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Brutus of Troy

Brutus, also called Brute of Troy, is a mythical British king. He is described as a legendary descendant of the Trojan hero Aeneas, known in medieval British legend as the eponymous founder and first king of Britain. This legend first appears in the Historia Brittonum, an anonymous 9th-century historical compilation to which commentary was added by Nennius, but is best known from the account given by the 12th-century chronicler Geoffrey of Monmouth in his Historia Regum Britanniae.

Historia Brittonum
Some have suggested that attributing the origin of 'Britain' to the Latin 'Brutus' may be ultimately derived from Isidore of Seville's popular 7th-century work Etymologiae (c. 560–636), in which it was speculated that the name of Britain comes from bruti, on the basis that the Britons were, in the eyes of that author, brutes, or savages. A more detailed story, set before the foundation of Rome, follows, in which Brutus is the grandson or great grandson of Aeneas – a legend that was perhaps inspired by Isidore's spurious etymology and blends it with the Christian, pseudo-historical, "Frankish Table of Nations" tradition that emerged in the early medieval European scholarly world (actually of 6th-century AD Byzantine origin, and not Frankish, according to historian Walter Goffart) and attempted to trace the peoples of the known world (as well as legendary figures, such as the Trojan house of Aeneas) back to biblical ancestors.

Supposedly following Roman sources such as Livy and Virgil, the Historia tells how Aeneas settled in Italy after the Trojan War, and how his son Ascanius founded Alba Longa, one of the precursors of Rome. Ascanius married, and his wife became pregnant. In a variant version, the father is Silvius, who is identified as either the second son of Aeneas, previously mentioned in the Historia, or as the son of Ascanius. A magician, asked to predict the child's future, said it would be a boy and that he would be the bravest and most beloved in Italy. Enraged, Ascanius had the magician put to death. The mother died in childbirth.

The boy, named Brutus, later accidentally killed his father with an arrow and was banished from Italy. After wandering among the islands of the Tyrrhenian Sea and through Gaul, where he founded the city of Tours, Brutus eventually came to Britain, named it after himself, and filled it with his descendants. His reign is synchronised to the time the High Priest Eli was judge in Israel, and when the Ark of the Covenant was taken by the Philistines.

A variant version of the Historia Brittonum makes Brutus the son of Ascanius's son Silvius, and traces his genealogy back to Ham, son of Noah. Another chapter traces Brutus's genealogy differently, making him the great-grandson of the legendary Roman king Numa Pompilius, who was himself a son of Ascanius, and tracing his descent from Noah's son Japheth. These Christianising traditions conflict with the classical Trojan genealogies, relating the Trojan royal family to Greek gods.

Yet another Brutus, son of Hisicion, son of Alanus the first European, also traced back across many generations to Japheth, is referred to in the Historia Brittonum. This Brutus's brothers were Francus, Alamanus and Romanus, also ancestors of significant European nations.

Historia Regum Britanniae
Geoffrey of Monmouth's account tells much the same story, but in greater detail. In this version, Brutus is explicitly the grandson, rather than son, of Ascanius; his father is Ascanius' son Silvius. The magician who predicts great things for the unborn Brutus also foretells he will kill both his parents. He does so, in the same manner described in the Historia Brittonum, and is banished. Travelling to Greece, he discovers a group of Trojans enslaved there. He becomes their leader, and after a series of battles they defeat the Greek king Pandrasus by attacking his camp at night after capturing the guards. He takes him hostage and forces him to let his people go. He is given Pandrasus's daughter Ignoge or Innogen in marriage, and ships and provisions for the voyage, and sets sail.

The Trojans land on a deserted island and discover an abandoned temple to Diana. After performing the appropriate ritual, Brutus falls asleep in front of the goddess's statue and is given a vision of the land where he is destined to settle, an island in the western ocean inhabited only by a few giants.

After some adventures in north Africa and a close encounter with the Sirens, Brutus discovers another group of exiled Trojans living on the shores of the Tyrrhenian Sea, led by the prodigious warrior Corineus. In Gaul, Corineus provokes a war with Goffarius Pictus, king of Aquitaine, after hunting in the king's forests without permission. Brutus's nephew Turonus dies in the fighting, and the city of Tours is founded where he is buried. The Trojans win most of their battles but are conscious that the Gauls have the advantage of numbers, so go back to their ships and sail for Britain, then called Albion. They land on "Totonesium litus"—"the sea-coast of Totnes". They meet the giant descendants of Alebion and defeat them.

Brutus renames the island after himself and becomes its first king. Corineus becomes ruler of Cornwall, which is named after him. They are harassed by the giants during a festival, but kill all of them but their leader, the largest giant Goemagot, who is saved for a wrestling match against Corineus. Corineus throws him over a cliff to his death. Brutus then founds a city on the banks of the River Thames, which he calls Troia Nova, or New Troy. The name is in time corrupted to Trinovantum, and the city is later called London. He creates laws for his people and rules for twenty-four years. After his death he is buried in Trinovantum, and the island is divided between his three sons: Locrinus (England), Albanactus (Scotland) and Kamber (Wales).

Legacy
Early translations and adaptations of Geoffrey's Historia, such as Wace's Norman French Roman de Brut, Layamon's Middle English Brut, were named after Brutus, and the word brut came to mean a chronicle of British history. One of several Middle Welsh adaptations was called the Brut y Brenhinedd ("Chronicle of the Kings"). Brut y Tywysogion ("Chronicle of the Princes"), a major chronicle for the Welsh rulers from the 7th century to loss of independence, is a purely historical work containing no legendary material but the title reflects the influence of Geoffrey's work and, in one sense, can be seen as a "sequel" to it.

Early chroniclers of Britain, such as Alfred of Beverley, Nicholas Trivet and Giraldus Cambrensis began their histories of Britain with Brutus. The foundation myth of Brutus having settled in Britain was still considered as genuine history during the Early Modern Period, for example Holinshed's Chronicles (1577) considers the Brutus myth to be factual. It was not until the twentieth century that archaeologists were able to prove conclusively that London was founded in 43 AD.

The 18th-century English poet Hildebrand Jacob wrote an epic poem, Brutus the Trojan, Founder of the British Empire, about him, following in the tradition of Virgil's fictitious Roman foundation epic the Aeneid, left unfinished at Virgil's death in 19 BC.

Geoffrey's Historia says that Brutus and his followers landed at Totnes in Devon. A stone on Fore Street in Totnes, known as the "Brutus Stone", commemorates this imaginary event.

In 2021, the Totnes community radio station Soundart Radio commissioned a radio drama adaptation of the Brutus myth by the writer Will Kemp.

title: Brutus of Troy


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Nestor (genus)

The genus Nestor is one of the two extant genera of the parrot family Strigopidae. Together with the kākāpō, and the extinct parrots in the genus Nelepsittacus, they form the parrot superfamily Strigopoidea. The Nestor's genus contains two extant parrot species from New Zealand and two extinct species from Norfolk Island, Australia and Chatham Island, New Zealand, respectively. All species are large stocky birds with short squarish tails. A defining characteristic of the genus is the tongue, which is tipped with a hair-like fringe. The superficial resemblance of this tongue to that of lorikeets has led some taxonomists to consider the two groups closely related, but DNA evidence shows they are not.

Classification
All four species in the genus Nestor are thought to stem from a 'proto-kaka', dwelling in the forests of New Zealand 5 million years ago. The closest living relative of the genus is the kākāpō (Strigops habroptilus). Together, they form the Strigopoidea, an ancient group that split off from all other Psittaciformes before their radiation.

In 2012 Leo Joseph and collaborators proposed that the genus Nestor should be placed in its own family, Nestoridae. This proposal has not been adopted in lists of the world birds and instead Nestor is placed with the genus Strigops in the family Strigopidae.

Species
There are two surviving species and at least one well documented extinct species in the genus Nestor. Very little is known about the fourth, the Chatham kākā, which may have been conspecific with another kaka species.

 * Kea, Nestor notabilis
 * Kākā, Nestor meridionalis
 * North Island kākā, Nestor meridionalis septentrionalis
 * South Island kākā, Nestor meridionalis meridionalis
 * †Norfolk kākā, Nestor productus (extinct)
 * †Chatham kākā, Nestor chathamensis (extinct)

Status
Of the four species, the Norfolk kaka and Chatham kaka became extinct in recent history. The last known individual of the Norfolk kaka died in captivity in London sometime after 1851, and only between seven and 20 skins survive. The Chatham kaka became extinct in pre-European times, after Polynesians arrived at the island, between 1550 and 1700, and is only known from subfossil bones. The mainland kaka is listed as endangered, and the kea is listed as vulnerable.

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

title: Nestor (genus)


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Rome Emperors

The Rome Emperors are a Minor League Baseball team of the South Atlantic League and the High-A affiliate of the Atlanta Braves. They are located in Rome, Georgia, and play their home games at AdventHealth Stadium. From 2003 to 2023, the team was known as the Rome Braves. They served as Atlanta's Class A affiliate before being elevated to High-A with the restructuring of the minor league system in 2021. Rome is the longest-tenured partner club of the Atlanta Braves.

Organization's historical beginnings
A longstanding member of the current iteration South Atlantic League since its inception, the Class A Atlanta Braves affiliate's history dates back to 1968 with the founding of the Greenwood Braves, sporting a roster featuring future major league talents such as Brett Butler, Steve Bedrosian, and Brian Snitker. Dale Murphy, Earl Williams and Rafeal Ramirez. The team was part of the Western Carolina's League from 1968-1979 winning three league titles before being moved to Anderson, SC The Anderson team received a great deal of support and experienced relatively high attendance figures during its short run. Despite the local support though, former Atlanta Braves owner Ted Turner moved the team to Sumter, South Carolina, after the 1984 season to establish the Sumter Braves. Sumter was a starting point for several major league talents, including an early stop for future Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Tom Glavine. Sumter enjoyed the team for 6 seasons from 1985 to 1990. Notably for both Anderson and Sumter, their best finishes while in both locations came in seasons managed by current Atlanta manager Brian Snitker, who brought the Anderson team to a 72–70 5th-place finish in 1982, and a 77–60 3rd-place finish for Sumter in 1986. In Sumter, the team also earned their first opportunity in the SAL Playoffs as the First Half Champion of the 1985 North Division, going on to lose to the Greensboro Hornets in 2 games.

The Macon Braves
In 1991, the low league Braves saw themselves on the move once more when they transplanted the team to Macon, Georgia, thus becoming the Macon Braves. Macon had a very long history with minor league baseball before their time with the Braves, with the earliest assumed records dating back to 1885 with some nameless forms before their predominant history as the Macon Peaches in the original iteration of the South Atlantic League, which is still active today as the AA Southern League. The Braves brought baseball back to Macon following a three-season gap with the departure of the Pirates affiliate in 1987. As the Macon Braves, the team saw marginal success, earning a playoff bid in their inaugural 1991 season (2–0 series loss to the Columbia Mets), mid or lower pack of the SAL South Division from 1992 to 1996, a 1997 South Division Championship in 1997 which saw them win their first-ever Playoff series with a 2–1 win over the Augusta GreenJackets before falling to the Greensboro Bats 2–0 in the following round, subsequent Playoff runs in 1998 (2–0 series loss to Augusta) and 1999 (2–0 series loss to the Hickory Crawdads), and mid pack success in their final three seasons in Macon. In total, the team racked up an 850–820 record during their Macon years, with notable alumni such as Al Lopez, John Smoltz, Chipper Jones, and Andruw Jones. The Macon Braves would serve as the last time the city would host a major-league affiliated minor league team.

Moving to Rome
Following failed attempts to get the city of Macon to build a new ballpark for the team, as their home at Luther Williams Field was beginning to show its age and with the team still wanting over $1 million in renovations, the end of the 2002 season saw Atlanta decide again to move the franchise. Following the approval of a SPLOST tax, the city of Rome, Georgia, managed to entice the Braves organization, and as a result they became the new home of the Single-A affiliate starting with the 2003 season. The SPLOST tax helped with entirely building their home, AdventHealth Stadium, and a high level of optimism followed the team to Rome.

2003 Inaugural season and championship
Rocket Wheeler would be named the manager for the first season in Rome, and the start of his tenure in the Braves organization after previously serving the past three seasons as the manager for the AA then-Toronto Blue Jays affiliate Tennessee Smokies. During their inaugural season in Rome, the team started the first half of the 2003 South Atlantic League season with a 36–33 record, finishing foutth in the Southern Division and well outside the playoff spot won by Hickory. The second half featured a much better effort, with help from two future Braves fan-favorites in Brian McCann and Jeff Francoeur, and Rome got to a 42–38 record to win the Southern Division in the second half of the season and advance to the Playoffs for the time ever in Rome, and the sixth time overall since the original inception of the team in Anderson in 1980. Not only was it a historic first season in Rome by just making it to the playoffs, but the Rome Braves followed this with 2–1 series win over Hickory to advance to their first-ever South Atlantic League Championship, where they met the Lake County Captains. The series went to four games, and in their inaugural season, the Rome Braves won the 2003 South Atlantic League with a 3–1 series win over Lake County.

Beginning of Ingle era
After their first team championship in 2003, the following two seasons under Rocket Wheeler saw the team finish with a 70–70 record in 2004, and a 72–65 record in 2005, though neither were able to replicate the similar success of either a Championship or even a divisional crown. Rome went for a managerial change for the 2006 season, calling on Randy Ingle. Ingle served in the Braves organization for his entire 14 seasons prior to joining Rome, including two stops in 1993 and 2001 with Macon. He was also coming off of 4 years as the manager for the then Advanced-A affiliate Myrtle Beach Pelicans. Under Ingle, the 2006 Rome Braves won the 1st half South Division title with a 42–28 record to secure their first playoff trip since the Championship 2003 season, and finished the season with a 71–68 record and a 2–0 series loss to Augusta in the postseason. 2007–2010 saw the Rome Braves unable to climb out of the lower part of the South Division, finishing with losing records in all 4 seasons. Ingle would leave the team for the 2011 season, being sent down to manage the rookie league Danville Braves, however Ingle would return to Rome in 2012, as Rome finished the 2011 season with a 60–80 season and two different managers during the season with Matt Walbeck fired midseason by the organization after compiling a 25–45 bottom of the division record which was one of the worst in the minor leagues, and Walbeck being replaced by Rick Albert who led the team to a 35–35 finish. Ingle's 2012 return started off much poorer than the 2011 Rome start, with Rome compiling an 18–52 record in the 1st half. The 2nd half of the season fared much better for Rome, going 44–24 and securing their first divisional crown in 6 seasons, even despite the overall season finish of 62–72 which would be worst in the Southern Division. The Braves would lose to the eventual 2012 Champion Asheville Tourists 2 games to 1 in their playoff series.

Leadup to 2016 championship
Ingle would serve another season with Rome in 2013, finishing just shy of a 2nd straight trip to the SAL Playoffs during the 2nd half of the season, and finishing with a 73–66 overall record. Jon Schuerholz would take over the team in 2014, swapping managerial duties with Ingle who would return to Danville for 2014. Rome would finish 2014 with a 56–84 record, their 3rd time in the last 5 seasons that the Braves would finish at the bottom of the South Division in overall record. Ingle again returned to the team in 2015, producing a just as disappointing 58–82 record with Rome unable to escape the bottom of the division once again. Sporting one of the youngest clubs in full-season baseball, 2016 looked to be starting the same way under Ingle, with a 27–42 having them at 6th in the division heading into the midseason break. Things got much better though in what would turn out to be another historic season for Rome. Thanks to a pitching room featuring Mike Soroka, Kolby Allard, Max Fried, A. J. Minter, and Touki Toussaint, and two big time bats in the form of Ronald Acuña Jr. and Austin Riley, players that majorly make up most of the current major league roster for Atlanta gave Rome one of its biggest pushes and went on to finish the 2nd half with a 43–27 record, once again returning to the playoffs. From there, it was indeed history as the R-Braves would get a 2–1 series win over the division powerhouse Charleston RiverDogs in the semifinals, and then go on to capture their 2nd South Atlantic League title with a 3–1 series victory over the Lakewood BlueClaws.

Ingle's retirement, Rocket's return, start of Tuiasosopo era
Following their second championship season, Ingle would serve one last year as manager for the Rome Braves in 2017, end with his best overall record finish during his time in Rome at 74–65, but unfortunately coming up short of a return to postseason play. 2018 saw Rome return to their past by bringing back Rocket Wheeler, their manager from the 2003 Championship season and the two seasons following. Wheeler had spent his time since leaving Rome in the Braves organization, taking over the Pelicans for 5 seasons following his original departure, getting 1 season as the manager for the AA Mississippi Braves, and 4 seasons on the rookie level before managing the Braves Advanced A ball for the Carolina Mudcats in 2016 and Florida Fire Frogs in 2017. Wheeler's return in 2018 would show quick results with Rome finishing at the top of the South Division in the 1st half with a 40–29 record, though a slight slump in the 2nd half gave them a 31–36 record and 71–65 overall on the season. Rome would be eliminated in the playoffs by the 2nd half division champion, and eventual SAL Champion, Lexington Legends in a 2–0 series loss. For 2019 and into the modern day, Matt Tuiasosopo would be named the Rome Braves manager, and he would lead Rome to a 65–74 overall record while missing the playoffs.

2020 Season cancellation and High-A promotion
Like the entirety of the MiLB, the 2020 season was postponed and later cancelled for Rome following the COVID-19 pandemic. This also came following an off-season of rumors regarding the complete reorganization of the minor leagues, which would come into fruition following the cancellation of the 2020 season. On December 9, 2020, many of the major league clubs announced their new affiliations, totaling at 120 with each team sporting a Low-A, High-A, AA, and AAA team for 2021 and beyond. Rome was invited, and subsequently accepted said invite, back into the Braves organization as the new High-A affiliate, ending their run since the team's inception as the Low-A affiliate and replacing the Fire Frogs in their new spot. Their fellow South Atlantic League team, the Augusta GreenJackets, would be named the new Low-A affiliate, while the Mississippi Braves and Gwinnett Stripers would retain their status as AA and AAA affiliates for the Braves respectively.

As part of the announcement on February 12, 2021, announcement of the new Professional Development League alignment, Rome accepted their invitation as the High-A affiliate, and signed a new contract with the organization to continue their tenure together through the 2030 season. The announcement also included Rome's new league location, the newly created High-A East, with the Rome Braves joining former South Atlantic League opponents Asheville Tourists, Greensboro Grasshoppers, Greenville Drive, Hickory Crawdads, and Jersey Shore (formerly Lakewood) BlueClaws; alongside new opponents Aberdeen IronBirds, Brooklyn Cyclones, Hudson Valley Renegades, Wilmington Blue Rocks, Bowling Green Hot Rods, and Winston-Salem Dash. In 2022, the High-A East became known as the South Atlantic League, the name historically used by the regional circuit prior to the 2021 reorganization.

Emperors
After the 20 years of donning the Braves tomahawk across the chest, the Rome Braves announced on August 11, 2023, that they would be dropping Braves' moniker in 2024. On November 16, 2023, the team was renamed the Rome Emperors, with a cap insignia and logo that featured an emperor penguin.

Team mascot
Prior to 2024, Rome had three mascots, Romey, Roxie, and introduced for the 2015 season, their "son" Roman. Romey was a tall (6 ft), blue, furry humanoid male mascot with yellow hair, while Roxie, who was added to the team after the 2005 season, was 5 ft tall, humanoid, a lighter blue, and has a large yellow ponytail. Roman was also a furry blue humanoid male, his blue more matching that of Romey, with the added detail of his head being that of a baseball wearing a Roman soldier helmet.

Following Rome's rebrand in 2024, the team introduced a new mascot, Julius. An emperor penguin, his name is an homage to former Roman emperor Julius Caesar.

Notable alumni

Hall of Fame alumni

 * Tom Glavine (Played 1 game for the team in 2009)
 * Chipper Jones (Played 1 game for the team in 2004, 3 games in 2005, 2 games in 2011, and 2 games in 2012 )
 * John Smoltz (2008) Inducted, 2016

Notable alumni

 * Blaine Boyer
 * Kyle Davies
 * Yunel Escobar
 * Julio Franco (Played 4 games for the team in 2007 )
 * Jeff Francoeur
 * Freddie Freeman
 * Max Fried
 * Tommy Hanson
 * Jason Heyward
 * Omar Infante (Played 3 games for the team in 2009)
 * Chuck James
 * Kelly Johnson (Played 5 games for the team in 2006 )
 * Brandon Jones
 * Brian Jordan (Played 1 game for the team in 2006 )
 * Jason Marquis (1997)
 * Brian McCann
 * Martín Prado
 * David Ross (Played 2 games for the team in 2009)
 * Jo-Jo Reyes
 * Jarrod Saltalamacchia
 * Ronald Acuña Jr. (2016)

title: Rome Emperors


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Carnatic music

Carnatic music, known as or  in the South Indian languages, is a system of music commonly associated with South India, including the modern Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana. It is one of two main subgenres of Indian classical music that evolved from ancient Hindu texts and traditions, particularly the Samaveda. The other subgenre is Hindustani music, which emerged as a distinct form because of Persian or Islamic influences from Northern India. The main emphasis in Carnatic music is on vocal music; most compositions are written to be sung, and even when played on instruments, they are meant to be performed in gāyaki (singing) style.

Although there are stylistic differences, the basic elements of (the relative musical pitch),  (the musical sound of a single note),  (the mode or melodic formulae), and  (the rhythmic cycles) form the foundation of improvisation and composition in both Carnatic and Hindustani music. Although improvisation plays an important role, Carnatic music is mainly sung through compositions, especially the kriti (or kirtanam) – a form developed between the 14th and 20th centuries by composers such as Purandara Dasa, and the Trinity of Carnatic music. Carnatic music is also usually taught and learned through compositions. Telugu language predominates in the evolution of Carnatic music. Most Carnatic compositions are in Telugu, and Sanskrit.

Carnatic music is usually performed by a small ensemble of musicians, consisting of a principal performer (usually a vocalist), a melodic accompaniment (usually a violin), a rhythm accompaniment (usually a mridangam), and a tambura, which acts as a drone throughout the performance. Other typical instruments used in performances may include the ghatam, kanjira, morsing, venu flute, veena, and chitraveena. The greatest concentration of Carnatic musicians is to be found in the city of Chennai. Various Carnatic music festivals are held throughout India and abroad, including the Madras Music Season, which has been considered to be one of the world's largest cultural events.

Origin and history

Like all art forms in Indian culture, Indian classical music is believed to be a divine art form which originated from the devas and devis (Hindu gods and goddesses), and is venerated as symbolic of. Ancient treatises also describe the connection of the origin of the svaras, or notes, to the sounds of animals and birds and man's effort to simulate these sounds through a keen sense of observation and perception. The Samaveda, which is believed to have laid the foundation for Indian classical music, consists of hymns from the Rigveda, set to musical tunes which would be sung using three to seven musical notes during Vedic yajnas. The Yajurveda, which mainly consists of sacrificial formulae, mentions the veena as an accompaniment to vocal recitations. References to Indian classical music are made in many ancient texts, including epics like the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. The Yajnavalkya Smriti states, "vīṇāvādana tattvajñaḥ śrutijātiviśāradaḥ tālajñaścāprayāsena mokṣamārgaṃ niyacchati" (The one who is well versed in veena, one who has the knowledge of srutis and one who is adept in tala, attains liberation (moksha) without doubt"). Contemporray Carnatic music is based on musical concepts (including svara, raga, and tala) that were described in detail in several ancient works, particularly the Bharata's Natya Shastra and Cilappatikaram by Ilango Adigal.

Owing to Persian and Islamic influences in North India from the 12th century onwards, Indian classical music began to diverge into two distinct styles — Hindustani music and Carnatic music. Commentaries and other works, such as Sharngadeva's Sangita Ratnakara, further elaborated on the musical concepts found in Indian classical music. By the 16th and 17th centuries, there was a clear demarcation between Carnatic and Hindustani music; Carnatic music remained relatively unaffected by Persian and Arabic influences. It was at this time that Carnatic music flourished in Vijayanagara, while the Vijayanagara Empire reached its greatest extent. Purandara Dasa, who is known as the "father (pitamaha) of Carnatic music", formulated the system that is commonly used for the teaching of Carnatic music. Venkatamakhin invented and authored the formula for the melakarta system of raga classification in his Sanskrit work, the Chaturdandi Prakasika (1660 AD). Govindacharya is known for expanding the melakarta system into the sampurna raga scheme – the system that is in common use today.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, Carnatic music was mainly patronised by the local kings of the Kingdom of Mysore, Kingdom of Travancore, and the Maratha rulers of Thanjavur. Some of the royalty of the kingdoms of Mysore and Travancore were themselves noted composers and proficient in playing musical instruments, such as the veena, rudra veena, violin, ghatam, venu, mridangam, nadaswaram, and swarabat. Some famous court-musicians proficient in music were Veene Sheshanna (1852–1926) and Veene Subbanna (1861–1939), among others.

During the late 19th century, the city of Chennai (then known as Madras) emerged as the locus for Carnatic music. With the dissolution of the erstwhile princely states and the Indian independence movement reaching its conclusion in 1947, Carnatic music went through a radical shift in patronage into an art of the masses with ticketed performances organised by private institutions called sabhās.

Carnatic music outside of South India
From the 18th century, South Indian immigrant communities abroad increased, especially in Southeast Asia and Ceylon. Communities such as the Nattukottai Chettiars participate in the extension of the Carnatic cultural scene abroad, thanks to their rich patronage activity. Carnatic music artists therefore perform abroad among South Indian communities who request their coming, in order to enliven local community life. For a long time in Ceylon, Carnatic music was associated with Indian immigrants, and was often derogatorily referred to as "thosai kade music" ("music from the dosa shop"), in reference to the South Indians-owned restaurants and eateries that typically played this kind of music.

From the 20th century, Carnatic music gained significant popularity among certain social strata of the Sri Lankan population, who were then heavily influenced by a prominent cultural movement known as the Hindu revival. Carnatic music was thus appropriated and highly valued during the 1920s and 1930s as a cultural and identity marker of the Colombo and Jaffna bourgeoisies, and by extension of the Sri Lankan Tamils. The place given to Carnatic music in the construction of a modern Sri Lankan Tamil identity has reached significant proportions, such as its gradual rise in the curricula of most Jaffna colleges, where it replaced from the mid-1930s the teaching of Western classical music, or its high esteem among the upper social classes of Colombo and Jaffna, where the learning of Carnatic music among young women is expected as a sign of good education. Many people have travelled to India for improving their skills, and the flow of students to India from Sri Lanka or of Sri Lankan Tamil origin is constantly increasing.

Nature
The main emphasis in Carnatic music is on vocal music; most compositions are written to be sung, and even when played on instruments, they are meant to be performed in a singing style (known as gāyaki). Like Hindustani music, Carnatic music rests on two main elements:, the modes or melodic formulae, and , the rhythmic cycles.

Today, Carnatic music is presented by musicians in concerts or recordings, either vocally or through instruments. Carnatic music itself developed around musical works or compositions of phenomenal composers (see below).

Śruti
Śruti commonly refers to musical pitch. It is the approximate equivalent of a tonic (or less precisely a key) in Western music; it is the note from which all the others are derived. It is also used in the sense of graded pitches in an octave. While there are an infinite number of sounds falling within a scale (or raga) in Carnatic music, the number that can be distinguished by auditory perception is twenty-two (although over the years, several of them have converged). In this sense, while sruti is determined by auditory perception, it is also an expression in the listener's mind.

Svara
Svara refers to a type of musical sound that is a single note, which defines a relative (higher or lower) position of a note, rather than a defined frequency. Svaras also refer to the solfege of Carnatic music, which consist of seven notes, "sa-ri-ga-ma-pa-da-ni" (compare with the Hindustani sargam: sa-re-ga-ma-pa-dha-ni or Western do-re-mi-fa-so-la-ti). These names are abbreviations of the longer names shadja, rishabha, gandhara, madhyama, panchama, dhaivata and nishada. Unlike other music systems, every member of the solfege (called a swara) has three variants. The exceptions are the drone notes, shadja and panchama (also known as the tonic and the dominant), which have only one form; and madhyama (the subdominant), which has two forms. A 7th century stone inscription in Kudumiyan Malai in Tamil Nadu shows vowel changes to solfege symbols with ra, ri, ru etc. to denote the higher quarter-tones. In one scale, or raga, there is usually only one variant of each note present. The exceptions exist in "light" ragas, in which, for artistic effect, there may be two, one ascending (in the arohanam) and another descending (in the avarohanam).

Raga system
A raga in Carnatic music prescribes a set of rules for building a melody – very similar to the Western concept of mode. It specifies rules for movements up (aarohanam) and down (avarohanam), the scale of which notes should figure more and which notes should be used more sparingly, which notes may be sung with gamaka (ornamentation), which phrases should be used or avoided, and so on. In effect, it is a series of obligatory musical events which must be observed, either absolutely or with a particular frequency.

In Carnatic music, the sampoorna ragas (those with all seven notes in their scales) are classified into a system called the melakarta, which groups them according to the kinds of notes that they have. There are seventy-two melakarta ragas, thirty six of whose madhyama (subdominant) is shuddha (perfect fourth from the tonic), the remaining thirty-six of whose madhyama (subdominant) is prati (an augmented fourth from the tonic). The ragas are grouped into sets of six, called chakras ("wheels", though actually segments in the conventional representation) grouped according to the supertonic and mediant scale degrees. There is a system known as the katapayadi sankhya to determine the names of melakarta ragas.

Ragas may be divided into two classes: janaka ragas (i.e. melakarta or parent ragas) and janya ragas (descendant ragas of a particular janaka raga). Janya ragas are themselves subclassified into various categories.

Tala system
Tala refers to a fixed time cycle or metre, set for a particular composition, which is built from groupings of beats. Talas have cycles of a defined number of beats and rarely change within a song. They have specific components, which in combinations can give rise to the variety to exist (over 108), allowing different compositions to have different rhythms.

Carnatic music singers usually keep the beat by moving their hands up and down in specified patterns, and using their fingers simultaneously to keep time. Tala is formed with three basic parts (called angas) which are laghu, dhrtam, and anudhrtam, though complex talas may have other parts like plutam, guru, and kaakapaadam. There are seven basic tala groups which can be formed from the laghu, dhrtam, and anudhrtam:

 * Ata tala
 * Dhruva tala
 * Eka tala
 * Jhampa tala
 * Matya tala
 * Rupaka tala
 * Triputa tala

A laghu has five variants (called jaathis) based on the counting pattern. Five jaathis times seven tala groups gives thirty-five basic talas, although use of other angas results in a total of 108 talas.

Improvisation
Improvisation in raga is the soul of Indian classical music – an essential aspect. "Manodharma Sangeetam" or "kalpana Sangeetam" ("music of imagination") as it is known in Carnatic music, embraces several varieties of improvisation.

The main traditional forms of improvisation in Carnatic music consist of the following:

 * Alapana
 * Niraval
 * Pallavi
 * Ragam
 * Swarakalpana
 * Tanam
 * Tani Avartanam

Raga Alapana
An alapana, sometimes also called ragam, is the exposition of a raga or tone – a slow improvisation with no rhythm, where the raga acts as the basis of embellishment. In performing alapana, performers consider each raga as an object that has beginnings and endings and consists somehow of sequences of thought.

The performer will explore the ragam and touch on its various nuances, singing in the lower octaves first, then gradually moving up to higher octaves, while giving a hint of the song to be performed.

Theoretically, this ought to be the easiest type of improvisation, since the rules are so few, but in fact, it takes much skill to sing a pleasing, comprehensive (in the sense of giving a "feel for the ragam") and, most importantly, original raga alapana.

Niraval
Niraval, usually performed by the more advanced performers, consists of singing one or two lines of text of a song repeatedly, but with a series of melodic improvised elaborations. Although niraval consists of extempore melodic variations, generally, the original patterns of duration are maintained; each word in the lines of text stay set within their original place (idam) in the tala cycle. The lines are then also played at different levels of speed which can include double speed, triple speed, quadruple speed and even sextuple speed. The improvised elaborations are made with a view of outlining the raga, the tempo, and the theme of the composition.

Kalpanaswaram
Kalpanaswaram, also known as swarakalpana, consists of improvising melodic and rhythmic passages using swaras (solfa syllables). Like niraval, kalpanaswaras are sung to end on a particular swara in the raga of the melody and at a specific place (idam) in the tala cycle.

Kalpanaswaras have a somewhat predictable rhythmical structure; the swaras are sung to end on the samam (the first beat of the rhythmical cycle). The swaras can also be sung at the same speed or double the speed of the melody that is being sung, though some artists sing triple-speed phrases too.

Kalpanaswaram is the most elementary type of improvisation, usually taught before any other form of improvisation.

Tanam
Tanam is one of the most important forms of improvisation, and is integral to Ragam Tanam Pallavi. Originally developed for the veena, it consists of expanding the raga with syllables like tha, nam, thom, aa, nom, na, etc.

Ragam Tanam Pallavi
Ragam, Tanam, and Pallavi are the principal long form in concerts, and is a composite form of improvisation. As the name suggests, it consists of raga alapana, tanam, and a pallavi line. Set to a slow-paced tala, the pallavi line is often composed by the performer. Through niraval, the performer manipulates the pallavi line in complex melodic and rhythmic ways. The niraval is followed by kalpanaswarams.

Tani Avartanam
Tani Avartanam refers to the extended solo that is played by the percussionists in a concert, and is usually played after the main composition in a concert. The percussionist displays the full range of his skills and rhythmic imagination during the solo, which may take from two to twenty minutes.

Compositions
In contrast to Hindustani music of the northern part of India, Carnatic music is taught and learned through compositions, which encode many intricate musical details, also providing scope for free improvisation. Nearly every rendition of a Carnatic music composition is different and unique as it embodies elements of the composer's vision, as well as the musician's interpretation.

A Carnatic composition really has two elements, one being the musical element, the other being what is conveyed in the composition. It is probably because of this fact that most Carnatic music compositions are composed for singing. In addition to the rich musical experience, each composition brings out the knowledge and personality of the composer, and hence the words are as important as the musical element itself. This poses a special challenge for the musicians because rendering this music does not involve just playing or singing the correct musical notes; the musicians are expected to understand what was conveyed by the composer in various languages, and sing musical phrases that act to create the effect that was intended by the composer in his/her composition.

There are many types/forms of compositions.

Geethams and swarajatis (which have their own peculiar composition structures) are principally meant to serve as basic learning exercises.

Compositions more commonly associated with Indian classical dance and Indian devotional music have also been increasingly used in the Carnatic music repertoire. The performance of the Sanskrit sloka, Tamil viruttam, Kannada Ugabhoga and Telugu padyamu or sisapadya forms are particularly unique. Though these forms consist of lyric-based verses, musicians improvise raga phrases in free rhythm, like an alapana, so both the sound value, and the meaning of the text, guide the musician through elaborate melodic improvisations. Forms such as the divya prabandham, thevaram and ugabhoga are often performed similarly, however, these forms can also have a set melody and rhythm like the devaranama, javali, padam, thillana and thiruppugazh forms.

The most common and significant forms in Carnatic music are the varnam and the kriti (or kirtanam).

Varnam
Varnams are short metric pieces which encapsulate the main features and requirements of a raga. The features and rules of the raga (also known as the sanchaaraas of a raga) include how each note of the raga should be stressed, the scale of the raga, and so on. All varnams consist of lyrics, as well as swara passages, including a pallavi, an anupallavi, muktayi swaras, a charanam, and chittaswaras.

Known for their complex structure, varnams are a fundamental form in Carnatic music. Varnams are practised as vocal exercises in multiple speeds by performers of Carnatic music, to help develop voice culture, and maintain proper pitch and control of rhythm. In Carnatic music concerts, varnams are often performed by musicians as the opening item – acting as a warm up for the musicians, and as a means of grabbing the attention of the audience.

Kriti
Carnatic songs (kritis) are varied in structure and style, but generally consist of three units:
 * 1) Pallavi. This is the equivalent of a refrain in Western music, with 1 or 2 lines.
 * 2) Anupallavi. This is the second verse, also as 2 lines.
 * 3) Charana. The final (and longest) verse that wraps up the song. The Charanam usually borrows patterns from the Anupallavi. There can be multiple charanas.

This kind of song is called a keerthanam or a kriti. There are other possible structures for a kriti, which may in addition include swara passages named chittaswara. A chittaswara consists only of notes, and has no words. Still others have a verse at the end of the charana, called the madhyamakāla. It is sung immediately after the charana, but at double speed.

Prominent composers
There are many composers in Carnatic music. Purandara Dasa (1484–1564) is referred to as the Pitamaha (the father or grandfather) of Carnatic music as he formulated the basic lessons in teaching Carnatic music, and in honour of his significant contribution to Carnatic music. He structured graded exercises known as Swaravalis and Alankaras, and at the same time, introduced the Raga Mayamalavagowla as the first scale to be learnt by beginners. He also composed Gitas (simple songs) for novice students.

The contemporaries Tyagaraja (1767– 1847), Muthuswami Dikshitar, (1776–1835) and Syama Sastri, (1762–1827) are regarded as the Trinity of Carnatic music because of the quality of Syama Sastri's compositions, the varieties of compositions of Muthuswami Dikshitar, and Tyagaraja's prolific output in composing kritis.

Prominent composers prior to the Trinity of Carnatic music include Sripadaraja, Vyasatirtha, Kanakadasa, Vadiraja Tirtha, Arunachala Kavi, Annamacharya, Narayana Theertha, Vijaya Dasa, Jagannatha Dasa, Gopala Dasa, Bhadrachala Ramadas, Sadasiva Brahmendra and Oottukkadu Venkata Kavi. Other composers are Swathi Thirunal, Gopalakrishna Bharathi, Neelakanta Sivan, Patnam Subramania Iyer, Mysore Vasudevachar, Koteeswara Iyer, Muthiah Bhagavathar, Subramania Bharathiyar, Kalyani Varadarajan, M. Balamuralikrishna and Papanasam Sivan. The compositions of these composers are rendered frequently by artists of today.

Composers of Carnatic music were often inspired by religious devotion and were usually scholars proficient in one or more of the languages Kannada, Malayalam, Sanskrit, Tamil, or Telugu. They usually included a signature, called a mudra, in their compositions. For example, all songs by Tyāgarāja (who composed in Sanskrit and Telugu) have the word Tyagaraja in them, all songs by Muttuswāmi Dīkṣitar (who composed in Sanskrit and Maṇipravāl̥am) have the words Guruguha in them; songs by Śyāma Śāstri (who composed in Sanskrit and Telugu) have the words Śyāma Kr̥ṣṇa in them; all songs by Purandaradasa (who composed in Kannada and Sanskrit) have the words Purandara Vitthala; while Gopalakrishna Bharathi (who composed in Tamil) used the signature Gopalakrishnan in his compositions. Papanasam Sivan, who has been hailed as the Tamil Tyagaraja of Carnatic music, composed in Tamil and Sanskrit, and used the signature Ramadasan in his compositions.

Learning
Carnatic music is traditionally taught according to the system formulated by Purandara Dasa. This involves sarali swaras (graded exercises), alankaras (exercises based on the seven talas), geetams or simple songs, and Swarajatis. After the student has reached a certain standard, varnams are taught and later, the student learns kritis. It typically takes several years of learning before a student is adept enough to perform at a concert.

The learning texts and exercises are more or less uniform across all the South Indian states. The learning structure is arranged in increasing order of complexity. The lessons start with the learning of the sarali varisai (solfege set to a particular raga).

Carnatic music was traditionally taught in the gurukula system, where the student lived with and learnt the art from his guru (perceptor). From the late 20th century onwards, with changes in lifestyles and need for young music aspirants to simultaneously pursue a parallel academic career, this system has found few takers.

Musicians often take great pride in letting people know about their Guru Parampara, or the hierarchy of disciples from some prominent ancient musician or composer, to which they belong. People whose disciple-hierarchies are often referred to are Tyagaraja, Muthuswami Dikshitar, Syama Sastri, Swathi Thirunal and Papanasam Sivan, among others.

In modern times, it is common for students to visit their gurus daily or weekly to learn music. Though new technology has made learning easier with the availability of quick-learn media such as learning exercises recorded on audio cassettes and CDs, these are discouraged by most gurus who emphasize that face-to-face learning is best for students.

Notations
Notation is not a new concept in Indian music. However, Carnatic music continued to be transmitted orally for centuries without being written down. The disadvantage with this system was that if one wanted to learn about a kriti composed, for example, by Purandara Dasa, it involved the difficult task of finding a person from Purandara Dasa's lineage of students.

Written notation of Carnatic music was revived in the late 17th century and early 18th century, which coincided with rule of Shahaji II in Tanjore. Copies of Shahaji's musical manuscripts are still available at the Saraswati Mahal Library in Tanjore and they give us an idea of the music and its form. They contain snippets of solfege to be used when performing the mentioned ragas.

Melody
Unlike classical Western music, Carnatic music is notated almost exclusively in tonic sol-fa notation using either a Roman or Indic script to represent the solfa names. Past attempts to use the staff notation have mostly failed. Indian music makes use of hundreds of ragas, many more than the church modes in Western music. It becomes difficult to write Carnatic music using the staff notation without the use of too many accidentals. Furthermore, the staff notation requires that the song be played in a certain key. The notions of key and absolute pitch are deeply rooted in Western music, whereas the Carnatic notation does not specify the key and prefers to use scale degrees (relative pitch) to denote notes. The singer is free to choose the actual pitch of the tonic note. In the more precise forms of Carnatic notation, there are symbols placed above the notes indicating how the notes should be played or sung; however, informally this practice is not followed.

To show the length of a note, several devices are used. If the duration of note is to be doubled, the letter is either capitalized (if using Roman script) or lengthened by a diacritic (in Indian languages). For a duration of three, the letter is capitalized (or diacriticized) and followed by a comma. For a length of four, the letter is capitalized (or diacriticized) and then followed by a semicolon. In this way any duration can be indicated using a series of semicolons and commas.

However, a simpler notation has evolved which does not use semicolons and capitalization, but rather indicates all extensions of notes using a corresponding number of commas. Thus, Sā quadrupled in length would be denoted as "S,,,".

Rhythm
The notation is divided into columns, depending on the structure of the tāḷaṃ. The division between a laghu and a dhrutam is indicated by a।, called a ḍaṇḍā, and so is the division between two dhrutams or a dhrutam and an anudhrutam. The end of a cycle is marked by a॥, called a double ḍaṇḍā, and looks like a caesura.

Performance
Carnatic music is usually performed by a small ensemble of musicians, who sit on an elevated stage. This usually consists of, at least, a principal performer, a melodic accompaniment, a rhythm accompaniment, and a drone.

Performances can be musical or musical-dramatic. Musical recitals are either vocal, or purely instrumental in nature, while musical-dramatic recitals refer to Harikatha. Regardless of what type of recital it is, what is featured are compositions which form the core of this genre of music.

Instrumentation
The tambura is the traditional drone instrument used in concerts. However, tamburas are increasingly being replaced by śruti boxes, and now more commonly, the electronic tambura. The drone itself is an integral part of performances and furnishes stability – the equivalent of harmony in Western music.

In a vocal recital, a concert team may have one or more vocalists as the principal performer(s). Instruments, such as the Saraswati veena and/or venu flute, can be occasionally found as an accompaniment, but usually, a vocalist is supported by a violin player (who sits on his/her left). The rhythm accompanist is usually a mridangam player (who sits on the other side, facing the violin player). However, other percussion instruments such as the ghatam, kanjira and morsing frequently also accompany the main percussion instrument and play in an almost contrapuntal fashion along with the beats.

The objective of the accompanying instruments is far more than following the melody and keeping the beats. The accompaniments form an integral part of every composition presented, and they closely follow and augment the melodic phrases outlined by the lead singer. The vocalist and the violinist take turns while elaborating or while exhibiting creativity in sections like raga, niraval and kalpanaswaram.

Unlike Hindustani music concerts, where an accompanying tabla player can keep beats without following the musical phrases at times, in Carnatic music, the accompanists have to follow the intricacies of the composition since there are percussion elements such as eduppu in several compositions.

Some concerts feature a good bit of interaction with the lead musicians and accompanists exchanging notes, and accompanying musicians predicting the lead musician's musical phrases.

Contemporary concert content
A contemporary Carnatic music concert (called a kutcheri) usually lasts about three hours, and comprises a number of varied compositions. Carnatic songs are composed in a particular raga, which means that they do not deviate from the notes in the raga. Each composition is set with specific notes and beats, but performers improvise extensively. Improvisation occurs in the melody of the composition as well as in using the notes to expound the beauty of the raga.

Concerts usually begin with a varnam or an invocatory item which will act as the opening piece. The varnam is composed with an emphasis on swaras of the raga, but will also have lyrics, the saahityam. It is lively and fast to get the audience's attention. An invocatory item may usually follow the varnam.

After the varnam and/or invocatory item, the artist sings longer compositions called kirtanas (commonly referred to as kritis). Each kriti sticks to one specific raga, although some are composed with more than one raga; these are known as ragamalika (a garland of ragas).

After singing the opening kriti, usually, the performer sings the kalpanaswaram of the raga to the beat. The performer must improvise a string of swaras in any octave according to the rules of the raga and return to beginning of the cycle of beats smoothly, joining the swaras with a phrase selected from the kriti. The violin performs these alternately with the main performer. In very long strings of swara, the performers must calculate their notes accurately to ensure that they stick to the raga, have no awkward pauses or lapses in the beat of the song, and create a complex pattern of notes that a knowledgeable audience can follow.

Performers then begin the main compositions with a section called raga alapana exploring the raga. In this, they use the sounds aa, ri, na, ta, etc. instead of swaras to slowly elaborate the notes and flow of the raga. This begins slowly and builds to a crescendo, and finally establishes a complicated exposition of the raga that shows the performer's skill. All of this is done without any rhythmic accompaniment, or beat. Then the melodic accompaniment (violin or veena), expounds the raga. Experienced listeners can identify many ragas after they hear just a few notes. With the raga thus established, the song begins, usually with lyrics. In this, the accompaniment (usually violin, sometimes veena) performs along with the main performer and the percussion (such as a mridangam). In the next stage of the song, they may sing niraval or kalpanaswaram again.

In most concerts, the main item will at least have a section at the end of the item, for the percussion to perform solo (called the tani avartanam). The percussion artists perform complex patterns of rhythm and display their skill. If multiple percussion instruments are employed, they engage in a rhythmic dialogue until the main performer picks up the melody once again. Some experienced artists may follow the main piece with a ragam thanam pallavi mid-concert, if they do not use it as the main item.

Following the main composition, the concert continues with shorter and lighter songs. Some of the types of songs performed towards the end of the concerts are tillanas and thukkadas – bits of popular kritis or compositions requested by the audience. Every concert that is the last of the day ends with a mangalam, a thankful prayer and conclusion to the musical event.

Audience
The audience of a typical concert will have some understanding of Carnatic music. It is also typical to see the audience tapping out the tala in sync with the artist's performance. As and when the artist exhibits creativity, the audience acknowledge it by clapping their hands. With experienced artists, towards the middle of the concert, requests start flowing in. The artist usually sings the requests, and it helps in exhibiting the artist's broad knowledge of the several thousand kritis that are in existence.

Festivals
Various music festivals featuring Carnatic music performances are held in India, and throughout the world.

With the city of Chennai (then known as Madras) emerging as the locus for Carnatic music during the 19th century, its musicians founded the Tyagaraja Aradhana festival in 1846. The Aradhana festival is an annual death-anniversary celebration of the prolific Carnatic music composer, Tyagaraja. Held in the city of Thiruvayaru, thousands of musicians attend the festival to perform his compositions. Since its inception, other festivals were started in a similar manner throughout India and abroad, such as the Chembai Sangeetholsavam in the Indian city of Guruvayur, and the Aradhana in the US city of Cleveland.

The city of Chennai also holds a six-week-long grand "Music Season", which has been described as the world's largest cultural event. The Music Season was started in 1927, to mark the opening of the Madras Music Academy. It used to be a traditional month-long Carnatic music festival, but since then it has also diversified into dance and drama, as well as non-Carnatic art forms. Some concert organisers also feature their own Carnatic music festivals during the season. Thousands of performances are held by hundreds of musicians across various venues in the city.

The Karnataka Ganakala Parishat is an annual conference of Carnatic music, held in February every year, which has lectures and demonstrations in the morning, and performances in the afternoons and evenings.

title: Carnatic music


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Armand Zildjian

Armand Zildjian (February 18, 1921 – December 26, 2002) was an American manufacturer of cymbals and the head of the Avedis Zildjian Company.

Born in Milton, Massachusetts, Armand Zildjian was the first Zildjian to be born in the United States. Armand was the heir of a cymbal-making tradition that dated back to his ancestor Avedis, who began the company in 1623 in Istanbul. By family tradition, the secrets of cymbal making were passed on only to the oldest son, but Armand's father, Avedis Zildjian III, gave the information to both of his sons, Armand and Robert. Two years before his death, Avedis appointed Armand President of the Avedis Zildjian Company. Subsequently Robert decided to go into the cymbal business himself forming the Sabian Cymbal Company, in competition with his brother.

Armand Zildjian attended Colgate University, and served with the United States Coast Guard in the Pacific during World War II. After the war, he returned to his father's factory in Quincy, Massachusetts, where, with the help of such music drumming stars as Chick Webb and Gene Krupa, Avedis and Armand revolutionized the cymbal business by adapting cymbals for drum sets by making them thinner.

Zildjian has an honorary degree from Berklee College of Music, is an inductee into the Percussive Hall of Fame, and has his name immortalized on the Guitar Center Rock Walk in Hollywood, California.

Armand Zildjian died on December 26, 2002, at his home in Scottsdale, Arizona.

title: Armand Zildjian


text:
Catholic University of Leuven (1834–1968)

The Catholic University of Leuven or Louvain (Université catholique de Louvain, Katholieke Hogeschool te Leuven, later Katholieke Universiteit te Leuven) was founded in 1834 in Mechelen as the Catholic University of Belgium, and moved its seat to the town of Leuven in 1835, changing its name to Catholic University of Leuven. In 1968, it was split into two universities, the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven and the Université catholique de Louvain, following tensions between the Dutch and French-speaking student bodies.

Founding in Mechelen (1834)
On 8 November 1834, on the basis of authorisation in a papal brief of 13 December 1833, from Pope Gregory XVI, the Belgian bishops founded the Catholic University of Belgium (Universitas catholica Belgii) in Mechelen. About this first year, it is generally referred to as "Catholic University of Mechelen". The bishops aimed to create a university "to accommodate any doctrine from the Holy Apostolic See and to repudiate anything that does not flow from this august source".

The announcement of the bishops' founding of the new university in Mechelen was met with demonstrations and disturbances in the cities of Ghent, Leuven and Liège.

The first rector was the priest and historian Pierre de Ram.

Move of the new university to Leuven (1835)
The university was short-lived in Mechelen, as the bishops already moved the university to Leuven on 1 December 1835, where it took the name "Catholic University of Leuven". This outraged Belgian liberal opinion, which depicted it as an attempt to usurp the past of the former Old University of Leuven. It also reinvigorated demands for the foundation of a secular university in Brussels which would lead to the foundation of the Free University of Brussels.

Previous universities in Leuven
An earlier University of Leuven was founded in 1425 by John IV, Duke of Brabant and chartered by a papal bull of Pope Martin V. It flourished for hundreds of years as the most prominent university in what would become Belgium, and one of the more prominent in Europe. Once formally integrated into the French Republic, the law of 15 September 1793, had decreed the suppression of all the colleges and universities in France and it was abolished by Decree of the Departement of the Dijle on 25 October 1797.

The region next became part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands (1815–1830), and William I of the Netherlands founded a new university in 1816 in Leuven as a state university (Rijksuniversiteit) which was a secular university and where several professors from the old university continued their teaching. In 1830, the Southern Provinces of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands became the independent state of Belgium. This university was closed in 1835.

Relation to the Old University of Leuven
With the closing of the State University of Leuven, the new Catholic University of Mechelen moved its seat to Leuven, adjusted its name and declared itself as a "re-founding" of the 1425 University of Leuven.

This claim to continuity with the older institution was challenged in the courts, with Belgium's highest court issuing rulings (in 1844, 1855 and 1861) that as a matter of law the Catholic University of Leuven was a different institution created under a different charter.

Nonetheless, the Catholic University of Leuven unofficially continued to claim to be a continuation of the older institution in Leuven, in spite of the liberal protests of the time.

Further history as unified institution (1835–1968)

On 3 November 1859, the Catholic University celebrated the silver jubilee of its foundation. A banquet for more than five hundred guests offered by the students to the Rector and the faculty, took place the 23 November 1859, in the great festival hall of the Music Academy of Louvain.

In the year 1884, the Catholic University of Louvain celebrated solemnly its 50th anniversary.

In 1909, the Catholic University celebrated its 75th anniversary, and struck a medal where for the first time it officially used the French word "réinstallation" (resettlement), and the Dutch word "herstelling" (restoration) beginning of a new "official" history.

In 1914, during World War I, Leuven was looted by German troops. They set fire to a large part of the city, effectively destroying about half of it, including the university library (see below). In the early stages of the war, Allied propaganda capitalized on the German destruction as a reflection on German Kultur.

Split into two officially new institutions (1962–1970)
From its beginning in 1834, the university provided lectures only in French. Latin was sometimes used in the theology faculty, but it was essentially a French-language institution. Lectures in Dutch, the other official language of Belgium and the language spoken in Leuven, had begun to be provided in 1930 in the Catholic University of Leuven in the meantime.

In 1962, in line with constitutional reforms governing official language use, the French and Dutch sections of the Catholic University became autonomous within a common governing structure. Flemish nationalists continued to demand a division of the university, and Dutch speakers expressed resentment at privileges given to French-speaking academic staff and the perceived disdain by the local French-speaking community for their Dutch-speaking neighbours. At the time, Brussels and Leuven were both part of the officially bilingual and now defunct Province of Brabant; but unlike Brussels, Leuven had retained its Dutch-speaking character. Tensions rose when a French-speaking social geographer suggested in a televised lecture that the city of Leuven should be incorporated into an enlarged bilingual 'Greater-Brussels' region. Mainstream Flemish politicians and students began demonstrating under the slogan Leuven Vlaams – Walen Buiten ("Leuven [is] Flemish – Walloons out"). Student demonstrations escalated into violence throughout the mid-1960s. Student unrest fueled by the history of discrimination against Flemings eventually brought down the Belgian government in February 1968.

The dispute was resolved in June 1968 by turning the Dutch-language section of the university into the independent Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, which remained in Leuven. The French-speaking university, called the Université catholique de Louvain, was moved to a greenfield campus called Louvain-la-Neuve ("New Leuven"), farther south in the French-speaking part of the Province of Brabant. Acrimony about the split was long-lasting. Currently, however, research collaborations and student exchanges between the two "sister universities" take place with increasing frequency.

Library
The library of the Catholic University dating from 1834 was housed in the University Hall, a building which in its oldest parts dated back to 1317. This was destroyed in August 1914 by invading German forces, with the loss of approximately 230,000 books, 950 manuscripts, and 800 incunabula. Materials lost included the Easter Island tablet bearing Rongorongo text E and the oldest Czech Bible.

After the First World War, a new library was built on the Mgr. Ladeuzeplein, designed by the American architect Whitney Warren in a neo-Flemish-Renaissance style. Construction took place between 1921 and 1928. Its monumental size is a reflection of the Allied victory against Germany, and it is one of the largest university buildings in the city. The library's collections were rebuilt with donations from all around the world, outraged by the barbaric act which it had suffered. In 1940, during the second German invasion of Leuven, the building largely burnt down, with the loss of 900,000 manuscripts and books. The building was rebuilt after the war in accordance with Warren's design.

The library's tower included a 48-bell Gillett and Johnston carillon installed in 1928, and dedicated to the memory of the engineers of the United States who died in all wars. After having fallen into complete disrepair and neglect, efforts began in the early 1980s to restore the carillon. With the cooperation of the Belgian American Educational Foundation and the University, organized efforts to restore the carillon began. The restoration fell to Eijsbouts and the bell count increased to 63. The newly restored carillon was rededicated in October 1983, with a series of lectures, concerts, statements from diplomats including Ronald Reagan, and European carillon keyboard standardization agreements.

The library's collections were again restored after the war, and by the time of the split in 1968 had approximately four million books. The separation of the university into distinct French-language and Dutch-language institutions in 1968 entailed a division of the central library holdings. This was done on the basis of alternate shelfmarks (except in cases where a work clearly belonged to one section or the other, e.g. was written by a member of faculty or bequeathed by an alumnus whose linguistic allegiance was clear). This gave rise to the factoid that encyclopedias and runs of periodicals were divided by volume between the two universities, but actually such series bear single shelfmarks.

The building on the Mgr. Ladeuzeplein is now the central library of the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven.

Notable alumni

 * Theodor Schwann (1810–1882), German physician and physiologist, developer of cell theory and discoverer of Schwann cells (professor).
 * Louis Defré, also known as Maurice Voituron (1816–1880), Belgian lawyer and burgomaster of Uccle.
 * Charles-Louis-Joseph-Xavier de la Vallée-Poussin (1827–1903), Belgian geologist and mineralogist.
 * Auguste Marie François Beernaert (1829–1912), Prime Minister of Belgium and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize 1909.
 * Patrick Francis Healy (1830–1910), president of Georgetown University, first Jesuit Catholic priest of African-American ancestry, first American of acknowledged African-American ancestry to earn a PhD.
 * Antanas Baranauskas (1835–1902), Lithuanian poet.
 * Arthur Vierendeel (1852–1940), Belgian civil engineer.
 * Emile Joseph Dillon (1854–1933), Irish linguist, author and journalist.
 * Albrecht Rodenbach (1856–1880), Flemish poet.
 * Albin van Hoonacker (1857–1933), Belgian Catholic theologian and biblical scholar.
 * Charles Jean de la Vallée-Poussin (1866–1962), Belgian mathematician who proved the prime number theorem.
 * Charles Terlinden (1878—1972), Belgian historian and papal chamberlain.
 * Edgar Sengier (1879–1963), Belgian mining engineer, director of the Union Minière du Haut Katanga.
 * Frans Van Cauwelaert (1880–1961), Belgian politician.
 * Jean-Baptiste Janssens, S.J. (1889–1964), Belgian Jesuit Catholic priest, twenty-seventh Superior General of the Society of Jesus.
 * Weng Wenhao (1889–1971), Chinese geologist and politician, founder of modern Chinese geography.
 * Georges Lemaître (1894–1966), Belgian astronomer, mathematician and Catholic priest, proposer of the Big Bang theory.
 * Fulton J. Sheen (1895–1979), American archbishop, television evangelist, and writer.
 * August De Boodt (1895–1986), Belgian politician.
 * Jerome D'Souza, S.J. (1897–1977), Indian Jesuit Catholic priest, educationist, writer and member of the Indian Constituent assembly (1946–1950).
 * Albert Claude (1899–1983), Belgian-American cell biologist and medical doctor, winner of Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1974.
 * Peter McKevitt (1900–1976), Irish Catholic priest, author and sociologist.
 * Rafael Ángel Calderón Guardia (1900–1970), physician, social reformer, President of Costa Rica (1940–1944).
 * Alberto Hurtado (1901–1952), Chilean Jesuit Catholic priest, social worker and writer, canonized in 2005.
 * Victor Delhez (1902–1985), Belgian engraver and artist.
 * Hendrik Elias (1902–1973), Flemish nationalist and politician, quisling.
 * Maurice Anthony Biot (1905–1985), Belgian–American physicist and founder of the poroelasticity theory.
 * Léon Degrelle (1906–1994), Belgian politician and Nazi collaborator, founder of Rexism, quisling.
 * Jean Charles Snoy et d'Oppuers (1907–1991), Belgian civil servant, diplomat and politician, graduated in law.
 * Henri, Count of Paris (1908-1999), French Orléanist claimant to the throne of France.
 * Dominique Pire (1910–1969), Belgian Dominican friar, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize 1958 for helping refugees in post-World War II Europe.
 * Herman Van Breda (1911–1974), Belgian Catholic priest and philosopher, founder of the Husserl Archives.
 * André Molitor (1911–2005), Belgian civil servant and private secretary of Baudouin I of Belgium, graduated in law.
 * Otto von Habsburg (1912–2011), Austrian politician and writer, heir to the thrones of Austria-Hungary.
 * Qian Xiuling (1912–2008), Chinese-Belgian scientist, saved nearly 100 lives during World War II.
 * Tang Yuhan (1912–2014), Chinese oncologist.
 * Pieter De Somer (1917–1985), Belgian physician and biologist, first rector of the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven.
 * Christian de Duve (1917–2013), Belgian cytologist and biochemist, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1974 for his discoveries concerning the structural and functional organization of the cell.
 * Anton van Wilderode (1919–1998), Flemish activist and writer.
 * Frans Van Coetsem (1919–2002), Flemish linguist.
 * Aster Berkhof (born 1920), Flemish writer.
 * Charles Mertens de Wilmars (1921–1994), Belgian psychiatrist, professor at Harvard Medical School.
 * Malachi Martin (1921–1999), Irish Catholic priest, exorcist, palaeographer, and writer.
 * Antoon Vergote, also known as Antoine Vergote (1921–2013), Belgian Catholic priest, theologian, philosopher, psychologist, and psychoanalyst.
 * Tomás Ó Fiaich (1923–1990), Irish prelate and archbishop of Armagh, Primate of All Ireland.
 * José J. Fripiat (1923–2014), Belgian scientist and chemist, 1967 laureate of the Francqui Prize.
 * Michael Hurley (1923–2011), Irish Jesuit, co-founder of the Irish School of Ecumenics.
 * H. Narayan Murthy (1924–2011), Indian psychologist, philosopher and scholar, known for Behaviour therapy.
 * Anatole Romaniuk (1924–2018), Ukrainian demographer.
 * Géza Vermes (1924–2013), British and Hungarian-Jewish biblical scholar, an expert on the Dead Sea Scrolls and the historical Jesus.
 * Jan Zaprudnik (born 1926), Belarusian–American historian and poet.
 * Adolphe Gesché (1928–2003), Belgian Catholic priest and theologian.
 * Gustavo Gutiérrez (born 1928), Peruvian Dominican friar and theologian, founder of the Liberation theology.
 * Jacques Taminiaux (1928–2019), Belgian philosopher and professor, 1977 laureate of the Francqui Prize.
 * Camilo Torres (1929–1966), Colombian Catholic priest, socialist and guerrillero, member of the Colombian National Liberation Army (ELN).
 * Jan Vansina (1929–2017), Belgian historian of Africa and anthropologist.
 * Luce Irigaray (born 1930), French philosopher, linguist, psychoanalyst, psycholinguist, cultural theorist and feminist. Graduated in 1954.
 * Marcel Lihau (1931–1999), Congolese constitutionalist and politician, the first Congolese to receive a law degree.
 * Father Robert S. Smith (1932–2010), American Catholic priest, author and educator.
 * Herman Van Den Berghe (born 1933), Belgian geneticist, founder of the Centrum voor Menselijke Erfelijkheid (Belgian Centre for Human Heredity).
 * Thomas Kanza (1933–2004), Congolese ambassador to the United Nations, one of the first Congolese university graduates.
 * Pierre Laconte (born 1934), Belgian urbanist.
 * Abdul Qadeer Khan (born 1936), Pakistani metallurgist considered to be the father of Pakistan's nuclear weapons program.
 * Jacques van Ypersele de Strihou (born 1936), Belgian politician, Minister of State, former Chief Cabinet of Albert II and Baudouin.
 * Renato Prada Oropeza (1937–2011), Mexican semiotician and writer.
 * Nguza Karl-i-Bond (1938–2003), notable Zairian politician.
 * Piet Van Waeyenberge (born 1938), Belgian businessman and president of De Warande, graduated in economics.
 * Robert Sokolowski (born 1939), American Catholic priest and professor of philosophy at the Catholic University of America.
 * Erik De Clercq (born 1941), Belgian physician and biologist.
 * Bernard Lietaer (born 1942), Belgian civil engineer, economist and author.
 * Arthur Ulens (born 1946), Belgian businessman, graduated in chemistry and economics.
 * Herman Van Rompuy (born 1947), Belgian statesman and Prime Minister of Belgium. Appointed as the first President of the European Council in November 2009.
 * Bernard Le Grelle (Count) (born 1948), investigative journalist, political adviser, writer, and public affairs executive, known for his long term investigation into the JFK assassination.


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Musicality

Musicality (music-al-ity) is "sensitivity to, knowledge of, or talent for music" or "the quality or state of being musical", and is used to refer to specific if vaguely defined qualities in pieces and/or genres of music, such as melodiousness and harmoniousness. These definitions are somewhat hampered by the difficulty of defining music, but, colloquially, "music" is often contrasted with noise and randomness. Judges of contest music may describe a performance as bringing the music on the page to life; of expressing more than the mere faithful reproduction of pitches, rhythms, and composer dynamic markings. In the company of two or more musicians, there is the added experience of the ensemble effect in which the players express something greater than the sum of their individual parts. A person considered musical has the ability to perceive and reproduce differences in aspects of music including pitch, rhythm, and harmony (see: ear training). Two types of musicality may be differentiated: to be able to perceive music (musical receptivity) and to be able to reproduce music in addition to creating music (musical creativity).

Music vs. musicality
Many studies on the cognitive and biological origins of music are centered on the question of what defines music. Can birdsong, the song structure of humpback whales, a Thai elephant orchestra, or the interlocking duets of Gibbons be considered music? This is now generally seen as a pitfall. In trying to answer this question, it is important to separate between the notions of "music" and "musicality". Musicality – in all its complexity – can be defined as a natural, spontaneously developing set of traits based on and constrained by our biological and cognitive system, and music – in all its variety – as a social and cultural construct based on musicality. Or simply put: without musicality, there is no music.

However, it is still a challenge to demarcate precisely what makes up this complex trait we call musicality. What are the cognitive and biological mechanisms that are essential to perceive, make, and appreciate music? Only when we have identified these fundamental mechanisms are we in a position to see how these might have evolved. In other words: the study of the evolution of music cognition is dependent on a characterization of the basic mechanisms that make up musicality.

Colwyn Trevarthen has researched the musicality of babies, including its use in communication.

title: Musicality


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Avedis Zildjian Company

The Avedis Zildjian Company, simply known as Zildjian, is a musical instrument manufacturer specializing in cymbals and other percussion instruments. Founded by the ethnic Armenian Zildjian family in the 17th-century Ottoman Empire, the company relocated to the United States in the 20th century. Today, it is the largest cymbal and drumstick maker in the world.

The company was founded in Constantinople in 1623 by Avedis Zildjian, an Armenian. Zildjian is now based in Norwell, Massachusetts. Zildjian is the oldest manufacturer of musical instruments in the world as well as one of the oldest continuously operating companies in the world. Zildjian sells cymbals, drumsticks, percussion mallets and other drum accessories under the Zildjian, Vic Firth and Balter Mallet brands.

Beginnings
The first Zildjian cymbals were created in 1618 by Avedis Zildjian, an Armenian metalsmith and alchemist. Like his father, who was also a metalsmith, he worked for the court of the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire in Constantinople. He made an alloy of tin, copper, and silver into a sheet of metal, which could make musical sounds without shattering. Sultan Mustafa I gave Avedis eighty gold pieces as a bequest, in addition to officially recognizing the surname Zilciyan or Zildjian, meaning "Son of a Cymbal Maker" or "Family of Cymbalsmiths" in Armenian (with zil being Turkish for "cymbal", ci meaning "maker", and ian being the Armenian suffix meaning "son of"). In 1623 the Sultan granted him permission to leave the palace to start his own business in the Armenian sector of Constantinople, called Psamatia.

Zildjian's shop manufactured cymbals for the mehter, Ottoman military bands consisting of wind and percussion instruments, which belonged to the Janissaries. Mehter ensembles, which were known in the West primarily for playing in battle, also performed courtly music for Ottoman rulers. The Zildjians also produced instruments for Greek and Armenian churches, Sufi dervishes, and belly dancers of the Ottoman harem, who wore finger cymbals.

After the death of Avedis, the business, and the secret for producing the metal, was handed down to several generations of male heirs. In the early 19th century, Haroutune Zildjian passed it on to his son Avedis II. In 1850, Avedis II built a 25-foot schooner, in order to sail cymbals produced in Constantinople to trade exhibitions such as the Great Exhibition in London, and to supply musicians in Europe. He died in 1865, and since his sons were too young, his brother Kerope II took over the company. He introduced a line of instruments called K Zildjian, which are used by classical musicians to this day. Kerope II died in 1909 in Constantinople.

20th century
Following Kerope’s death, the business returned to Avedis’s side of the family. The eldest, Haroutune II, had become a lawyer and held a high position in the Ottoman government, thus he was not interested, and being a bachelor, he passed it to Aram. He was involved in the Armenian nationalist movement and resistance to the atrocities of the ruling Sultan, Abdul Hamid II. This was a time of political upheaval when the Ottoman Empire was in decline. Abdul Hamid II, also known as the ‘Bloody Sultan’ for his massacres of up to 300,000 Armenians in the mid-1890s, had reasserted Pan-Islamism. Before Sultan Abdul Hamid II was finally deposed, there were several attempts to assassinate him. After being implicated in a 1905 failed plot to assassinate the Sultan, Aram fled to Bucharest, where he set up a small foundry.

During Aram's exile, Kerope II's daughter Victoria oversaw the Constantinople factory. There are conflicting accounts, but it is thought that Aram returned there in 1926.

Haroutune II's son Avedis III had left Armenia for the United States in 1909, and settled in Boston, where he established a family and a confectionary business. In 1927, he received a letter from his uncle Aram, informing him that he was to become heir to the family business, and Aram came to the US. In 1928, Avedis III, his brother Puzant, and his uncle Aram Zildjian began manufacturing cymbals in Quincy, Massachusetts, and the Avedis Zildjian Co. was formed the following year in 1929.

Avedis III sought out jazz drummers like Gene Krupa to understand their needs. The new cymbals he developed were widely adopted by swing and later bebop musicians, laying the foundations of the modern drum kit and playing technique.

Sales of Zildjian cymbals dramatically increased after Ringo Starr used the product in The Beatles' appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1964. This created an enormous backorder situation. In 1968, in order to address this backlog, a second plant, the Azco factory, was opened in Meductic, New Brunswick, Canada.

In 1975, Zildjian began making K. Zildjian cymbals at the Azco plant. These were made until 1979. Within four years (1980), all K Cymbals were being made in the Norwell US plant, because the Ks demanded far more oversight. Armand worked with friends, the drummers Elvin Jones and Tony Williams to relaunch the K Series.

In early 1977, Armand Zildjian was appointed President of the Avedis Zildjian Company by his father. Soon after, Robert Zildjian split from the company amidst conflict with his brother, Armand. In 1981, Robert started making Sabian cymbals in the Canadian Azco factory.

Recent history
In 2002, Armand died at age 81. The Zildjian alloy recipe passed to his daughters, Craigie and Debbie (14th generation), both of whom continue to run the family business from the current headquarters in Norwell, Massachusetts.

In 2010, Zildjian acquired the Vic Firth Company and in 2018 acquired the Mike Balter Mallet company.

title: Avedis Zildjian Company


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Butyrka prison

Butyrskaya prison (Бутырская тюрьма), usually known simply as Butyrka (Бутырка), is a prison in the Tverskoy District of central Moscow, Russia. In Imperial Russia it served as the central transit prison.

During the Soviet Union era (1917–1991) it held many political prisoners. Butyrka remains the largest of Moscow's remand prisons. Overcrowding is an ongoing problem.

History
The first references to Butyrka prison may be traced back to the 17th century. The current building was erected in 1879 near the Butyrsk gate (Бутырская застава, or Butyrskaya zastava) on the site of a prison-fortress which had been built by the architect Matvei Kazakov during the reign of Catherine the Great. The towers of the old fortress once housed the rebellious Streltsy during the reign of Peter I, and later on hundreds of participants of the 1863 January Uprising in Poland. Members of Narodnaya Volya were also prisoners of the Butyrka in 1883, as were the participants in the Morozov Strike of 1885. The Butyrka prison was known for its brutal regime. The prison administration resorted to violence anytime the inmates tried to protest.

Its famous inmates include the influential revolutionary poet Vladimir Mayakovsky, the Russian revolutionary Nikolay Bauman, and the founder of the KGB Felix Dzerzhinsky. During the February Revolution, the workers of Moscow freed all the political prisoners from the Butyrka. Following the October Revolution, Butyrka remained a place of internment for political prisoners and a transfer camp for people sentenced to be sent to the Gulag. During the Great Purge, about twenty thousand inmates at a time were imprisoned in Butyrka. Thousands of political prisoners were shot after investigations. Later, prominent political prisoners included the writers Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and Yevgenia Ginzburg.

Living conditions
Varlam Shalamov notes in one of his tales, that the Butyrka is extremely hot in summer; Eduard Limonov, in his drama Death in the Police Van, emphatically agrees. He says that, with the collapse of the Soviet regime, overcrowding has become a real issue; there are more than one hundred inmates in cells meant to contain ten people. Most of these people are politically unreliable subjects from the Caucasus. Since epidemics are a problem, the wardens try to fill cells entirely with people with AIDS, or with tuberculosis; however, this does little to curb the problem, since many inmates are drug users, and there is at most one needle per cell. Moreover, inmates are brought to the tribunal in overcrowded police vans, so that healthy inmates are exposed to tuberculosis.

Notable inmates

 * Fabijan Abrantovich, Catholic priest and a pro-independence activist from Belarus
 * Anna Abrikosova, nun of the Dominican Order and prominent figure in the Catholic Church in Russia
 * Andrei Amalrik, Russian historian and famed dissident during the 1960s; author of "Will the Soviet Union Survive Until 1984"
 * Władysław Anders, Polish general and prime minister
 * Valery Asratyan, serial killer, serial rapist and child molester executed in 1996
 * Isaak Babel, writer, killed in 1940
 * Aron Baron, Ukrainian anarchist
 * Mieczysław Boruta-Spiechowicz, Polish general and one of the leaders of anti-communist opposition in the 1970s
 * Alikhan Bukeikhanov, Kazakh statesman
 * Walerian Czuma, Polish general
 * Felix Dzerzhinsky, Cheka founder
 * Vladimir Dzhunkovsky, Russian statesman
 * Yuli-Yoel Edelstein (יולי-יואל אדלשטיין, Ю́лий Ю́рьевич Эдельште́йн is an Israeli politician. One of the most prominent refuseniks in the Soviet Union, he has been Speaker of the Knesset since 2013
 * Blessed Leonid Feodorov, Exarch and reputed bishop of the Russian Greek Catholic Church
 * Rashid Khan Gaplanov, Education and Finance Minister of Azerbaijan Democratic Republic
 * Yevgenia Ginzburg, author of Journey into the Whirlwind and Within the Whirlwind; mother of the writer Vasili Aksyonov; her books tell of her arrest during the 1937 purges in the city of Kazan, where she worked as a leading member of the local Communist Party structures of Tartary
 * Filipp Goloshchyokin, Soviet politician and party leader, was briefly held in Butyrka and sent to Kuibyshev and shot there in October 1941
 * Sergey Golovkin, serial killer and the last person to be executed in Russia
 * Dmitry Pavlovich Grigorovich, aircraft designer
 * Vladimir Gusinsky, led to the "shares for freedom" transaction or Protocol No.6 (Протокол N.6. Доля свободы) that was signed by Minister for Press, Broadcasting and Mass Communications of the Russian Federation, Mikhail Lesin
 * Werner Haase, one of Adolf Hitler's personal physicians, died in captivity in 1950
 * Heinz Hitler, German dictator Adolf Hitler's favorite nephew, died after several days of torture in 1942
 * Vladimir Ionesyan, spree killer executed in 1964
 * Vyacheslav Ivankov, mob boss and thief in law
 * Aleksandr Ivanov-Sukharevsky, Neo-Nazi and former politician
 * Bruno Jasieński, Polish poet and futurist, killed in 1938
 * Elena Karpuchina, the 1967 World Rhythmic Gymnastics Champion, born in 1951 and spent her first two years living in Butyrki until her mother's pardon in 1953
 * Aleksandr Kokorin, Russian footballer
 * Sergei Korolev, Russian rocket and spacecraft designer
 * Walter Linse, German human rights lawyer kidnapped in the American sector of Berlin in July 1952, executed 15 December 1953
 * Alexander Litvinenko
 * Blessed Zygmunt Łoziński, Catholic bishop of Minsk
 * Sergei Magnitsky, lawyer, whose 2009 death in Matrosskaya Tishina Prison led to a 2009 Russian law forbidding jailing of tax criminals and also to the Magnitsky Act being passed by the US Congress in 2012.
 * Nestor Makhno, Ukrainian anarchist
 * Pavel Mamayev, Russian footballer
 * Vladimir Mayakovsky, poet
 * Günther Merk, SS-Brigadeführer and war criminal, executed in January 1947
 * Leopold Okulicki, Polish general, last commander of the Armia Krajowa, killed in Butyrki in 1946
 * Konstantin Päts, president of the Republic of Estonia when it became occupied by the Soviet Union in 1940
 * Unto Parvilahti, SS-Officer
 * Nikolai Polikarpov, Soviet aeronautical engineer
 * Yevgeny Polivanov, Soviet linguist, orientalist and polyglot who was executed in 1938
 * Yemelyan Pugachev, pretender to the Russian throne and leader of a Cossack insurrection in 1773–1774
 * Sergei Ryakhovsky, serial killer
 * Varlam Shalamov, writer and soviet dissident; wrote The Kolyma Tales
 * Kazys Skučas, Lithuanian politician and general of the Lithuanian Army
 * Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Nobel Prize laureate, writer and dissident; wrote The Gulag Archipelago and One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
 * Elena Stasova, Russian communist
 * Karlo Štajner, Yugoslav communist activist and writer
 * Baruch Steinberg, Chief Rabbi of the Polish Army
 * Léon Theremin, a pioneer of electronic music, the inventor of the theremin and an electronic eavesdropping bug
 * Sergei Tretyakov, Avant-Garde playwright during the 1920s; apparently threw himself down a prison stairwell to avoid execution
 * Augustinas Voldemaras, once the prime minister of Lithuania, died in this prison after Lithuania was occupied by the Soviet Union in 1940
 * Avgustyn Voloshyn, former president of Carpatho-Ukraine, died in Butyrka in 1945
 * Helmuth Weidling, German Wehrmacht general and last commandant of Berlin, died in custody in 1955
 * Jonas Žemaitis, Lithuanian general, head of the Lithuanian anti-Soviet partisan forces after World War II, shot to death in 1953; later recognized as the fourth President of Lithuania in 2009

title: Butyrka prison


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The Mirror (The Twilight Zone)

"The Mirror" is episode 71 of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone, and the sixth episode of the third season. It originally aired on October 20, 1961 on CBS. The episode was written by Rod Serling, who described it as "the story of a tyrant and his assassins, a shattered dream and the death of a cause."

Opening narration
This is the face of Ramos Clemente, a year ago a beardless, nameless worker of the dirt who plodded behind a mule, furrowing someone else's land. And he looked up at a hot Central American sun and he pledged the impossible. He made a vow that he would lead an avenging army against the tyranny that put the ache in his back and the anguish in his eyes, and now one year later the dream of the impossible has become a fact. In just a moment we will look deep into this mirror and see the aftermath of a rebellion in the Twilight Zone.

Plot
In a Central American dictatorship, Ramos Clemente and his four lifelong confidants, Cristo, D'Alessandro, Tabal, and Garcia, stage a successful revolution against the regime of General De Cruz. Clemente faces down De Cruz and revels in his victory, but the deposed general says that Clemente will soon learn the consequences of ruling by force and that his ornate mirror has the ability to reveal enemies in its reflection, though Clemente dismisses the latter.

When Clemente begins using the same repressive tactics used by De Cruz, a rift develops between him and his friends, now government heads. When Clemente looks into the mirror, he sees visions implying that all four of his confidantes are plotting to assassinate him. Clemente believes that the mirror reflects their true thoughts and accuses them of their supposed future crimes. A particular point of contention is Clemente's order for mass executions of prisoners he has declared to be enemies of the state. When one confidant reproaches Clemente, Clemente throws him off a balcony to his death; later, Clemente orders two confidantes to start the executions and then secretly orders his guards to kill them as well. He shoots the last confidant himself.

Sometime later, Clemente is approached by a priest named Father Tomas, who asks him to end the executions which have been going on for a week. Clemente refuses, saying that as long as he has enemies, the executions will continue. Eventually however, Clemente seeks counsel from the priest, but finds no comfort in the priest's response that all tyrants have but one real enemy, whom they never recognize until it is too late. Clemente takes one more look in the mirror and sees only himself. He picks up his pistol and throws it at the mirror, smashing the glass. The priest, standing outside Clemente's office, hears the breaking glass and then a gunshot. He rushes into Clemente's office and finds Clemente's lifeless body sprawled on the floor, killed by his own gun when it hit the floor and discharged. "The last assassin," he says, "and they never learn. They never seem to learn."

Closing narration
Ramos Clemente, a would-be god in dungarees, strangled by an illusion, that will-o'-the-wisp mirage that dangles from the sky in front of the eyes of all ambitious men, all tyrants—and any resemblance to tyrants living or dead is hardly coincidental, whether it be here or in the Twilight Zone.

Cast

 * Peter Falk as Ramos Clemente
 * Will Kuluva as General De Cruz
 * Richard Karlan as D'Alessandro
 * Vladimir Sokoloff as Father Tomas
 * Antony Carbone as Cristo
 * Rodolfo Hoyos Jr. (credited as Rodolfo Hoyos) as Garcia
 * Arthur Batanides as Tabal

title: The Mirror (The Twilight Zone)


text:
Balboa (dance)

The Balboa, also known as "Bal" is a swing dance that originated in Southern California during the 1920s and enjoyed huge popularity during the 1930s and 1940s.

Balboa is an 8-count dance that is done in closed position. The earliest form of the dance (often called "Pure Balboa") evolved in the mostly conservative dance halls of southern California where space was limited and strict codes of conduct were enforced. These dance halls usually prohibited the wild kicks of the Charleston and Lindy Hop. Pure Balboa is characterized by an upright posture with partners standing chest to chest. Step variations generally play with the rhythm or look and feel (style) from below the knee downwards and deal with changes in direction. Balboa is frequently danced to fast jazz (usually anything from 180 to 320 BPM), though many like a slower (170-190 BPM) tempo. While most dancers differentiate between pure Balboa and Bal-Swing, both are considered to be a part of the dance. Bal-Swing evolved from Balboa when original Balboa dancers experimented with fancier variations of the dance which forced the chest to chest connection to be broken. In this form of Balboa a variety of spins, turns, dips, tricks, and even air steps are introduced.

History
Balboa came from Southern California during the 1920s. Balboa is named after the Balboa Peninsula in Newport Beach, California, where the dance was invented. The Balboa Pavilion, and the Rendezvous Ballroom are credited as the birthplaces of Balboa when dance floors became so crowded that dancers invented a dance to swing music that could be danced in place. Balboa dancing continued in California throughout the twentieth century and spread around the world to the present day. In 1978, two long-time Balboa dancers, Hal and Marge Takier, started a twice-a-month Balboa dance at a Bobby McGee's restaurant in Newport Beach. Dancers who danced at the Bobby McGee's Balboa nights and video footage from there became highly influential in informing the Balboa dance as it is done today. Two styles of modern Balboa dance developed, "Pure Bal" is danced in close embrace, and "Bal Swing" is danced in a mix of close embrace and in open position.

Alma Heaton included two pages on Balboa in his 1954 book "Ballroom Dance Rhythms", and a page of instruction in "Techniques of Teaching Ballroom Dance". Heaton described two Bal-Swing figures in 1967.

title: Balboa (dance)