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RCA Records

RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America.

RCA Records is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also Arista Records, and Epic Records. The label has released multiple genres of music, including pop, classical, rock, hip hop, afrobeat, electronic, R&B, blues, jazz, and country. The label's name is derived from the initials of its now defunct parent company, the Radio Corporation of America (RCA).

RCA Records was fully acquired by Bertelsmann in 1987, making it a part of Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG) and became a part of Sony BMG Music Entertainment after the 2004 merger of BMG and Sony; it was acquired by the latter in 2008, after the dissolution of Sony/BMG and the restructuring of Sony Music.

RCA Records is the corporate successor of the Victor Talking Machine Company.

Beginnings and history

In 1929, the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) purchased the Victor Talking Machine Company, then the world's largest manufacturer of phonographs (including the famous "Victrola") and phonograph records. The company then became the RCA Victor Division of RCA. In absorbing Victor, RCA acquired the New World rights to the famous Nipper/"His Master's Voice" trademark. In 1931, RCA Victor's British affiliate the Gramophone Company merged with the Columbia Graphophone Company to form EMI. This gave RCA head David Sarnoff a seat on the EMI board.

In September 1931, RCA Victor introduced the first 33$1/3$ rpm records sold to the public, calling them "Program Transcription" records. These used a shallower and more closely spaced implementation of the large "standard groove" found on contemporary 78 rpm records, rather than the "microgroove" used for post-World War II 33$1/3$ rpm "LP" (long play) records. The format was a commercial failure, partly because the new Victrolas with two-speed turntables designed to play these records were exorbitantly priced, the least expensive model retailing for $395.00 in the depths of the Great Depression. By 1933, the format was abandoned and two-speed turntables were no longer offered, but some Program Transcriptions lingered in the Victor record catalog until the end of the 1930s.

During the early days of the Depression, RCA Victor made a number of attempts to create a successful low-priced label to compete with "dime store labels" such as Perfect, Oriole, Banner, and Melotone. The first was the short-lived Timely Tunes label in 1931, sold exclusively by Montgomery Ward. Bluebird Records was created in 1932 as a sub-label of Victor. It was originally an 8-inch record with a dark blue label, alongside the 8-inch Electradisk label (sold by F.W. Woolworth). Neither label was a success. In 1933, RCA Victor reintroduced Bluebird and Electradisk as a standard 10-inch label (Bluebird's label was redesigned, and it became known as the 'buff' label). Another discount label, Sunrise, was produced (although it is not known for whom it was produced, as Sunrise records are exceptionally rare today). The same musical couplings were issued on all three labels and the Bluebird label is still in existence today, nine decades after Electradisk and Sunrise were discontinued.

During this time, RCA Victor also produced electrical transcriptions of music under the RCA Thesaurus label at its RCA Recorded Program Services studio in New York City. These recordings were not offered for sale to the general public and were intended solely for use in broadcasts carried over leading radio networks. By 1936, RCA's extensive musical library of recordings was eventually consolidated with NBC's own transcription division. During the 1950s, it included popular music by noted musicians, such as Sammy Kaye, Freddie Martin, Lawrence Welk and John Serry Sr.

RCA Victor Custom Record Division
Besides manufacturing its own records, RCA's Custom Record Division was the leading record manufacturer for independent labels. RCA's Midwestern plant in Indianapolis, at 501 North LaSalle Street (the site is now part of a Demolition and Blight Reduction Project). The Custom Division notably pressed many record compilations for The Reader's Digest Association.

EMI
RCA sold its interest in EMI in 1938, but EMI continued to distribute RCA Victor recordings in the UK and its territories on the HMV label until 1957. RCA also manufactured and distributed HMV recordings on the RCA Victor and special HMV labels in North America.

World War II era
Due to hostilities between Japan and the United States during World War II, ties between RCA Victor and its Japanese subsidiary Victor Company of Japan (Nippon Victor) were severed. JVC's record company is known today as Victor Entertainment and still retains the Nipper/His Master's Voice trademark for use in Japan.

From 1942 to 1944, RCA Victor was seriously impacted by the American Federation of Musicians recording ban. Virtually all union musicians in the US and Canada were forbidden from making recordings during the period. One of the few exceptions was the eventual release of recorded radio broadcast performances from the NBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Arturo Toscanini. However, RCA Victor lost the Philadelphia Orchestra during this period; the orchestra's contract with RCA Victor expired during the strike and when Columbia Records settled with the union before RCA Victor, Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphians signed a new contract with Columbia and began recording in 1944. Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra would not return to RCA until 1968.

The post-war 1940s

In the spring of 1946, "RCA Victor" replaced "Victor" on its record labels. In 1949, RCA Victor introduced the 7-inch 45 rpm micro-grooved vinylite record, marketed simply as the "45". The new format, which had been under development for over a decade, was originally intended to replace 78 rpm discs. By the time RCA Victor unveiled it, the 45 was now competing with the 10-inch and 12-inch 33$1/3$ rpm microgroove vinyl "LP" (Long Play) discs introduced by arch-rival Columbia Records in the early summer of 1948. In heavy promotion, RCA Victor sold compact, inexpensive add-on and stand-alone units that played the 45 rpm format exclusively. At first, RCA Victor's 45s were issued on colored vinyl according to the musical genre: contemporary pop music on black vinyl (47-xxxx series), prestigious Broadway musicals and operettas on "midnight blue" vinyl (52-xxxx series), classical music on red vinyl (49-xxxx series), country and polka on green (48-xxxx series), children's fare on yellow (also in the 47-xxxx series), rhythm and blues on orange or cerise (50-xxxx series), and international on light blue (51-xxxx series). This array of colors complicated the production process, and the practice was soon discontinued, all records becoming black. Yellow and red Red Seal records held on until about 1952. The first 45 rpm record manufactured was "PeeWee the Piccolo" RCA Victor 47-0147 pressed December 7, 1948 at the Sherman Drive plant in Indianapolis. The use of vinyl, which was much more expensive than the gritty shellac compound normally used for 78s, was actually cheaper because of the smaller diameter and greatly reduced bulk of the new records, which required very little raw material. The smaller, lightweight discs were also more economical to store and ship.

RCA Victor marketed the 45 as a direct replacement for 10-inch and 12-inch 78 rpm records, which typically played for about three and four minutes per side respectively. The company also released some "extended play" (EP) 45s with playing times up to 7 minutes per side, primarily for vocal collections and light classical selections, as typified by an Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops Orchestra disc featuring Tchaikovsky's Marche Slave and Ketèlbey's In a Persian Market. RCA Victor issued boxed sets of four to six 45s, each set providing about the same amount of music as one LP (an extreme example of these 45 rpm boxed sets was the complete 1951 recording of the opera Carmen, featuring Risë Stevens and Jan Peerce, conducted by Fritz Reiner, which consisted of sixteen 45 rpm discs). In the case of operas, symphonies and other complete recordings of classical music, there was an interruption every four minutes as one record side ended and another side began. These disruptive "side breaks", a nuisance long familiar to listeners of album sets of classical and operatic 78 rpm records, were minimized by an extremely fast automatic record-changing mechanism that was a core feature of RCA Victor's 45 players. Thanks in large degree to RCA Victor's massive five million dollar advertising campaign, the 45 became the preferred speed for pop music singles, overtaking U.S. sales of the same material on 78s by 1954, but Columbia's LP prevailed as the favored format for classical music and convenient one-disc "album" collections of eight or more pop songs. RCA Victor finally bowed to the inevitable and announced its intention to issue LPs in January, 1950.

1950s
Among the first RCA Victor LPs released in 1950 was Gaîté Parisienne by Jacques Offenbach, performed by Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops Orchestra, which had been recorded in Boston's Symphony Hall on June 20, 1947; the record was given the catalogue number LM-1001. Non-classical LP record albums were issued with the prefix "LPM". When RCA Victor began issuing classical LPs in stereophonic sound in 1958, the prefix "LSC" was used. Non-classical stereo LPs were issued with the prefix "LSP". RCA utilized these catalog prefixes until 1973, when they were changed to "ARL1" and "APL1" for stereo classical and stereo non-classical single LPs, respectively.

During the 1950s, RCA Victor had three subsidiary or specialty labels: Groove, Vik and "X".

The edition of Billboard magazine dated April 11, 1953, announced a new RCA Victor subsidiary label, its first to use independent distribution and was nameless when it was first revealed. For the lack of any better designation, Billboard chose to refer to the new, unnamed label in the story as Label "X"; the new label began to hire staffers and decide on a direction, and the name stuck until 1955. RCA Victor officially announced the formation of label "X" on April 20, 1953. Groove was an R&B specialty label founded in 1954 and folded into Vik in 1957; the Vik label was discontinued the following year.

From the label's beginnings in 1902, and intensifying through the 1940s and 1950s, RCA Victor was in direct competition with Columbia Records. A number of recordings were made with the NBC Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Arturo Toscanini; sometimes RCA Victor utilized recordings of broadcast concerts (Toscanini had been recording for the label since the days of acoustic recordings, and RCA Victor had been recording the NBC Symphony since its creation in 1937). After Toscanini retired in the spring of 1954, the NBC Symphony was reorganized later that year as the Symphony of the Air. The orchestra, while no longer connected to NBC, continued to record for RCA Victor, as well as other labels, usually conducted by Leopold Stokowski. RCA Victor also released a number of recordings with the RCA Victor Symphony Orchestra, which was usually drawn from either Philadelphia or New York musicians, as well as members of the Symphony of the Air, and the orchestra of the Metropolitan Opera. By the late 1950s, RCA Victor had fewer high prestige orchestras under contract than Columbia had: RCA Victor recorded the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and the Boston Pops, whereas Columbia had the Cleveland Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the New York Philharmonic Orchestra under contracts.

On October 6, 1953, RCA Victor held experimental stereophonic sessions in New York City's Manhattan Center with Leopold Stokowski conducting a group of New York City musicians in performances of George Enescu's Roumanian Rhapsody No. 1 and the waltz from Tchaikovsky's opera Eugene Onegin. There were additional stereo tests in December, again in the Manhattan Center, this time with Pierre Monteux conducting members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. In February 1954, RCA Victor made its first commercial stereophonic recordings, taping the Boston Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Charles Münch, in a performance of The Damnation of Faust by Hector Berlioz. This began a practice of simultaneously recording orchestras with both stereophonic and monaural equipment. Other early stereo recordings were made of Toscanini's final NBC concerts (never officially issued) and Guido Cantelli respectively, with the NBC Symphony Orchestra; the Boston Pops Orchestra under Arthur Fiedler; and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under Fritz Reiner. Initially, RCA used RT-21 quarter-inch tape recorders (which ran at 30 inches per second), wired to mono mixers, with Neumann U-47 cardioid and M-49/50 omnidirectional microphones. Then they switched to an Ampex 300–3 one-half inch machine, running at 15 inches per second (which was later increased to 30 inches per second). These recordings were initially issued in 1955 on special stereophonic reel-to-reel tapes and then, beginning in 1958, on vinyl LPs with the "Living Stereo" logo. RCA has continued to reissue many of these "Living Stereo" recordings on CD. Another 1953 project for RCA was converting the acoustically superior building Webster Hall into its main East Coast recording studio. RCA Victor operated this studio venue from 1953 to 1968.

In September 1954, RCA Victor introduced "Gruve-Gard" where the center and edge of a record are thicker than the playing area, reducing scuff marks during handling and when stacked on a turntable with an automatic record changer. Most competitors quickly adopted the raised label and edges.

In 1955, RCA Victor purchased the recording contract of Elvis Presley from Sun Records for the then-exorbitant sum of $40,000. His first single for RCA Victor was "Heartbreak Hotel", recorded in January 1956. Ten million Presley singles were sold by the label during 1956; Presley went on to become RCA Victor's biggest selling artist.

Effective in 1957, EMI/HMV ended its 55-year association with RCA Victor, after EMI's acquisition of Capitol Records in 1955. Capitol then became the main distributor for EMI recordings in the Americas; Decca Records became the manufacturer and distributor for RCA Victor in the United Kingdom, using the RCA lightning bolt logo, instead of the Nipper/His Master's Voice trademark for which EMI held the rights to in the U.K. and Europe. RCA set up its own British manufacturing and distribution in 1969.

RCA Victor issued several spoken word albums in the 1950s and 60s, notably the soundtracks of the films Richard III, A Man for All Seasons and The Taming of the Shrew, as well as complete versions of the National Theatre of Great Britain stage productions of Othello (starring Laurence Olivier) and Much Ado About Nothing (starring Maggie Smith, who also played Desdemona in the Olivier Othello). None of these albums have appeared on compact disc, but the films of Richard III, A Man For All Seasons, The Taming of the Shrew and the filmed version of Olivier's Othello have all been issued on DVD.

1960s
In 1960, RCA Victor announced the Compact 33 double extended play and singles; these were 7 inch records, which played at 33 1/3 rpm. In January 1961, the Compact 33 discs were released simultaneously with their 45 rpm counterparts. The long-term goal was to phase out the 45 rpm disc, but sales of the new records were poor and by early 1962 the campaign had failed.

In 1963, RCA Victor introduced Dynagroove which added computer technology to the disc cutting process, ostensibly to improve sound reproduction. Whether or not the complex process was actually an improvement is still debated among audiophiles. RCA quietly phased out the Dynagroove process by 1970.

In September 1965, RCA and Lear Jet Corp. teamed up to release the first stereo 8-track tape music Cartridges (Stereo 8) which were first used in the 1966 line of Ford automobiles and were popular throughout the late 1960s and 1970s. (The initial release comprised 175 titles from RCA Victor and RCA Camden's catalog of artists.)

In late 1968, RCA, attempting to modernize its image, introduced what was then a new futuristic-looking logo (the letters 'RCA' in block, modernized form), replacing the original lightning bolt logo, and the virtual retirement of both the Victor and Nipper/His Master's Voice trademarks. The Radio Corporation of America officially changed its name to the RCA Corporation; the RCA Victor Division was now known as RCA Records. The 'Victor' trademark now appeared only on the labels and album covers of RCA's regular popular record releases. The labels of RCA Victor popular record labels were changed to bright orange or yellow (becoming tan briefly late in 1975–76), replacing the traditional black label color in use since 1901. The Nipper/His Master's Voice trademark was restricted to the album covers of RCA Red Seal Records.

In late 1969, RCA Records introduced a very thin, pliable, lightweight vinyl LP record known as Dynaflex. This thin, flexible record claimed to overcome warping and other problems encountered with conventional thicker LP records, but it had a similarly controversial reputation, being derided by some record collectors as "Dynawarp". RCA abandoned Dynaflex by the late 1970s and returned to making thicker vinyl records.

1970s
In April 1970, RCA Records announced the first quadraphonic 4-channel 8-track tape cartridges ("Quad-8", later called just Q8). RCA began releasing quadraphonic vinyl recordings in the United States in February 1973, in the CD-4 format developed by its former subsidiary, the Victor Company of Japan (JVC), and made commercially practical by Quadracast Systems Inc. (QSI). RCA's trade name became "Quadradisc". The CD-4 format required a special cartridge that had a ±1 db frequency response out to 50 kHz, a CD-4 demodulator which decoded the difference between the front and rear channels from a 30 kHz subcarrier, four separate amplifier channels, and four separate speakers for the left and right front and left and right rear. Both the CD-4 Quadradisc and Quad-8 tape cartridge systems were true discrete 4–4–4 quadraphonic systems. Columbia Records introduced a quadraphonic matrix system, SQ, which required a decoder, 4-channel amplifier and the four speakers. The SQ system was referred to as a 4–2–4 matrix system. The Warner Music Group labels also adopted Quadradisc, but the format never became popular, and both RCA and CBS/Columbia abandoned quadraphonic recording in 1976; some of the RCA sessions were later remastered for Dolby encoding (same as Peter Scheiber's original matrix system) and released on compact disc This included Charles Gerhardt's acclaimed series of RCA Red Seal albums devoted to classic film scores by Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Alfred Newman, Dimitri Tiomkin, Max Steiner, Franz Waxman, and others, performed by the National Philharmonic Orchestra and recorded in London's Kingsway Hall.

In order to publish music in Japan, RCA collaborated with the Victor Company of Japan's publishing wing Victor Musical Industries Inc. in 1975 to found Japanese record label RVC.

In mid 1976, the RCA Corporation announced the revival of the Nipper/His Master's Voice trademark. RCA Records reinstated Nipper to most (Victor, Victrola, Red Seal and Special Products) record labels (in addition to returning to the traditional black label color for popular releases) in countries where RCA held the rights to the Nipper/His Master's Voice trademark. Nipper was once again widely used in RCA newspaper and magazine advertisements as well as store displays and promotional items such as T-shirts caps, posters, coin banks, keychains, watches, coffee mugs and stuffed toys. The trademark was also restored to RCA stationery, shipping cartons and delivery and service trucks.

1980s
In 1983, Arista Records owner Bertelsmann sold 50% of Arista to RCA. In 1985, Bertelsmann and RCA Records formed a joint venture called RCA/Ariola International. In December 1985, the RCA Corporation was purchased by General Electric (GE), with the acquisition completed in June, 1986. GE sold its 50% interest in RCA Records to its partner Bertelsmann and the company was renamed BMG Music for Bertelsmann Music Group. BMG revived the RCA "lightning bolt" logo that was retired in 1968 to differentiate RCA Records from the other RCA divisions, which GE either liquidated, sold, or closed. BMG also revived the "RCA Victor" label for Red Seal, Broadway and soundtrack releases and other musical genres outside of rock, pop and country music. In 1986, Bob Buziak, formerly an artist manager, was appointed president of the label.

During the mid-1980s, RCA Records operated at a deficit, due in part to "overpriced deals" with pop stars including Kenny Rogers and Diana Ross. In 1986, the label bought back $25 million in unsold albums and lost $35 million during the fiscal year 1987. As a partial corrective, a decentralized style of management which allowed RCA Records to function as a free-standing entrepreneurial business was implemented for 1988. Buziak drastically cut the RCA roster from around 40 artists to 11, and began to rebuild it with a focus on developing new artists, including artists acquired through marketing and distribution agreements with Beggars Banquet Records, a British punk rock label, and Jive Records, whose roster included Schooly D, Kool Moe Dee, and DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince.

By the end of the fiscal year 1988, RCA Records had gross revenue of $236 million in the United States, the most profitable year in the label's history. The album The Way It Is by Bruce Hornsby and the Range, sold more than three million copies, and the soundtrack album from the film Dirty Dancing, which cost RCA $200,000 to produce, sold 15.6 million copies in less than two years. Its follow-up, More Dirty Dancing, composed of song tracks which had been left off of the first album, was produced for $80,000 and went on to sell more than 5.6 million. RCA's most successful artists during the 1980s included the Eurythmics, Love and Rockets, Joshua Perahia, Rick Astley, Hall & Oates, Dolly Parton, Juice Newton, and Bucks Fizz.

1990s
In August 1990, Buziak was replaced by Joe Galante, who had been the president of RCA Records Nashville division. The roster was cut once again and the A&R department was restructured. Along with the launch of BNA Records and the expansion of the urban music division, these initiatives would prove to be positive, but RCA was unsuccessful under Galante, ranking 10th in market share in 1995. Galante returned to head the RCA Nashville division and in March, 1995 was replaced by Bob Jamieson, the president of RCA's Canadian division. Jamieson overhauled RCA, streamlining middle management and retooling the label's marketing department. The A&R department was again restructured and the roster of artists further reduced.

By the close of the decade, RCA Records had undergone what Billboard described as a "remarkable turnaround" with the success of artists including Britney Spears, the Dave Matthews Band, Natalie Imbruglia, the Verve Pipe, Robyn, SWV, Christina Aguilera, NSYNC, and Foo Fighters. A distribution deal with Loud Records yielded hit records from urban artists including Big Punisher, Wu-Tang Clan and Mobb Deep.

2000s
In 2002, BMG fully acquired J Records, which it had founded in 2000 as a joint venture with Clive Davis. Davis was then named chairman of RCA Records and J Records under the auspices of a new entity, the RCA Music Group, which included RCA Records, J, and Arista Records. In 2004, Sony and BMG merged their music divisions to create Sony BMG, and in 2007, the RCA Music Group was rebranded as the BMG Label Group. In 2006, Sony BMG merged its former Broadway music and classical labels, including Red Seal and Gold Seal, to Sony Masterworks. Legacy Recordings, Sony Music Entertainment's catalog division, reissued classic albums from RCA.

In April 2008, former Zomba Label Group president and CEO Barry Weiss was appointed chairman of the BMG Label Group, and Davis was named chief creative officer of Sony BMG worldwide. In October, Sony acquired BMG's 50% ownership and the BMG Label Group was merged with the Jive Label Group to establish the RCA/Jive Label Group. It included RCA, Jive, J, Arista, Polo Grounds, LaFace Records, Volcano Entertainment, Hitz Committee, Battery Records, and the Verity Gospel Music Group.

The decade marked a period during which RCA Records had notable success in the pop genre, with Christina Aguilera, Kesha, Pink, Kelly Clarkson and Pitbull scoring multiple #1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 charts.

2010s
In May 2011, former Universal Music Group CEO Doug Morris was appointed chairman of Sony Music Entertainment. Focused on A&R, Morris named Peter Edge, president of A&R at RCA and J Records, chairman and CEO of RCA Music Group. Tom Corson was named president and COO. On the seventh of October of that year, the Jive, Arista and J imprints were altogether permanently merged into RCA. As a result, the RCA Music Group was then disbanded and RCA was reinstated as a standalone label under the Sony Music umbrella. Following the shutdown of the three labels, a majority of various artists from the rosters of Jive, Arista and/or J were shifted to release future material under RCA.

During the first half of the decade, RCA released platinum and multi-platinum records by artists including A$AP Rocky, Cage the Elephant, Chris Brown, Kelly Clarkson, Miley Cyrus, D'Angelo, Dave Matthews Band, Foo Fighters, G-Eazy, Jennifer Hudson, R. Kelly, Kesha, Khalid, Alicia Keys, Kings of Leon, Miguel, Pentatonix, P!nk, Pitbull, Shakira, Sia, Britney Spears, Bryson Tiller, Justin Timberlake, T-Pain, and Tinashe. Since 2012, the label has released music by artists including: Kevin Abstract, A$AP Ferg, Becky G, Bleachers, Brockhampton, Bryson Tiller, Cam, G-Eazy, Childish Gambino, Martin Garrix, H.E.R., Normani, Kaytranada, Khalid, Kygo, Tate McRae, Mark Ronson, Sasha Sloan, Jazmine Sullivan, SZA, ZAYN.

In 2015, RCA Records reinstated its 1968 space-age 'RCA' styled logo after utilizing the lightning bolt logo since 1987. The lightning bolt logo is still used by RCA's Nashville division.

John Fleckenstein and Joe Riccitelli were appointed as co-presidents of RCA Records in January 2018. Later that year, RCA named Keith Naftaly president of A&R, and Tunji Balogun executive VP of A&R.

2020s
In addition to releasing successful albums by Bryson Tiller, Alicia Keys, Fousheé' and Pentatonix in 2020, RCA had #1 records with Doja Cat's "Say So" feat. Nicki Minaj; Miley Cyrus' "Plastic Hearts" and Chris Brown & Young Thug's "Go Crazy". Brockhampton's single "Sugar" was certified platinum, and singles by Flo Milli and Latto (formerly known as "Mulatto") were certified gold. Both Doja Cat and Kaytranada received multiple Grammy nominations, including Best New Artist, H.E.R. received her 13th Grammy nomination, and the Strokes album The New Abnormal won for Best Rock Album. Koffee signed with RCA just after she became the first woman and the youngest person to win the Reggae Album of the Year Grammy. In June 2020, the label partnered with the Human Rights Campaign to present the 2020 Pride Benefit Concert, a livestream supporting LGBTQ equality in June. RCA artists including Isaac Dunbar, Cam, and Citizen Queen performed. SZA released the single "Good Days" on December 25.

In January 2021, Mark Pitts was appointed president of RCA Records and John Fleckenstein was named chief operating officer. Jazmine Sullivan's Heaux Tales hit #1 on the Billboard R&B albums chart. Tate McRae's "You Broke Me First" (stylized as "you broke me first") was quadruple platinum in Ireland, double platinum in Canada, Mexico and New Zealand, and platinum in the US, UK, Australia, Finland, France, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden. She was #1 on the Billboard emerging artist chart. In April 2024, Variety announced that the label had signed Thai rapper Lisa, a member of the South Korean girl group Blackpink, for her venture into American solo endeavors.

Broadway and Hollywood
RCA Victor has produced several notable Broadway cast albums, among them the original Broadway recordings of Brigadoon, Paint Your Wagon, the Mary Martin Peter Pan, Damn Yankees, Hello, Dolly!, Oliver!, and Fiddler on the Roof. RCA has also recorded and released recordings of revival stagings of musicals. These include the musical productions staged at Lincoln Center, such as the 1966 revivals of Show Boat and Annie Get Your Gun, the 1987 revival of Anything Goes and the 1998 Broadway revivals of Cabaret and The Sound of Music. Call Me Madam was recorded by RCA Victor with all of its original cast except for its star Ethel Merman, who, due to contractual obligations, could not be released from her American Decca Records contract. She was replaced on the RCA Victor album by Dinah Shore. RCA Victor was also responsible for the film soundtrack albums of Damn Yankees, South Pacific, Bye Bye Birdie, Half a Sixpence, and The Sound of Music. The album made from the 1965 hit Julie Andrews film was (and is) one of the best selling soundtracks of all time. The film soundtrack of Oliver!, made by Colgems Records, was distributed by RCA, which had released the Broadway cast album. RCA Victor also released the original American cast album of Hair.

Similarly, RCA Victor also made several studio cast recording albums, including a Lerner and Loewe series with Jan Peerce, Jane Powell, and Robert Merrill, as well as a 1963 album of excerpts from George Gershwin's Porgy and Bess, with its 1952 revival leads, Leontyne Price and William Warfield, but a different supporting cast. They also issued two studio cast versions of Show Boat, one with Robert Merrill, Patrice Munsel, and Rise Stevens in 1956, and the other with Howard Keel, Anne Jeffreys, and Gogi Grant in 1958. Contrary to the way the show is written, both of these Show Boat albums featured all-white casts, reflecting the era of racial segregation.

In 2006, Sony BMG merged its Broadway music labels, including RCA Victor, to the new Masterworks Broadway Records. All of these recordings are now on Masterworks Broadway Records, which has remastered and reissued many of these albums.

Kenny Rogers
After Kenny Rogers left RCA Records in 1987, he accused the label of trying to ruin his career. Rogers had signed to RCA in 1982 for an advance sum of $20 million (the largest deal ever in country music up to that time) when Bob Summer was head of the label.

Kelly Clarkson
In the summer of 2007, Kelly Clarkson and Clive Davis, then head of Sony BMG, feuded publicly regarding the direction of her album My December, the follow-up to Clarkson's multi-platinum album, Breakaway. Clarkson wrote the songs on My December, "showcasing her own songwriting on darker, edgier rock-oriented fare", and Davis insisted Clarkson work with hired hitmakers, as she had previously, on "polished, radio-friendly songs". Clarkson refused to change the album, and it was released in June 2007. It has since been certified platinum.

Avril Lavigne
In November 2010, Avril Lavigne stated that the long delay of her fourth album, Goodbye Lullaby, was due to "a bunch of bureaucratic BS" related to RCA. The album was ultimately released in March 2011. In October 2011, Lavigne confirmed that she had left RCA and signed with sister label Epic Records.

Brooke Candy
In early 2017, Brooke Candy left RCA before the release of her initially planned debut studio album Daddy Issues, citing creative stifling for her departure and accusing the label of taking control of her sound and image, as well as dictating what she could publicly say and do. She later claimed that she "fought, bare-fucking knuckle, to get the fuck out of [RCA]" and that Sony had taken ownership of the scrapped album's songs despite not allowing her to release them, leaving her back at square one musically.

R. Kelly
RCA ignored allegations of sexual misconduct by R. Kelly, which included running a violent cult, wherein he held teenage individuals hostage in exchange for sexual favors. Kelly continued to release music for RCA through 2018, when pressure from the Mute R. Kelly campaign mounted against him. In January 2019, following the broadcast of Lifetime's documentary Surviving R. Kelly, his contract was terminated by RCA.

Other notable events
In the early 1920s, Victor was slow about getting deeply involved in recording and marketing black jazz and vocal blues. By the mid-to-late 1920s, Victor had signed Jelly Roll Morton, Bennie Moten, Duke Ellington and other black bands, and was becoming very competitive with Columbia and Brunswick, even starting their own V-38000 "Hot Dance" series that was marketed to all Victor dealers. They also had a V-38500 "race" (race records) series, a 23000 'hot dance' continuation of the V-38000 series, as well as a 23200 'Race' series with blues, gospel and some hard jazz. However, throughout the 1930s, RCA Victor's involvement in jazz and blues slowed down and by the time of the musicians' strike and the end of the war, Victor was neglecting the R&B (race) scene, which is one of the reasons so many independent companies sprang up so successfully.

In the early 1960s, RCA Victor demolished its Camden warehouse. This warehouse reportedly held four floors' worth of Victor's catalog dating back to 1902 and vault masters (most of them were pre-tape wax and metal discs), test pressings, lacquer discs, matrix ledgers, and rehearsal recordings. The company retained some of the more important masters (such as those by Enrico Caruso, Arturo Toscanini, George Gershwin and Jimmie Rodgers; why the masters of Sergei Rachmaninoff apparently were not saved is a mystery), but it is uncertain just how many others were saved or lost. A few days before the demolition took place, some collectors from the US and Europe were allowed to go through the warehouse and salvage whatever they could carry with them for their personal collections. Soon afterward, record collectors and RCA Victor officials watched from a nearby bridge as the warehouse was dynamited, with many studio masters still intact in the building. The remnants were bulldozed into the Delaware River and a pier was built on top of them. In 1973, to celebrate the centenary of Rachmaninoff's birth, RCA decided to reissue his complete recordings on LP; RCA was forced to go to collectors for copies of certain records because their archives were incomplete, as documented in a Time magazine article.

Other RCA labels

 * RCA Records (UK): A division of Sony Music UK, since 2006, which acts as an import label of American and multinational Sony Music artists, and also signs UK and Irish artists, including Paloma Faith, Everything Everything, Laura Mvula, Little Mix, Olly Murs, and Kodaline.
 * RCA Red Seal Records: The RCA Red Seal classical music label is now part of Sony Masterworks.
 * RCA Records (France): A division of Sony Music France. Founded as RCA Cinematre in 1978, renamed to RCA Records (France) in 2006. Absorbed sister division Jive Epic in 2019.
 * RCA Records (Italy): A division of Sony Music Italy. Founded as RCA Italiana in 1949. It was closed in 1987 and reactivated in 2006.
 * RCA Victor: The former name of RCA Records until late 1968. It is active as a label that distributes electronic, rock and soundtrack albums, such as The Sound of Music soundtrack, Jose Feliciano's Feliz Navidad, the European release of The Fashion by the Fashion, American releases of albums by Imogen Heap. In 1987, BMG revived the RCA Victor name for Red Seal recordings and other classical, pop and soundtrack releases. Some re-releases of albums by Elvis Presley and others issued prior to 1968 list the label as "RCA Victor".
 * RCA Records (Australia): A division of Sony Music Australia. Founded in 1956, initially under the distribution of Amalgamated Wireless Australasia, it began recording Australian artists in 1963. Renamed to RCA Limited Australia and New Zealand in 1976 for Australian and New Zealand artists. Renamed to RCA Records (Australia) in 2006.
 * Bluebird Records: Launched by RCA Victor in 1932, Bluebird was originally a lower-priced label releasing mainly jazz, blues and country music. The Bluebird label offers mostly jazz releases, as well as some reissues of historic jazz, swing and pop titles originally released on the RCA Victor label.
 * RCA Inspiration: The label puts out mainly Urban contemporary gospel music. The label replaced Verity Gospel Music Group in 2013.

Previous labels

 * RCA Victor Label Group: The RCA Victor Label Group consisted of the RCA Victor, Windham Hill Records and Bluebird Records labels.
 * RCA-distributed labels: A&M Records, Colpix Records, Colgems Records, Chart Records, Calendar/Kirshner, Chelsea Records, Grunt Records, Windstar Records, Midland International, Loud Records, Lloud, 20th Century Fox Records, Planet Records, Total Experience Records, Wooden Nickel Records, Millennium Records, Duble Kick Entertainment and Tortoise International Records (Detroit)
 * Black Seal Music: A short-lived imprint of RCA Records that released indie rock music. Artists who recorded on Black Seal include Albert Hammond, Jr., Audrye Sessions, and Cory Chisel and the Wandering Sons.

Executives

 * Peter Edge: Chairman and CEO
 * John Fleckenstein: COO
 * Mark Pitts: President
 * Keith Naftaly: President of A&R

title: RCA Records


text:
The Action

The Action were an English band of the 1960s, formed as the Boys in August 1963, in Kentish Town, North West London. They were part of the mod subculture, and played soul music-influenced pop music.

1963–1964: The Boys
The band was formed as the Boys in August 1963, in Kentish Town, North West London. The original members were Reg King (lead vocals), Alan "Bam" King (rhythm guitar, vocals), Mike "Ace" Evans (bass guitar) and Roger Powell (drums). Members Reg King and Powell had known each other since their schooldays, and were involved in the early days of the Scene Club in Soho, London, becoming pioneers in mod subculture and fashion. Alan King became the third band member, and brought Evans into the band. The Boys were then approached by Mike Court from Juke Box Jury, who referred them to band management, and asked them to venture forth into song-writing.

The Boys originated as a backing band for Sandra Barry, (sometimes referred to as Sandra Barry and the Boyfriends), and played on her single "Really Gonna Shake", written by Reg King and released in March 1964 on Decca. After the stint with Barry, Pete Watson was recruited as lead guitarist, and the Boys had a brief period as a bar band in Brunswick, Germany. On returning to the United Kingdom, the band played a gig at The Birdcage Club in Portsmouth, Hampshire, and were recruited by manager Rikki Farr. In November 1964, the Boys released their first single "It Ain't Fair" b/w "I Want You" on Pye. By early 1965, the band had changed their name to The Action.

1965–1968: The Action
The Action first auditioned for Decca on May 31, 1965, with an assortment of demos such as "In My Lonely Room", "You'll Want Me Back", "Girl (Why You Wanna Make Me Blue)", and "Fine Looking Girl". However, the band were unsuccessful in securing a recording contract.

In 1965, they signed to Parlophone with producer George Martin, head of Associated Independent Recording (AIR). Released in October 1965, "Land of a Thousand Dances" b/w "In My Lonely Room" was well received by critics, but sold poorly. The Action were renowned for their own arrangements of American Tamla Motown songs and releasing them as singles. In the band's lifetime, none of The Action's singles achieved success in the UK Singles Chart.

The Action began as a supporting act for The Who at the Marquee Club, in late 1965. The Who's manager Kit Lambert felt the Action were too good to be a support act and that they sabotaged the Who's constructed image. As a result, The Action were dropped as the support act. However, in no time at all, from December 1965, the Action had taken on a residency at the Marquee and regularly performed there throughout 1966, developing a mod following. Phil Collins was a regular attendee.

In 1966, the band released two more singles "I'll Keep Holding On" and "Baby, You've Got It". "I'll Keep Holding On" was not only the most highly regarded Action 45, but also one of the few Motown covers that is markedly superior to the original. The single was released in February 1966, and entered the Melody Maker single charts. It managed to reach No.42 (on March 5, 1966), and even as high as No.39, but soon faltered. On June 3, 1966, the band made an appearance on the Dick Clark show Where The Action Is, performing their single "I'll Keep Holding On", while being filmed outside the Royal Albert Hall, in South Kensington, London.

On July 31, 1966, the Action performed at the 6th National Jazz & Blues Festival, a three-day event held at the Royal Windsor Racecourse. They headlined with Georgie Fame and early Cream.

In mid-1966, there were plans for a 1966 Action LP, but it was eventually dismissed. In August 1966, the band recorded an obscure composition by American writing team, Gerry Goffin and Carole King, "Wasn’t It You" – a highlight in their studio career. It would have stood a chance of becoming a hit, but for unknown reasons, the song was shelved. Eventually, it was released in 1969 with "Harlem Shuffle" b/w "Wasn't It You" as a German B-side on Hansa, in the years following post-Action. Powell: “I loved 'Wasn’t It You'. It was a shame it never came out at the time, as I thought that it was the best song we did for a hit.” Reg King had regarded it as one of his top three Action songs.

The Action made regular television appearances, despite not having any associated chart hit singles. They were on Ready Steady Go! (RSG), at least twice, most notably for their singles "I'll Keep Holding On" and "Land of a Thousand Dances". There was even a short documentary episode made on the band for the American television show The Twentieth Century, where the Action performed at Durham University in October 1966. Relying solely on a few singles for material, the Action were known to perform The Ronettes songs "Do I Love You?" and "You Baby" in their live sets; as George Martin was preoccupied with the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's recording sessions. The Action were noted for their three-part harmonies. Led by Reg King's soulful vocals, Alan King and Pete Watson were very good harmony singers. However, dissatisfied with the stewardship of their manager Rikki Farr, Pete Watson left the band in late 1966.

In 1967, the Action continued as a quartet. They released their last two singles "Never Ever", an original composition, and "Shadows and Reflections" with the B-side, "Something Has Hit Me", co-written by Reg King with Melody Maker journalist and flatmate Nick Jones. The band was dropped by Parlophone in mid-1967, after their last single "Shadows and Reflections" failed to chart, by which time they had also parted ways with their manager Rikki Farr. George Martin's company AIR had financed all of the Action's recordings up to this point in their career, and the band had yet to experience any hits. "'This is a new venture sound-wise for us [Shadows and Reflections]. In the past we have concentrated more on the bass sound, but this time we are playing flower music. Flower music is soft, happy, gentle, full-of-life sunshine sounds. This new sound is what we've been trying for a long time. I hope everyone would buy it and learn what it's all about.'"For the second half of 1967, the Action assumed control of their own affairs. Keyboardist Ian Whiteman briefly joined, in an effort to expand their sound and to help secure the band with a new recording contract by November 1967. However, Whiteman had since left the band, and was driven out by Reg King's increasingly unpredictable behaviour. Guitarist Martin Stone was soon recruited to fill his place.

The Action were now set about gathering original material for a new projected LP. The beginning of Rolled Gold was initially recorded with George Martin in mind as head producer, but no one at Parlophone was interested in the demo recordings at the time. Their demo recordings were in a radically different, Byrds-influenced psychedelic style, and it failed to secure the band with a long hoped-for record deal. During this time, the band temporarily worked with Georgio Gomelsky and engineer Carlos Olmes of Marmalade Records. (These 1967/68 demos were eventually released in the 1990s, under the title Rolled Gold). The Action's profound and experimental masterpiece, "Brain" was recorded in these sessions, with its phasing, chord-driven guitars, rolling drums, dreamy bass, and Reg's voice shouting and pleading the listeners to "remember me". Yet such ventures risked confusing and alienating the band's hardcore mod following. With the Action seemingly having reached an impasse, the demos were shelved for 30 years, and vocalist Reg King departed from the band in mid-1968. King was hired by Gomelsky to produce Gary Farr, and eventually pursued a solo career.

Following Reg King's exit, Ian Whiteman returned and shared vocal duties with Alan King. It was at this point, that the band decided on a brief name change from the Action to Azoth. However, the band soon reverted to their old name, in order to record a new set of five demos. The demos captured the band's transition into more of a mid-tempo, West Coast-influenced, psychedelic ballad style and early folk rock. (These demos were eventually released in 1985, under the title The Action Speaks Louder Than Words).

1969–1971: Mighty Baby
By January 1969, upon signing to Head Records (a fledgling independent label run by their former roadie John Curd), the Action were finally and permanently re-christened Mighty Baby – under the name in which they released two albums: Mighty Baby (1969) and A Jug Of Love (1971). In 1971, the band featured and played on former band member Reg King's solo album. Mighty Baby were practicing Muslims and disbanded at the end of the year, in 1971.

In the years immediately following the band's breakup at the end of 1971, Martin Stone was a founding member of Chilli Willi and the Red Hot Peppers, Alan King was a founding member of Ace and had a US hit with "How Long" in 1975. Roger Powell, Mike Evans and Ian Whiteman formed the Habibiyya.

"In Mighty Baby we were analysing life, who we were. In The Action we weren’t, we were just being the life."

Legacy and reunion
In 1980, The Ultimate Action, a compilation album of the Action's Parlophone tracks was released, with sleeve notes written by Paul Weller ("The Action had it in their soul"). It did much for the creditability of the band and their profile. Weller: "I reckon Reggie King stands as one of the best of the white soul singers. In some ways his rich, smooth voice sounds a lot more natural than [Steve] Marriott's." The Action's Reg King was the singer for whom the term "blue-eyed soul" could have been invented—and he made the term a capability rather than a limitation. The term blue-eyed soul was originally coined for The Righteous Brothers by black DJs, and it became a general term for all white singers who sang what was then considered "black music". According to King himself, the Action never played any songs by white artists.

The Rolled Gold album of demos were hailed by critics as lost classics, when they were reissued in the 1990s (formally released in 2002). In 1998, the original line-up of the Action reformed for a concert in the Isle of Wight. They headlined and played two shows at the Ryde Theatre for the New Untouchables August Bank Holiday Mod Rally. They also played at the Tufnell Park Dome and Boston Arms in London,1998 (Uptight and Outasight).

They are one of the favourite bands of Phil Collins, who performed with the reunited band at the 100 Club in June 2000. "For me it was like playing with the Beatles", he later commented on the experience in 2002. Collins financed the documentary film In The Lap Of The Mods (2000), which contained footage from both reunion gigs, 100 Club and Tufnell Park Dome, as well as some archive material. In 2012, a biographical book titled The Action: In The Lap Of The Mods by Ian Hebditch and Jane Shepard, was released and forwarded by Sir George Martin.

Since their reunion in 1998, the Action played semi-regularly over the next six years. They made their final appearance at Modstock 2004, a three-day event organized by the New Untouchables to commemorate 40 years of Mod Subculture, on May 30, 2004.

During an interview in September 1986, Steve Marriott regarded the Action as a "legitimate band" and compared them to the likes of the Small Faces, in terms of street origins and authenticity in the 1960s Mod scene. Marriott: "We all tried our hand at getting that [Motown] sound you know ... all the bands in the mid ‘60s. The best ones at it were the Action ... They were an amazing band."

Band members
Classic line-up:

 * Reg King – lead vocals (1963–1968, 1998–2004; died 2010)
 * Alan "Bam" King – rhythm guitar, vocals (1963–1971, 1998–2004)
 * Pete Watson – lead guitar, vocals (1964–1966, 1998–2004)
 * Mike "Ace" Evans – bass guitar (1963–1971, 1998–2004; died 2010)
 * Roger Powell – drums (1963–1971, 1998–2004)

Additional members:

 * Ian Whiteman – keyboards, vocals, saxophone, flute (1967, 1968–1971)
 * Martin Stone – lead guitar (1967–1971; died 2016)

Singles

 * as Sandra Barry and The Boys:
 * "Really Gonna Shake" / "When We Get Married" (R. King) (March 1964, Decca)
 * as The Boys:
 * "It Ain't Fair" (R. King/Evans) / "I Want You" (R. King/Evans) (November 1964, Pye)
 * as The Action:
 * "Land of a Thousand Dances" b/w "In My Lonely Room" (Holland-Dozier-Holland) (October 1965, Parlophone)
 * "I'll Keep Holding On" / "Hey Sah-Lo-Ney" (February 1966, Parlophone)
 * "Baby, You've Got It" (McAllister, Vail) / "Since I Lost My Baby" (Robinson/Moore) (July 1966, Parlophone)
 * "Never Ever" (King/King/Evans/Powell) / "TwentyFourth Hour" (King/King/Evans/Powell) (February 1967, Parlophone)
 * "Shadows and Reflections" (Larry Marks/Tandyn Almer) / "Something Has Hit Me" (King/Jones) (June 1967, Parlophone)
 * "Harlem Shuffle" / "Wasn't It You" (Goffin/King) (1969, Hansa, Germany only)
 * French EP: "Shadows and Reflections" / "Something Has Hit Me" / "Never Ever" / "Twenty Fourth Hour" (Odeon (MOE 149), 1967)

The Ultimate Action

 * (singles and other material recorded by the original run of the band, 1964–1967)

In addition to this in 1980 compilation album, Edsel gradually released four singles using the same material:
 * "I'll Keep on Holding On/Wasn't It You?" – E5001 1981
 * "Since I Lost My Baby/Never Ever/Wasn't It You?" – E5002 1981
 * "Shadows and Reflections/Something Has Hit Me" – E5003 1982
 * "Hey Sha-Lo-Ney/Come On, Come With Me" – E5008 1984

Brain/Rolled Gold

 * (Tracks recorded in late 1967 and 1968, but released only in 1995):

Action Speaks Louder Than (EP)

 * (Tracks recorded circa. 1968, released by Castle Music in 1985):

Uptight and Outasight

 * (Radio and TV recordings, 2004 CD bonus: 1998 live recording, released by Circle Records):

CD1 – The Action on Television and BBC Radio 1966–1967

CD2 – The Boston Arms, London 1998

Shadows And Reflections: The Complete Recordings 1964-1968

 * (Studio, Radio and TV recordings, remastered. Released by Grapefruit Records and Cherry Red Records in 2018):

CD1 – The Parlophone Masters'CD2 – At Abbey Road'CD3 – Rolled Gold Plus: The 1967-68 Recordings CD4 – Action Extras

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

title: The Action


text:
Enschede fireworks disaster

The Enschede fireworks disaster was a catastrophic fireworks explosion on 13 May 2000 in Enschede, Netherlands. The explosion killed 23 people including four firefighters and injured 950 others. A total of 400 homes were destroyed and 1,500 buildings were subsequently damaged.

The first explosion had a strength in the order of 0.8 tonTNT, while the strength of the final explosion was in the range of 4 - 5 tonTNT. The biggest blast was felt up to city of Deventer, 60 km away. Fire crews were called in from across the border in Germany to help battle the blaze; it was brought under control by the end of the day.

S.E. Fireworks was a major supplier to pop concerts and major festive events in the Netherlands. Prior to the disaster it had a good safety record and met all safety audits.

Cause
The fire which triggered the explosion is believed to have started inside the central building of the S.E. Fireworks depot, in a work area where some 900 kg of fireworks were stored. It then spread outside the building to two full shipping containers that were being used to illegally store more display incendiaries. When 177 t of fireworks exploded, it destroyed the surrounding residential area.

One theory to explain the large scale of the disaster was that internal fire doors in the central complex—which might otherwise have contained the fire—had been left open. Theoretically, an explosion was considered highly unlikely because the fireworks were stored in sealed bunkers specifically designed to minimize such risk. However, the illegal use of shipping containers reduced safety, particularly as they had been arranged closely together at ground level and had not been separated either by earthworks or other partitioning.

One week prior to the explosion, SE had been audited. The company was judged to have met all official safety regulations while the legally imported fireworks had been inspected by Dutch authorities and deemed safe. However, after the explosion, residents from the affected district of Roombeek—a poor, working-class neighbourhood—complained of government inaction and lack of interest, saying the whole disaster was just waiting to happen.

When it was built in 1977, the warehouse was outside the town, but as new residential areas were built it became surrounded by low-income housing. Residents and town councillors stated they did not even know that there was a fireworks warehouse in their area. Later in the court case, the judge said that city officials failed to take steps even when they knew laws had been broken. They acted "completely incomprehensibly" by allowing the company to expand, for fear that the city would have to pay the cost of moving S.E. Fireworks to another location.

Damage
A 40 ha area around the warehouse was destroyed by the blast. The S.E. Fireworks factory was the only one in the Netherlands to be located in a residential area. This caused around 400 houses to be destroyed, 15 streets incinerated and a total of 1,500 homes damaged, leaving 1,250 people homeless, essentially obliterating the neighbourhood of Roombeek. Ten thousand residents were evacuated, and damages eventually neared 1 billion guilders (€454 million).

The Dutch Government warned that potentially harmful asbestos was released into the air by the explosion. The fire spread to the nearby Grolsch Beer brewery which had an asbestos roof. It was later demolished and closed; a replacement opened nearby in Boekelo in 2004.

Death toll

By 22 May 2000, 18 people had been confirmed dead, including an elderly woman who died from her injuries in hospital on 21 May. On 24 May, the search for victims ended with three people still missing and presumed dead. A 19th victim died from her injuries in hospital on 19 October 2000. The addition of the three missing people to the death toll brought the total to 22. In 2005, Dutch media reported that a 26-year-old Enschede resident who had died in a local hospital on 2 October 2000 was unofficially being recognised as the 23rd victim of the disaster. Her widower clarified in an interview that while she sustained only minor injuries on the day of the disaster, she appeared to develop an eating disorder in the months thereafter, and that her doctor reported a "direct connection" between her death and the disaster without specifying whether or not she became physically ill as a result of the disaster or if illness was a factor in her death. A memorial at the site of the disaster lists her name along with the 22 victims included in the official death toll.

Healthcare impact
In 2005, a survey was published based on the electronic medical records of general practitioners, which compared 9,329 victims with a control sample size of 7,329 units ranging from 16 months before to 2.5 years after the disaster.

The study highlighted that "two and a half years post-disaster the prevalence of psychological problems in victims, who had to relocate, was about double and in the non-relocated victims one-third more than controls". Relocated victims showed the highest increase of medically unexplained physical symptoms (tiredness, headache, nausea, and abdominal pain) and of gastrointestinal morbidity.

Legal proceedings
On 20 May, Dutch authorities issued an international arrest warrant for the two managers of the company, Rudi Bakker and Willie Pater, after they fled their homes, which were empty when searched. Pater handed himself in on the same day, and Bakker the day after.

In April 2002, the owners were sentenced to six months' imprisonment each for violation of environmental and safety regulations and dealing in illegal fireworks alongside a fine of €2,250 each. However, they were both acquitted of the more serious charges of negligence for the fire.

In May 2003, Arnhem Appeals Court acquitted 36-year-old André de Vries of arson. Almelo Court had originally (May 2002) tried and convicted De Vries of arson and sentenced him to 15 years imprisonment.

In February 2005, after a four-and-a-half-year legal battle, the six-month sentence of each of the owners was increased to twelve months each.

A total of €8.5m in compensation was awarded to the victims of the explosion, according to the organisation in charge of distributing the compensation, the UPV, having assessed 3,519 claims. Three hundred people received cash for incurring extra costs, 136 people received money for loss of income, and 1,477 people received compensation for health problems.

Dutch fire safety regulations

The S.E. Fireworks disaster led to intensified safety regulations in the Netherlands concerning the storage and sale of fireworks. The Roombeek area that was destroyed by the blast has since been rebuilt. Since the catastrophe, three illegal fireworks depots were closed down in the Netherlands.

Memorials
There have been annual public memorial services in Roombeek since 2000 led by the mayor Jan Mans, and commonly ending on the Stroinksbleekweg. The theme of 2004 was "homecoming".

In popular culture
The events of the disaster served as the inspiration of the mission "Explosion in fireworks factory" from Emergency 4: Global Fighters for Life.

title: Enschede fireworks disaster


text:
Simba Wanyika

Simba Wanyika was a Kenyan-based band created in 1971 by Tanzanian brothers Wilson Kinyonga and George Kinyonga, and disbanded in 1994. Simba Wanyika and its two offshoots, Les Wanyika and Super Wanyika Stars, became some of the most popular bands in Kenya. Their guitar-driven sound, inspired by the Soukous guitarist Dr. Nico, combined highly melodic rumba with lyrics sung in Swahili. Simba wa nyika means "Lions of the Savannah" in Swahili.

Wilson Kinyonga and George Kinyonga began as musicians in their hometown Tanga in Tanzania when they joined Jamhuri Jazz Band in 1966. They moved to Arusha in 1970 and formed Arusha Jazz with their other brother, William Kinyonga. During this period, musicians could travel freely between Kenya and Tanzania, and Kenyan popular music became heavily influenced by Tanzanian rumba musicians. In 1971 the Kinyonga brothers moved to Kenya and created Simba Wanyika. The band played at nightclubs and bars in the Nairobi area, and developed an enthusiastic following, and by the mid-1970s, they were well known throughout Kenya, thanks to hits like "Mwongele" and "Wana Wanyika". They had a harder sound than most rumba bands and were almost unchallenged in that area in Kenya due to the closing of the Tanzanian border in 1977.

The restrictions enforced on the Kenya-Tanzania border consequently led to the divergence of Kenyan popular music towards the emerging benga music. Simba Wanyika continued playing rumba, and was still quite popular when the band split in the late 1970s when rhythm guitarist Omar Shabani (commonly referred to as Professor Omar Shabani) took many of the band's musicians and forming Les Wanyika. In 1980, George Kinyonga also quit Simba Wanyika, taking more musicians with him to form Orchestra Jobiso. He eventually rejoined Simba Wanyika while still working with Jobiso on side projects. Simba Wanyika later changed their name to "Simba Wanyika Original" to prevent confusion with Les Wanyika and its splinter group, Super Wanyika Stars.

Simba Wanyika regained its popularity in the mid-1980s, releasing many hits and touring Europe in 1989. They disbanded in 1994, but several offshoots of the band still continue to play.

Discography

 * Contributing artist
 * The Rough Guide to the Music of Kenya and Tanzania (1996, World Music Network)

 * Compilations
 * Kenya Special : Volume Two Selected East African recordings from the 1970s & 80s (2016, Soundway)

title: Simba Wanyika


text:
Remembrance Sunday

Remembrance Sunday is held in the United Kingdom as a day to commemorate the contribution of British and Commonwealth military and civilian servicemen and women in the two World Wars and later conflicts. It is held on the second Sunday in November (the Sunday nearest to 11 November, Armistice Day, the anniversary of the end of hostilities in World War I in 1918). Remembrance Sunday, within the Church of England, falls in the liturgical period of Allsaintstide.

It is marked by ceremonies at local war memorials in most cities, towns and villages, attended by civic dignitaries, ex-servicemen and -women (many are members of the Royal British Legion and other veterans' organisations), members of local armed forces regular and reserve units (Royal Navy and Royal Naval Reserve, Royal Marines and Royal Marines Reserve, Army and Territorial Army, Royal Air Force and Royal Auxiliary Air Force), military cadet forces (Sea Cadet Corps, Army Cadet Force and Air Training Corps as well as the Combined Cadet Force) and youth organisations (e.g. Scouts, Boys' Brigade, Girls' Brigade and Guides). Representatives of the Judiciary also lay wreaths at local War Memorials throughout the country. Wreaths of remembrance poppies are laid on the memorials, and two minutes' silence is held at 11 am. Church bells are usually rung half-muffled, creating a sombre effect. The overall ceremony, including parades, service and wreath-laying, typically lasts about two hours.

History
The focus of remembrance for the dead of the First World War originally fell on Armistice Day itself, commencing in 1919. As well as the National Service in London, events were staged at town and village war memorials, often featuring processions of civic dignitaries and veterans.

The first UK commemoration of the end of the First World War took place at Buckingham Palace, with King George V hosting a "Banquet in Honour of The President of the French Republic" in the evening of 10 November 1919. The first official Armistice Day events were subsequently held in the grounds of the Palace on the morning of 11 November 1919, which included a two-minute silence at 11am as a mark of respect for those who died in the war and those left behind. While the initial, spontaneous public reaction when the Armistice was signed on 11 November 1918 was jubilation and celebration, the 1919 banquet was criticised for being too celebratory.

The following year, Armistice Day in 1920, the funeral of the Unknown Soldier took place at the London Cenotaph and a two-minute silence was observed throughout the nation. Buses halted, electricity was cut to tram lines, and even trading on the London Stock Exchange halted.

Starting in 1921, the Royal British Legion began selling Remembrance Poppies to raise funds for ex-servicemen. Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, the character of the remembrance events became politicized. While for some, Armistice Day was a day for recognizing the horrors of war, never to be repeated; for others the day symbolized the honor of military service.

A Christian Pacifist MP was elected to parliament in 1923. In the mid-1930s the Peace Pledge Union gained wide support. Pacifism gained great publicity from a 1933 student debate in the Oxford University Union that voted for a resolution that "this House will in no circumstances fight for King and Country". The first white poppies were sold by the Co-operative Women's Guild in 1933.

During the Second World War, the commemorations were moved to the Sunday preceding 11 November as an emergency measure to avoid disruption of the production of vital war materials.

In May 1945, just before VE Day, the new government began consultation with the churches and the British Legion on the future of remembrance. Armistice Day in 1945 fell on a Sunday, preventing the need to change wartime practices. Some thought that continuing with 11 November would focus more on the First World War and downplay the importance of the Second. Other dates suggested were 8 May (VE Day), 6 June (D-Day), 15 August (VJ Day), 3 September (the declaration of war), and even 15 June (the signing of Magna Carta in 1215). The Archbishop of Westminster proposed that the second Sunday in November should be named Remembrance Sunday in commemoration of both World Wars, a suggestion which was endorsed by the Home Office in January 1946. In June of that year, the prime minister, Clement Attlee, announced in the House of Commons that "the Government felt that this view would commend itself to all quarters of the country. I am glad to say that it has now found general acceptance here and has been approved by The King."

National ceremony in the United Kingdom
The national ceremony is held in London at the Cenotaph on Whitehall, starting with two minutes' silence at 11am and concluding with the end of The Nation's Thank You procession at 1:30 p.m. The main part of the ceremony consists of the laying of wreaths by members of the royal family and other dignitaries, a service of remembrance with prayers and a hymn. It is immediately followed by a march-past by thousands of ex-service personnel and contingents from other organisations. Marchers salute the Cenotaph as they pass and wreaths are handed over to be laid around it.

Regional and local ceremonies
Significant ceremonies also take place in the capitals of the nations and across the regions of the United Kingdom. Most notably at the Scottish National War Memorial, in Edinburgh in the grounds of Edinburgh Castle, the Welsh National War Memorial in Cardiff and at the Northern Ireland War Memorial and Cenotaph in Belfast in the grounds of the Belfast City Hall.

Typically, poppy wreaths are laid by representatives of the Crown, the armed forces, and local civic leaders, as well as by local organisations such as ex-service organisations, cadet forces, the Scouts, Guides, Boys' Brigade, St John Ambulance and the Salvation Army. The start and end of the silence is often also marked by the firing of an artillery piece. A minute's or two minutes' silence is also frequently incorporated into church services.

A common criticism of Remembrance Sunday ceremonies and the Royal British Legion is that by focusing only on veterans and military persons who have died, the vast majority of the casualties of war (civilians) are forgotten.

British Overseas Territories
In the past, the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs laid a wreath on behalf of all the British overseas territories. However, since 2001 there has been a campaign by Britain's Overseas Territories Association for the right to lay a wreath themselves at the annual service at the Cenotaph. In 2008 the Labour Government agreed that one wreath could be laid for all 14 territories by a representative of the territories.

Northern Ireland
In Northern Ireland, Remembrance Sunday has tended to be associated with unionists. Most Irish nationalists and republicans do not take part in the public commemoration of British soldiers organised by the Royal British Legion. This is partly due to the actions of the British Army during The Troubles and its role in fighting against Irish independence. However, some moderate nationalists have attended Remembrance Day events as a way to connect with the unionist community. In 1987 a bomb was detonated by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) just before a Remembrance Sunday ceremony in Enniskillen, killing eleven people. The IRA said it had made a mistake and had been targeting soldiers parading to the war memorial. The Republic of Ireland has its own National Day of Commemoration in July for all Irish people who died in war.

Other ceremonies
From 1919 until 1945, Armistice Day observance was always on 11 November itself. It was then moved to Remembrance Sunday, but since the 50th anniversary of the end of the Second World War in 1995, it has become usual to hold ceremonies on both Armistice Day and Remembrance Sunday.

In 2006, then Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown proposed that in addition to Remembrance Sunday, a new national day to celebrate the achievements of veterans should be instituted. The "Veterans Day", to be held in the summer, would be similar to Veterans Day celebrations in the United States. This has now been renamed "Armed Forces Day", to include currently serving troops to Service families, and from veterans to cadets. The first "Armed Forces Day" was held on 27 June 2009.

Submariners hold an additional remembrance walk and ceremony on the Sunday before Remembrance Sunday, which has The Submariners Memorial on London's Victoria Embankment as its focal point.

Outside the United Kingdom
Outside the United Kingdom Anglican and Church of Scotland churches often have a commemorative service on Remembrance Sunday. In the Republic of Ireland there is an ecumenical service in St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, the Church of Ireland's national cathedral. Since 1993 the President of Ireland has attended this service. The state has its own National Day of Commemoration (held in July) for all Irish men and women who have died in war. In the United States it is celebrated by many Anglo-Catholic churches in the Episcopal Church. The Anglican Church of Korea also celebrates the day to commemorate, in particular, the Commonwealth soldiers who fought in the Korean War with a service at the Seoul Anglican Cathedral.

In New Zealand an attempt was made to change Armistice Day to Remembrance Sunday after World War II but it was a failure, partly owing to competition from Anzac Day.

Every year, the British Deputy High Commission in Kolkata, India, organises a Remembrance Sunday Commemoration at the Glorious Dead Cenotaph in the Maidan.

Poppies
Remembrance poppies are a traditional symbol of Remembrance Sunday; they may be worn on clothing or made into wreaths. Red paper poppies are sold by British Legion.

It is a common theme in British tabloid journalism in October and November to "expose" politicians and celebrities who have chosen not to wear a red Royal British Legion poppy. Critics have labelled this "poppy fascism", as persons who refuse to wear poppies on TV or at sporting events have received death threats.

title: Remembrance Sunday


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Donald Wolfit

Sir Donald Wolfit, CBE (born Donald Woolfitt; 20 April 1902 – 17 February 1968) was an English actor-manager, known for his touring productions of Shakespeare. He was especially renowned for his portrayal of King Lear.

Born to a conventional middle-class family in Nottinghamshire, Wolfit was stage-struck from an early age, and after a brief spell as a teacher he joined the touring company of the actor-manager Charles Doran, and later that of Fred Terry. He made his London début in 1924 and simplified the spelling of his surname from Woolfitt to Wolfit.

In 1929 Wolfit joined Lilian Baylis's company at the Old Vic but developed a strong antipathy to the leading man, John Gielgud, and left the company after a single season. He joined the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre companies for the festivals of 1936 and 1937, in thirteen major roles, winning excellent reviews for his performance as Hamlet. He then set up his own touring company, taking the plays of Shakespeare and others all round Britain and from time to time overseas. He continued to appear in the West End and made several films, but his main concern was for his touring company. Its standards were criticised, but several members moved on to greater fame, including Harold Pinter and Brian Rix.

Early years
Wolfit was born at New Balderton, near Newark-on-Trent, Nottinghamshire, on 20 April 1902, the second son and fourth of five children of William Pearce Woolfitt and his wife Emma, née Tomlinson. It was a conventional household; Woolfitt senior was an Anglican churchgoer, a Conservative supporter and a Freemason. From his early childhood Wolfit wanted to become an actor, despite his father's disapproval.

After education at Magnus Grammar School in Newark he was briefly a schoolmaster in Eastbourne before successfully auditioning for the actor-manager Charles Doran. Doran's touring company was a training ground for many British actors, including Ralph Richardson, Cecil Parker, Edith Sharpe, Norman Shelley, Abraham Sofaer and FrancisL Sullivan. Wolfit's début role, at the Theatre Royal, York on 13 September 1920, was Biondello in Doran's production of The Taming of The Shrew. Between his engagement with Doran and his West End début in 1924 he toured with the companies of Alexander Marsh and later Fred Terry. For the rest of his life Wolfit acknowledged his debt to the latter for what he had learnt from him.

Wolfit made his London début on 26 November 1924 at the New Theatre, as Phirous in Matheson Lang's production of The Wandering Jew. At about this time he simplified the spelling of his surname from Woolfitt to Wolfit. He appeared in supporting roles in a variety of West End productions, and at St George's, Westminster, on 16 April 1928, he married an actress, Chris Frances Castor, with whom he had a daughter. The marriage lasted until 1933, when the couple divorced.

In 1929 Wolfit joined Lilian Baylis's company at the Old Vic and played Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet, Cassius in Julius Caesar, Touchstone in As You Like It, Macduff in Macbeth and Claudius in Hamlet. The company's leading man was John Gielgud, to whom Wolfit took a strong and lasting dislike, envious of Gielgud's success and being what the biographer Sheridan Morley describes as "virulently anti-homosexual". Wolfit made himself unpopular with his fellow actors and his contract was not renewed after the first year.

1930s
After further West End appearances, Wolfit joined Sir Barry Jackson's company in 1931 for a six-month tour of Canada. He played Robert Browning in The Barretts of Wimpole Street, Young Marlowe in She Stoops to Conquer, Joe Varwell in Yellow Sands, Coade in Dear Brutus and Shakespeare in The Dark Lady of the Sonnets. He overcame his hatred of Gielgud enough to accept the role of Thomas Mowbray in Richard of Bordeaux (1932) with a cast headed by Gielgud and Gwen Ffrangcon-Davies; the piece ran for more than a year. Wolfit made a impression in 1933 in the title role of a one-night-only production of Hamlet at the Arts Theatre using the First Quarto text rather than the First Folio text usually given. The Daily Telegraph said:

Encouraged by this success Wolfit determined to try his hand as an actor-manager. He secured financial backing and staged a week-long drama festival in his native Newark in 1934. He presented Arms and the Man, The Master Builder and Twelfth Night, playing Bluntschli, Solness and Malvolio. Among the actors he engaged were John Clements, Elspeth March, Margaret Rutherford and Margaret Webster. In the same year, on 15 September, he married Susan Katherine Anthony; they had a son and a daughter. He made his first film appearance in 1934, as St Francis of Assisi in a short film called Inasmuch. He appeared in other films in the 1930s, after which he did not work in films again until the 1950s.

Wolfit joined the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre companies for the festivals of 1936 and 1937, with eight major roles in the first, including Hamlet, and five in the second. His Hamlet was favourably reviewed by the critics and, according to his biographer Ronald Harwood, "the performance of Hamlet elevated Wolfit to the ranks of leading players". The critic Audrey Williamson wrote that although Wolfit was never as physically suited as Gielgud to the role of Hamlet, in his Stratford performances he gave the character "an electric drive and force of suffering ... There was thought behind every gesture and line and again and again one was struck by the subtlety of detail". Another critic wrote, "Mr Wolfit has crowned his season's work with a distinguished performance not unworthy of comparison with the great Hamlets". The director at Stratford was Ben Iden Payne, whose daughter Rosalind Iden became Wolfit's leading lady. He fell in love with her, left his wife, and lived with Iden, eventually marrying her in 1948.

Second World War
At the outbreak of the Second World War, despite strong advice to the contrary, Wolfit refused to cancel his plans for an autumn tour. He told the press, "Here is my national effort at present. They don't want me in the Services yet, so I am endeavouring to carry on with my plans. All my company are waiting to serve when called on". The company played a season in 1940 at the Kingsway Theatre in London. Later that year Wolfit presented lunch-time Scenes from Shakespeare at the Strand Theatre during the Blitz. A German bomb destroyed his scenery and costume store, but he continued to tour. In 1944 he visited Egypt for the Entertainments National Service Association, followed by seasons in Paris and Brussels.

Postwar
Wolfit toured more often than he played in London. Hermione Gingold adapted an old theatrical joke, saying that "Olivier is a tour-de-force, and Wolfit is forced to tour", but in fact Wolfit preferred touring with his own company and was often unhappy in West End productions, beholden to directors and acting alongside major actors to whom he was not clearly superior. He firmly believed that Shakespeare should be taken to the people, and used West End appearances and films to subsidise his touring company. After the war he continued his annual tours in Britain and in 1947 he presented two successful tours of Canada, a season in New York and a London season at the Savoy Theatre.

Hoping to present his company in another London season in 1949, Wolfit found that no West End theatre was available and instead he took an old music hall, The Bedford, in Camden Town, north London. He presented a sixteen-week season of "Shakespeare at popular prices", and played to packed houses. The Stage said of his performance in King Lear, "There is no acting in our theatre to-day as magnificent as that of Donald Wolfit when he plays Lear", but his productions had cheap costumes and scenery and his company was below his own standard of acting. Among the audience during this season was the young Bernard Levin, who later wrote that although "Wolfit and his dreadful company ... horribly travestied Shakespeare" they nevertheless enabled young people to come to know and love the plays, and for this Levin held Wolfit's memory in high honour. Levin recalled Wolfit's customary curtain call, "with the old megalomanic, as he thanked the audience, indulging in the same exhausted clutch of the curtain", which Stephen Potter said he did whether he had been "laying himself out with Lear or trotting through twenty minutes of Touchstone".

In 1950 Wolfit was appointed CBE. In that year Tyrone Guthrie invited him to return to the Old Vic to play Lear, Timon of Athens, Lord Ogleby in The Clandestine Marriage, and Christopher Marlowe's Tamburlaine the Great. He had great success in these roles but according to Harwood he "chafed at performing in a company other than his own and surrounded by excellent supporting actors". He quarrelled with Guthrie and left the company.

Wolfit returned to actor-management in 1953 with a season at the King's Theatre, Hammersmith, with a stronger company than usual. He opened to enthusiastic reviews and full houses for a double bill of Oedipus the King and Oedipus at Colonus, but, in Harwood's words, later in the season, and for the last time, "he resorted to his tired Shakespearian productions, in which, however, he gave some magnificent performances". Although Wolfit's touring companies were frequently criticised, they nevertheless included, among many less familiar names, future stars such as Peter Jones, Harold Pinter, Eric Porter, Brian Rix, Frank Thornton and Richard Wattis.

In 1957 Wolfit announced his retirement as an actor-manager, but after his knighthood in that year he emerged from retirement and undertook one final tour under his own management. A major role of his later years was the title character of Henrik Ibsen's John Gabriel Borkman at the Duchess Theatre in 1963. One critic said that Wolfit's performance would have pleased Ibsen, and deserved to be regarded as the definitive portrayal. Wolfit's last stage appearance was in the musical Robert and Elizabeth, as the tyrannical Mr Barrett in 1966–67.

Wolfit died in the Royal Masonic Hospital, London, on 17 February 1968 and was buried in St Peter's Church, Hurstbourne Tarrant, Hampshire.

title: Donald Wolfit


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Suet

Suet is the raw, hard fat of beef, lamb or mutton found around the loins and kidneys.

Suet has a melting point of between 45 and 50 C and congelation between 37 and 40 C. Its high smoke point makes it ideal for deep frying and pastry production.

The primary use of suet is to make tallow, although it is also used as an ingredient in cooking, especially in traditional baked puddings, such as British Christmas pudding. Suet is made into tallow in a process called rendering, which involves melting fats and extended simmering, followed by straining, then cooling. The entire process is then usually repeated to refine the product.

Etymology
The word suet is derived from Anglo-Norman siuet, suet, from Old French sieu, seu, from Latin sēbum ('tallow', 'grease', 'hard animal fat'). Sebum is from the Proto-Indo-European root *seyb- ('pour out, trickle'), so it shares a root with sap and soap.

Trade
In the 17th century economy of the Viceroyalty of Peru, Chile's husbandry and agriculture based economy had a peripheral role exporting mainly suet, jerky and leather to the other provinces of the viceroyalty. The importance of this trade led Chilean historian Benjamín Vicuña Mackenna to label the 17th century the century of suet (siglo del sebo).

Cuisine
Suet is found in several traditional British dishes. Suet pastry is soft in contrast to the crispness of shortcrust pastry, which makes it ideal for certain sweet and savoury dishes. Suet is most widely used in sweet British baked puddings, such as jam roly-poly and spotted dick. Savoury dishes include dumplings, which are made using a mixture of suet, flour and water rolled into balls that are added to stews during the final twenty minutes or so of cooking. In the savoury dish steak and kidney pie or steak and kidney pudding, a bowl is lined with a suet pastry, the meat is placed inside and a lid of suet pastry tightly seals the meat. The pudding is then steamed for approximately four hours before serving. Suet is also an ingredient of traditional mincemeat, which is also referred to as 'fruit mince'.

As it is the fat from around the kidneys, the connective tissue, blood and other non-fat content must be removed. It then must be coarsely grated. It must be refrigerated prior to use and used within a few days of purchase, similar to raw meat.

Due to its high energy content, cold weather explorers use suet to supplement the high daily energy requirement needed to travel in such climates. Typically the energy requirement is around 5,000–6,000 Cal per day for sledge hauling or dog-sled travelling. Suet is added to food rations to increase the fat content and help meet this high energy requirement.

Availability
Pre-packaged suet sold in supermarkets is dehydrated suet. It is mixed with flour to make it stable at room temperature, requiring some care when using it for recipes calling for fresh suet, as the proportions of flour to fat can change. Most modern processed recipes stipulate packaged suet.

Also available is vegetable suet, which is made from refined vegetable oil.

Cultural and religious restrictions
Consumption of suet is forbidden according to Jewish law and it was reserved for ritual altar sacrifices. This restriction only applies to those animals which were used for sacrifices, and thus does not include wild animals such as deer. Maimonides in his book Guide To The Perplexed, writes that one of the ideas behind this commandment is that the Torah wants to teach people to develop the discipline to avoid very tasty foods that are unhealthy.

Bird feed
Cakes of suet are popularly used for feeding wild birds and may be made with other solid fats, such as lard. Rolled oats, bird seed, cornmeal, raisins, and unsalted nuts are often incorporated into the suet cakes.

In North America, birds such as woodpeckers, goldfinches, juncos, cardinals, thrushes, jays, kinglets, bluebirds, chickadees, nuthatches, wrens, and starlings prefer bird feeders offering suet.

Suet-based recipes

 * Christmas pudding
 * Clangers
 * Clootie dumpling
 * Dumplings
 * Haggis
 * Jamaican patty
 * Kishka/Kishke
 * Mincemeat
 * Pemmican
 * Rag pudding
 * Spotted dick
 * Steak and kidney pudding
 * Suet pudding
 * Sussex pond pudding
 * Suet-crust pastry
 * Windsor pudding

title: Suet