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Sisters Of Avalon
''Sisters of Avalon'' is the fifth studio album by American singer Cyndi Lauper. It was released in Japan on October 15, 1996, and worldwide on April 1, 1997, by Sony Music Entertainment. Thematically the album expounded on the issue of complacency and ignorance in popular culture and the discrimination of minorities, gays, and women. Songs like "Love to Hate" and "You Don't Know" address the entertainment industry and media and their corruption. "Ballad of Cleo and Joe" is a song about the double life of a cross dresser. "Say a Prayer" is about the AIDS epidemic. The album was heavily praised by multiple music critics due to Lauper's creative growth and eclectic themes. However, the album's release was delayed and sold only 56,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Since its release, the album has been met with continued praise including the Songwriters' Hall of Fame noting the title track as one of Lauper's key songs in her catalog. Background and p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cyndi Lauper
Cynthia Ann Stephanie Lauper ( ; born June 22, 1953) is an American singer, songwriter and actress. Known for her distinctive image, featuring a variety of hair colors and eccentric clothing, and for her powerful four-octave vocal range;Jerome, Jim"She Wants to Have Fun" ''People (magazine), People'', September 17, 1984. Retrieved September 30, 2008. Lauper has sold over 50 million records worldwide. She has also been celebrated for her humanitarian work, particularly as an advocate for LGBTQ rights in the United States. Her debut studio album ''She's So Unusual'' (1983) was the first debut studio album by a female artist to achieve four top-five hits on the Billboard Hot 100, ''Billboard'' Hot 100—"Girls Just Want to Have Fun", "Time After Time (Cyndi Lauper song), Time After Time", "She Bop", and "All Through the Night (Jules Shear song)#Cyndi_Lauper_version, All Through the Night"—and earned Lauper the Grammy Award for Best New Artist, Best New Artist award at the 27th Ann ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Minorities
The term "minority group" has different meanings, depending on the context. According to common usage, it can be defined simply as a group in society with the least number of individuals, or less than half of a population. Usually a minority group is disempowered relative to the majority, and that characteristic lends itself to different applications of the term minority. In terms of sociology, economics, and politics, a demographic that takes up the smallest fraction of the population is not necessarily labelled the "minority" if it wields dominant power. In the academic context, the terms "minority" and "majority" are used in terms of hierarchical power structures. For example, in South Africa, during Apartheid, white Europeans held virtually all social, economic, and political power over black Africans. For this reason, black Africans are the "minority group", despite the fact that they outnumber white Europeans in South Africa. This is why academics more frequently use th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Billboard (magazine)
''Billboard'' (stylized in letter case, lowercase since 2013) is an American music and entertainment magazine published weekly by Penske Media Corporation. The magazine provides music charts, news, video, opinion, reviews, events and styles related to the music industry. Its Billboard charts, music charts include the Billboard Hot 100, Hot 100, the Billboard 200, 200, and the Billboard Global 200, Global 200, tracking the most popular albums and songs in various music genres. It also hosts events, owns a publishing firm and operates several television shows. ''Billboard'' was founded in 1894 by William Donaldson and James Hennegan as a trade publication for bill posters. Donaldson acquired Hennegan's interest in 1900 for $500. In the early years of the 20th century, it covered the entertainment industry, such as circuses, fairs and burlesque shows, and also created a mail service for travelling entertainers. ''Billboard'' began focusing more on the music industry as the jukebox ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gaia (mythology)
In Greek mythology, Gaia (; , a poetic form of ('), meaning 'land' or 'earth'),, , . also spelled Gaea (), is the personification of Earth. Gaia is the ancestral mother—sometimes parthenogenic—of all life. She is the mother of Uranus (Sky), with whom she conceived the Titans (themselves parents of many of the Olympian gods), the Cyclopes, and the Giants, as well as of Pontus (Sea), from whose union she bore the primordial sea gods. Her equivalent in the Roman pantheon was Terra.''Larousse Desk Reference Encyclopedia'', The Book People, Haydock, 1995, p. 215. Etymology The Greek name (''Gaia'' or ) is a mostly epic, collateral form of Attic (''Gē'' ), and Doric (''Ga'' ), perhaps identical to (''Da'' ), both meaning "Earth". Some scholars believe that the word is of uncertain origin. Beekes suggested a probable Pre-Greek origin. Robert S. P. Beekes, ''Etymological Dictionary of Greek'', Brill, 2009, pp. 269–270 (''s.v.'' "γῆ"). M.L. West derives the n ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paganism
Paganism (, later 'civilian') is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Christianity, Judaism, and Samaritanism. In the time of the Roman Empire, individuals fell into the pagan class either because they were increasingly rural and provincial relative to the Christian population, or because they were not '' milites Christi'' (soldiers of Christ).J. J. O'Donnell (1977)''Paganus'': Evolution and Use, ''Classical Folia'', 31: 163–69. Alternative terms used in Christian texts were '' hellene'', '' gentile'', and '' heathen''. Ritual sacrifice was an integral part of ancient Greco-Roman religion and was regarded as an indication of whether a person was pagan or Christian. Paganism has broadly connoted the "religion of the peasantry". During and after the Middle Ages, the term ''paganism'' was applied to any non-Christian religion, and the term presumed a belief in fal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Omnichord
The Omnichord is an electronic musical instrument introduced in 1981 by the Suzuki Musical Instrument Corporation. It allows users to play distinctive harp-like arpeggios produced through an electronic strum plate, simulating the experience of playing a stringed instrument. Originally conceived as an electronic autoharp, the Omnichord found popularity due to its portability, unique timbre, and kitsch value. The various Omnichord models feature a touch plate that the user strums, organ-like chords, preset drum rhythms and auto-bass line functionality. A grid of buttons allow the user to select major, minor, and 7th chords to be triggered by the strum plate, chord buttons and bass-line accompaniment. Production ceased with the OM-300 model in 1996. In later years, it underwent a resurgence in popularity due to renewed interest in vintage electronic instruments. A new model, the OM-108, was released in 2024. History The development of the Omnichord started with a reques ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Appalachian Dulcimer
The Appalachian dulcimer (many variant names; see below) is a fretted string instrument of the zither family, typically with three or four strings, originally played in the Appalachian region of the United States. The body extends the length of the fingerboard, and its fretting is generally diatonic. Name The Appalachian dulcimer has many variant names. Most often it is simply called a dulcimer (also rendered as "dulcimore", "dulcymore", "delcimer", "delcimore", ''etc.''). When it needs to be distinguished from the unrelated hammered dulcimer, various adjectives are added (drawn from location, playing style, position, shape, etc.), for example: mountain dulcimer; Kentucky dulcimer; plucked dulcimer; fretted dulcimer; lap dulcimer; teardrop dulcimer; box dulcimer; etc. The instrument has also acquired a number of nicknames (some shared by other instruments): "harmonium", "hog fiddle", "music box", "harmony box", and "mountain zither". Origins and history Although the Appalac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Zither
Zither (; , from the Greek ''cithara'') is a class of stringed instruments. The modern instrument has many strings stretched across a thin, flat body. Zithers are typically played by strumming or plucking the strings with the fingers or a plectrum. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, the term refers to a larger family of similarly shaped instruments that also includes the hammered dulcimer family and piano and a few rare bowed instruments like the bowed psaltery, bowed dulcimer, and streichmelodion. Like an acoustic guitar or lute, a zither's body serves as a resonating chamber ( sound box), but, unlike guitars and lutes, a zither lacks a distinctly separate neck assembly. The number of strings varies, from one to more than fifty. In modern usage the term "zither" usually refers to three specific instruments: the concert zither (), its variant the Alpine zither (each of which uses a fretted fingerboard), and the chord zither (more recently described as a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Guitar
The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or Plucked string instrument, plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strings against frets with the fingers of the opposite hand. A guitar pick may also be used to strike the strings. The sound of the guitar is projected either Acoustics, acoustically, by means of a resonant hollow chamber on the guitar, or Amplified music, amplified by an electronic Pickup (music technology), pickup and an guitar amplifier, amplifier. The guitar is classified as a chordophone, meaning the sound is produced by a vibrating string stretched between two fixed points. Historically, a guitar was constructed from wood, with its strings made of catgut. Steel guitar strings were introduced near the end of the nineteen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marion Zimmer Bradley
Marion Eleanor Zimmer Bradley (June 3, 1930 – September 25, 1999) was an American author of fantasy, historical fantasy, science fiction, and science fantasy novels and is best known for the Arthurian fiction novel '' The Mists of Avalon'' and the '' Darkover'' series. She was noted for the female perspective in her writing, something before little-seen in Sword and Sorcery fantasy. Bradley began writing at the age of 17 and later graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from Hardin-Simmons University. She co-founded the Society for Creative Anachronism in 1966. She also served as the editor of the long-running '' Sword and Sorceress'' anthology series. She was posthumously awarded the World Fantasy Award for lifetime achievement in 2000. Though Bradley remained popular during her lifetime, her reputation was posthumously marred when in 2014 her daughter reported that Bradley had sexually abused her, and allegedly assisted her second husband, convicted child abuser Walter ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Mists Of Avalon
''The Mists of Avalon'' is a 1983 historical fantasy novel by American writer Marion Zimmer Bradley, in which the author relates the Arthurian legends from the perspective of the female characters. The book follows the trajectory of Morgaine (Morgan le Fay), a priestess fighting to save her Celtic religion in a country where Christianity threatens to destroy the pagan way of life. The epic is focused on the lives of Morgaine, Gwenhwyfar (Guinevere), Viviane, Morgause, Igraine and other women of the Arthurian legend. ''The Mists of Avalon'' is in stark contrast to most other retellings of the Arthurian tales, which consistently cast Morgan le Fay as a distant, one-dimensional evil sorceress, with little or no explanation given for her antagonism to the Round Table. In this case, Morgaine is presented as a woman with unique gifts and responsibilities at a time of enormous political and spiritual upheaval who is called upon to defend her indigenous heritage against impossible ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Songwriters' Hall Of Fame
The Songwriters Hall of Fame (SHOF) is an American institution founded in 1969 by songwriter Johnny Mercer, music publisher/songwriter Abe Olman, and publisher/executive Howie Richmond to honor those whose work represent and maintain the heritage and legacy of a spectrum of the most beloved English language songs from the world's popular music songbook. It not only celebrates these established songwriters, but is also involved in the development of new English language songwriting talent through workshops, showcases, and scholarships. There are many programs designed to teach and discover new English language songwriters. Nile Rodgers serves as the organization's chairman. The Hall of Fame was formed in 1969, and in 2010, an exhibit was put on display online inside the Grammy Museum at L.A. Live in Los Angeles. The Hall has no permanent place of residence, and because the awards are not televised, there would be no other digital recording of the event for posterity. There are n ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
