation of the Sikh scriptures. Dharam Rai also has assistants that assist him.

Mentions of Yamaraja (known as Dharam Rai in Sikhism) in the Sikh scriptures:

"O Nanak, having created the souls, the Lord installed the Righteous Judge of Dharma to read and record their accounts. There, only the Truth is judged true; the sinners are picked out and separated. The false find no place there, and they go to hell with their faces blackened. Those who are imbued with Your Name win, while the cheaters lose. The Lord installed the Righteous Judge of Dharma to read and record the accounts. ||2||" (Shri Guru Granth Sahib Ji Maharaj, Ang 463)

"The Righteous Judge of Dharma, by the Hukam of God's Command, sits and administers True Justice. Those evil souls, ensnared by the love of duality, are subject to Your Command. The souls on their spiritual journey chant and meditate within their minds on the One Lord, the Treasure of Excellence. The Righteous Judge of Dharma serves them; blessed is the Lord who adorns them. ||2||" (Shri Guru Granth Sahib Ji Maharaj, Ang 38 and 39)

"The Righteous Judge of Dharma is a creation of the Lord; he does not approach the humble servant of the Lord." (Shri Guru Granth Sahib Ji Maharaj, Ang 555)

"Remembering the Lord in meditation, you shall not be punished by the Messenger of Death. The couriers of the Righteous Judge of Dharma shall not touch you." (Shri Guru Granth Sahib Ji Maharaj, Ang 185)

"The Messenger of Death and the Righteous Judge of Dharma do not even approach the beloved servant of my Lord and Master. ||6||" (Shri Guru Granth Sahib Ji Maharaj, Ang 980)

In Javanese culture
There is a door-god Yamadipati in Javanese culture, preserved especially in wayang. The word adipati means ruler or commander. When Hinduism first came to Java, Yama was still the same as Yama in Hindu myth. Later, as Islam replaced Hinduism as the majority religion of Java, Yama was demystified by Walisanga, who ruled at that time. So, in Javanese, Yama became a new character. He is the son of Sanghyang Ismaya and Dewi Sanggani. In the Wayang legend, Yamadipati married Dewi Mumpuni. Unfortunately, Dewi Mumpuni fell in love with Nagatatmala, son of Hyang Anantaboga, who rules the earth. Dewi Mumpuni eventually left Yamadipati, however.

In Iranian mythology
In the Zend-Avesta of Zoroastrianism, a parallel character is called "Yima". The pronunciation "Yima" is peculiar to the Avestan dialect; in most Iranian dialects, including Old Persian, the name would have been "Yama". In the Avesta, the emphasis is on Yima's character as one of the first mortals and as a great king of men. Over time, *Yamaxšaita was transformed into Jamšēd or Jamshid, celebrated as the greatest of the early shahs of the world. Both Yamas in Zoroastrian and Hindu myth guard hell with the help of two four-eyed dogs.

It has also been suggested by I. M. Steblin-Kamensky that the cult of Yima was adopted by the Finno-Ugrians. According to this theory, in Finnish Yama became the god cult Jumula and Joma in Komi. According to this hypothesis, from this cult, the Hungarians also borrowed the word vara which became vár 'fortress' and város 'town'. (ibid)

In Kalasha culture
Yama is also an important deity worshipped by the Kalasha and formerly by the Nuristani peoples, indicating his prominence in ancient Hinduism. There is a Chitral district by the Chitral river in the Swat (Suvastu) region in the north-western Indian subcontinent. The languages spoken amongst others are Chitrali and Kalash. To note is the fact that even in the remaining currently practised form of ancient Hinduism in the region, certain deities were revered either in one community/tribe or other. Only one was universally revered as the Creator that is the ancient Hindu god Yamarâja called Imr'o in Kâmviri. The ancient region had historical and cultural links to the nearby regions of Gilgit-Baltistan, Kashmir and Nuristan.

title: Yama in world religions


text:
John Pentland Mahaffy

Sir John Pentland Mahaffy, (26 February 1839 – 30 April 1919) was an Irish classicist and polymathic scholar who served as the 34th Provost of Trinity College Dublin from 1914 to 1919.

Early life and education
He was born near Vevey in Switzerland on 26 February 1839, to Irish parents, Nathaniel Brindley Mahaffy and the former Elizabeth Pentland, receiving his early education privately in Switzerland and Germany, and later and more formally at Trinity College Dublin. As an undergraduate, he became President of the University Philosophical Society. He was elected a scholar in 1857, graduated in classics and philosophy in 1859, and was elected a fellow in 1864.

Academic career
Mahaffy held a chair in Ancient History at Trinity from 1871, and eventually became Provost in 1914, at the age of 75. He was a distinguished classicist and papyrologist as well as a Doctor of Music. He wrote the music for the Grace in chapel. Mahaffy, a man of great versatility, published numerous works across a range of subjects, some of which, especially those dealing with the 'Silver Age' of Greece, became standard authorities.

He was High Sheriff of County Monaghan for 1900 and a Justice of the Peace for county Dublin. He was President of the Royal Irish Academy from 1911 to 1916.

Famous wit
He was regarded as one of Dublin's great curmudgeons and also one of its greatest wits. When aspiring to be Provost of Trinity College, upon hearing that the incumbent was ill, he is said to have remarked, "Nothing trivial, I hope?" In his academic years, perhaps his most notable student was Oscar Wilde, with whom he discussed homosexuality in ancient Greece, and with whom he also collaborated in writing Mahaffy's book Social Life in Greece. Although he later expressed reservations about Mahaffy, Wilde nonetheless described him as "my first and best teacher" and "the scholar who showed me how to love Greek things". When Wilde went on to achieve fame and success, Mahaffy boasted of having created him, only to later describe Wilde as "the only blot on my tutorship". Like his protégés, Wilde and Oliver Gogarty, Mahaffy was a brilliant conversationalist, coming out with such gems as "in Ireland the inevitable never happens and the unexpected constantly occurs." When asked, by an advocate of women's rights, what the difference was between a man and a woman he replied, "I can't conceive." He was apparently opposed to Irish Catholics accessing higher education; Gerald Griffin records Mahaffy as saying “James Joyce is a living argument in defence of my contention that it was a mistake to establish a separate university for the aborigines of this island – for the corner boys who spit into the Liffey.”

Politically, Mahaffy was a staunch unionist who in 1899 tried to have the Irish language removed from the national Intermediate curriculum on the grounds that there was no literature in the language that was not “religious, immoral or indecent”. In 1914, he suppressed the university's Gaelic Society when it proposed to mark the centenary of the birth of Thomas Osborne Davis with a gathering that was to be addressed by Patrick Pearse, who at the time was campaigning against the recruitment of Irish soldiers to serve in the British armed forces during World War I, whereas Mahaffy was vigorously in favour of all possible support for the British war effort. Additionally, Mahaffy was greatly worried by the prospect of the partition of Ireland, and during the Irish Convention of 1917-18, he proposed a federalist Home Rule arrangement in Ireland, based on the Swiss cantons’ model, with parliaments in each of the provinces sending representatives to a central assembly.

Mahaffy also had a reputation as a snob. For instance, he had a great admiration for the nobility and would often prefer the company of dukes and kings. When he moved into Earlscliffe (a house on the Hill of Howth, County Dublin) as his summer residence, a wag at the time suggested that maybe it had better be renamed Dukescliffe.

Curmudgeon and snob though he could undoubtedly be, Mahaffy was also capable of great and spontaneous kindness, as is evident from the instance of the schoolboy whom Mahaffy came upon near the Hill of Howth, where the boy was reading Greek. Mahaffy asked him about his studies, later lent him books to assist him, and eventually saw to it that the young man was admitted free of charge to read Classics at Trinity College Dublin.

Personal life
Mahaffy's paternal ancestry could be traced back to the south of County Donegal, where his great-grandfather owned land. His grandfather and father were also Church of Ireland clergymen.

In 1865, Mahaffy married Frances Letitia MacDougall (d. 1908), by whom he had two daughters, Rachel Mary (d. 1944) and Elsie (d. 1926), and two sons, Arthur William (d. 1919) and Robert Pentland (d. 1943). He travelled widely, to destinations such as Egypt, Nubia, Greece and the United States of America. Despite his ordination as a clergyman, he was knighted in 1918, shortly before his death.

His interests were not confined to academia: he shot and played cricket for Ireland, and claimed to know the pedigree of every racehorse in Ulster. He was also an expert fly fisherman. He was also instrumental in setting up a Georgian Society for the appreciation of Irish Georgian architecture; this functioned from 1908 to 1913.

In 1889, with his friend James Edward Rogers Mahaffy published Sketches from a tour through Holland and Germany.

The memory of many of Mahaffy's accomplishments was preserved thanks to the efforts of R. B. McDowell, who together with W. B. Stanford published Mahaffy: A Biography of an Anglo-Irishman (Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1971).

title: John Pentland Mahaffy


text:
Symmetric digital subscriber line

A symmetric digital subscriber line (SDSL) is a digital subscriber line (DSL) that transmits digital data over the copper wires of the telephone network, where the bandwidth in the downstream direction, from the network to the subscriber, is identical to the bandwidth in the upstream direction, from the subscriber to the network. This symmetric bandwidth can be considered to be the opposite of the asymmetric bandwidth offered by asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) technologies, where the upstream bandwidth is lower than the downstream bandwidth. SDSL is generally marketed at business customers, while ADSL is marketed at private as well as business customers.

More specifically, SDSL can be understood as:
 * In the wider sense, an umbrella term for all DSL variant which offer symmetric bandwidth, including IDSL, which offers 144 kbit/s, HDSL, HDSL2, G.SHDSL, which offers up to 22.784 Mbit/s over four pairs of copper wires, as well as the SDSL variant below
 * In the narrow sense, a particular proprietary and non-standardized DSL variant for operation at 1.544 Mbit/s or 2.048 Mbit/s over a single pair of copper wires, without support for analog calls on the same line
 * A term used by ETSI to refer to G.SHDSL

Proprietary SDSL technology
SDSL is a rate-adaptive digital subscriber line (DSL) variant with T1/E1-like data rates (T1: 1.544 Mbit/s, E1: 2.048 Mbit/s). It runs over one pair of copper wires, with a maximum range of 10000 ft. It cannot co-exist with a conventional voice service on the same pair as it takes over the entire bandwidth.

Standardization efforts
SDSL is a proprietary technology that was never standardized. As such it usually only interoperates with devices from the same vendor. It is the predecessor of G.SHDSL which was standardized in February 2001 by ITU-T with recommendation G.991.2. SDSL is often confused with G.SHDSL and HDSL; in Europe, G.SHDSL was standardized by ETSI using the name 'SDSL'. This ETSI variant is compatible with the ITU-T G.SHDSL standardized regional variant for Europe.

As there is a standardised successor available, SDSL installations today are considered legacy. Most new installations use G.SHDSL equipment instead of SDSL.

Target audience
SDSL typically falls between ADSL and T1/E1 in price and was mainly targeted at small and medium businesses which don't need the service guarantees of Frame Relay or the higher performance of a leased line.

title: Symmetric digital subscriber line


text:
Talk:Generating set of a group

Multiplicities of Esses
Opening para's:

'In abstract algebra, a generating set of a group G is a subset S such that every element of G can be expressed as the product of finitely many elements of S and their inverses.

More generally, if S is a subset of a group G, then , the subgroup generated by S, is the smallest subgroup of G containing every element of S, meaning the intersection over all subgroups containing the elements of S; equivalently,  is the subgroup of all elements of G that can be expressed as the finite product of elements in S and their inverses.'

Whilst possibly strictly true, the reuse of S for the more general case is very confusing; careful reading resolves the issue, but using any other letter would avoid the problem entirely. Alteratively why not avoid S in the opening para and say simply "...a generating set of a group is a subset such that every element of the group can be expressed as the product.... of elements of that subset and their inverses"

Julian I Do Stuff (talk) 13:17, 8 October 2009 (UTC)

 * This is now fixed. JackSchmidt (talk) 19:32, 11 December 2009 (UTC)

Lead paragraph unnecessarily complicated
The lead paragraph is unnecessarily complicated. While I cannot provide a shorter paragraph, since I am not a mathematician, I believe that, for example, the phrase "and their inverses" can be omitted, since it is unnecessary in the definition of a generating set. One-sentence definition of a generating set David spector (talk) 02:20, 11 December 2009 (UTC)
 * Omitting "and their inverses" leads to several confusions. For instance, an infinite cyclic group generated by {x} is not the set of finite products of elements of {x}.  That set is just { x, xx, xxx, ... } or { 1, x, xx, xxx, ... } if one allows empty products.  One also needs to use x−1. JackSchmidt (talk) 19:32, 11 December 2009 (UTC)

But since x−1 is a member of { 1, x, xx, xxx, ... } (by the definition of a group), adding it explicitly has no effect. Inverses are redundant in this context, no? David spector (talk) 01:57, 16 December 2009 (UTC)
 * I'm afraid this is incorrect. x−1 is not a member of { 1, x, xx, xxx, ... }.  { 1, x, xx, xxx, ... } is not a group.  In additive terms, I am saying if you start with 1 and add it to itself a bunch of times you get { 1, 2, 3, ... } or at best { 0, 1, 2, 3, ... } and -1 is not in { 0, 1, 2, 3, ... } and { 0, 1, 2, 3, ... } is not a group.  You want to explicitly include an additive inverse like -1 so that you can cancel the additions.  In a finite group this does not matter, but in infinite groups it can be a substantial problem.  JackSchmidt (talk) 06:25, 16 December 2009 (UTC)

"Product" used as the name of the group operator
This article uses the word "product" when referring to the group operator. I don't know much mathematics, but isn't it true that the arithmetic integer product operator (with identity element 1) cannot form a group since the inverse of most elements would not be members of the group (since they wouldn't be integers)? Thus, the simple intuitive model group consisting of the integers under addition would fail because of calling the operator "product" instead of "addition", "sum", or just something abstract like "operator", "combine", or "apply". The naturalness and intuitiveness of these models mitigate against the use of "product" as the group operator. When we write "xx" instead of "x+x" (for brevity), I recommend that we think of the operator as "concatenate" instead of "add". David spector (talk) 02:52, 11 December 2009 (UTC)

 * The integers are not a very good model group, though they are reasonable as a model abelian group. The integers form a group under addition, but not under multiplication.  Besides elements like 1/2 being outside the group, there is also the problem of 1/0 not being very well behaved at all.  One could change the word product in the opening sentence, but this will just make the sentence longer, not shorter. JackSchmidt (talk) 19:32, 11 December 2009 (UTC)

Unless you have more rationale than this, I respectfully disagree. Integers with addition are an excellent model for groups, precisely because this group is neither a ring nor a field. I suspect that many schools introduce groups by using integers with addition as an example. For me, thinking of a group as "like" integer addition, a ring as "like" integers with addition and multiplication, and a field as "like" reals with addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division seems very natural. Also, the identity element of a group should not be written as 1, but 0, for the same reason (that it is incorrect in the most intuitive real-world model). 0 naturally concatenates with x (for example, in some computer programming languages, unlike 1) to yield x; 0+x = x in ordinary arithmetic. It seems clear to me that the word product is not appropriate for a group operator. David spector (talk) 02:20, 16 December 2009 (UTC)
 * To be clear, I am assuming you mean "my rationale for using the word product in this particular article is that it will make the opening sentence longer to use apply/combine/etc." and that you do not think this is a good rationale for using "product" in this article. Changing the word is fine by me, but I think it will make that sentence longer.  I just didn't see how to satisfy your two requests at once.
 * As far as model groups go, there are basically two completely unrelated algebraic structures: abelian groups and groups. Now the definitions look pretty similar, and they are often first taught together, but basically the human pursuit of studying these two concepts are no more related than any other two areas of algebra.  In fact the study of rings and the study of abelian groups are intimately related, while the study of groups is not particularly closely related to the study of rings.
 * Your reasons for thinking the integers are a good model group all strike me as very good reasons for it to be a model *abelian group* (surely it should be the first abelian group, followed by finite cyclics, the additive rationals, the Prüfer groups, and finally the group of rational numbers whose denominators are square-free). I was initially trained in abelian groups and modules (abelian groups being acted upon by a fixed ring), and I think it is a great way to get introduced to algebra.  It's just very, very different than group theory.
 * Good models for a plain old group are the group of invertible 2x2 matrices, groups of rotations (say the icosahedral group or a dihedral group), or the symmetric group (say on 3 points). Each of these groups has a natural action, either on vectors, on a geometric shape, or on "points".  Group theory is very much concerned with groups acting on other things (consider Galois theory or Lie groups or invariant theory, the classical origins of group theory).  Abelian group theory is very much concerned with abelian groups being acted upon by other things. JackSchmidt (talk) 07:17, 16 December 2009 (UTC)
 * I changed "product" in the opening paragraph. Certainly product is correct to a mathematician, but certainly calling it a product and then having so many additive examples will confuse readers.  I chose "combination" just because it allowed for a relatively short and minor change that sounded fine.  I thought about "combination" without qualification, but since it has some unrelated technical meanings (like choosing 3 generators out of the set of 4 without regards to order), I thought it was good to be explicit.  Generally people like to downplay the operation and any sentence I came up with using "apply" or "operate" had to promote the operation to more than a parenthetical prepositional phrase. JackSchmidt (talk) 07:28, 16 December 2009 (UTC)

Relation to independence
This concept of a set of generators seems to me to be like the Group theory analogue of an algebraically independent set and a basis, or linearly independent set. Has anyone else noted this similarity or seen it noted? Further discussion would be interesting. LokiClock (talk) 14:32, 22 December 2009 (UTC)

 * It's actually the analogue of a spanning set (there's no requirement for independence). Every type of algebraic structure has an analogous concept (usually called a generating set - the term "spanning set" for the vector space case is anomalous). --Zundark (talk) 15:04, 22 December 2009 (UTC)

title: Talk:Generating set of a group