Animals are a major group of multicellular, eukaryotic organisms of the kingdom Animalia or Metazoa. Their body plan eventually becomes fixed as they develop, although some undergo a process of metamorphosis later on in their life. Most animals are motile, meaning they can move spontaneously and independently. All animals are also heterotrophs, meaning they must ingest other organisms or their products for sustenance.

Most known animal phyla appeared in the fossil record as marine species during the Cambrian explosion, about 542 million years ago.

Etymology

The word "animal" comes from the Latin word animalis, meaning "having breath". In everyday colloquial usage, the word usually refers to non-human animals. Sometimes, only closer relatives of humans such as mammals and other vertebrates are meant in colloquial use. The biological definition of the word refers to all members of the kingdom Animalia, encompassing creatures as diverse as sponges, jellyfish, insects and humans.

Characteristics

Animals have several characteristics that set them apart from other living things. Animals are eukaryotic and mostly multicellular, which separates them from bacteria and most protists. They are heterotrophic, generally digesting food in an internal chamber, which separates them from plants and algae. They are also distinguished from plants, algae, and fungi by lacking rigid cell walls. All animals are motile, if only at certain life stages. In most animals, embryos pass through a blastula stage, which is a characteristic exclusive to animals.

Structure

With a few exceptions, most notably the sponges (Phylum Porifera) and Placozoa, animals have bodies differentiated into separate tissues. These include muscles, which are able to contract and control locomotion, and nerve tissues, which send and process signals. Typically, there is also an internal digestive chamber, with one or two openings. Animals with this sort of organization are called metazoans, or eumetazoans when the former is used for animals in general.

All animals have eukaryotic cells, surrounded by a characteristic extracellular matrix composed of collagen and elastic glycoproteins. This may be calcified to form structures like shells, bones, and spicules. During development, it forms a relatively flexible framework upon which cells can move about and be reorganized, making complex structures possible. In contrast, other multicellular organisms, like plants and fungi, have cells held in place by cell walls, and so develop by progressive growth. Also, unique to animal cells are the following intercellular junctions: tight junctions, gap junctions, and desmosomes.

Reproduction and development

Nearly all animals undergo some form of sexual reproduction. They have a few specialized reproductive cells, which undergo meiosis to produce smaller, motile spermatozoa or larger, non-motile ova. These fuse to form zygotes, which develop into new individuals.

Many animals are also capable of asexual reproduction. This may take place through parthenogenesis, where fertile eggs are produced without mating, budding, or fragmentation.

A zygote initially develops into a hollow sphere, called a blastula, which undergoes rearrangement and differentiation. In sponges, blastula larvae swim to a new location and develop into a new sponge. In most other groups, the blastula undergoes more complicated rearrangement. It first invaginates to form a gastrula with a digestive chamber, and two separate germ layers — an external ectoderm and an internal endoderm. In most cases, a mesoderm also develops between them. These germ layers then differentiate to form tissues and organs.

Food and energy sourcing

All animals are heterotrophs, meaning that they feed directly or indirectly on other living things. They are often further subdivided into groups such as carnivores, herbivores, omnivores, and parasites.

Predation is a biological interaction where a predator (a heterotroph that is hunting) feeds on its prey (the organism that is attacked). Predators may or may not kill their prey prior to feeding on them, but the act of predation always results in the death of the prey. The other main category of consumption is detritivory, the consumption of dead organic matter. It can at times be difficult to separate the two feeding behaviours, for example, where parasitic species prey on a host organism and then lay their eggs on it for their offspring to feed on its decaying corpse. Selective pressures imposed on one another has led to an evolutionary arms race between prey and predator, resulting in various antipredator adaptations.

Most animals feed indirectly from the energy of sunlight. Plants use this energy to convert sunlight into simple sugars using a process known as photosynthesis. Starting with the molecules carbon dioxide (CO₂) and water (H₂O), photosynthesis converts the energy of sunlight into chemical energy stored in the bonds of glucose (C₆H₁₂O₆) and releases oxygen (O₂). These sugars are then used as the building blocks which allow the plant to grow. When animals eat these plants (or eat other animals which have eaten plants), the sugars produced by the plant are used by the animal. They are either used directly to help the animal grow, or broken down, releasing stored solar energy, and giving the animal the energy required for motion. This process is known as glycolysis.

Animals living close to hydrothermal vents and cold seeps on the ocean floor are not dependent on the energy of sunlight. Instead chemosynthetic archaea and bacteria form the base of the food chain.

Origin and fossil record

Animals are generally considered to have evolved from a flagellated eukaryote. Their closest known living relatives are the choanoflagellates, collared flagellates that have a morphology similar to the choanocytes of certain sponges. Molecular studies place animals in a supergroup called the opisthokonts, which also include the choanoflagellates, fungi and a few small parasitic protists. The name comes from the posterior location of the flagellum in motile cells, such as most animal spermatozoa, whereas other eukaryotes tend to have anterior flagella.

The first fossils that might represent animals appear in the Trezona Formation at Trezona Bore, West Central Flinders, South Australia. These fossils are interpreted as being early sponges. They were found in 665-million-year-old rock.

The next oldest possible animal fossils are found towards the end of the Precambrian, around 610 million years ago, and are known as the Ediacaran or Vendian biota. These are difficult to relate to later fossils, however. Some may represent precursors of modern phyla, but they may be separate groups, and it is possible they are not really animals at all.

Aside from them, most known animal phyla make a more or less simultaneous appearance during the Cambrian period, about 542 million years ago. It is still disputed whether this event, called the Cambrian explosion, represents a rapid divergence between different groups or a change in conditions that made fossilization possible.

Some paleontologists suggest that animals appeared much earlier than the Cambrian explosion, possibly as early as 1 billion years ago. Trace fossils such as tracks and burrows found in the Tonian era indicate the presence of triploblastic worms, like metazoans, roughly as large (about 5 mm wide) and complex as earthworms. During the beginning of the Tonian period around 1 billion years ago, there was a decrease in Stromatolite diversity, which may indicate the appearance of grazing animals, since stromatolite diversity increased when grazing animals went extinct at the End Permian and End Ordovician extinction events, and decreased shortly after the grazer populations recovered. However the discovery that tracks very similar to these early trace fossils are produced today by the giant single-celled protist Gromia sphaerica casts doubt on their interpretation as evidence of early animal evolution.

Groups of animals

Porifera, Radiata and basal Bilateria

The sponges (Porifera) were long thought to have diverged from other animals early. They lack the complex organization found in most other phyla. Their cells are differentiated, but in most cases not organized into distinct tissues. Sponges typically feed by drawing in water through pores. Archaeocyatha, which have fused skeletons, may represent sponges or a separate phylum. However, a phylogenomic study in 2008 of 150 genes in 29 animals across 21 phyla revealed that it is the Ctenophora or comb jellies which are the basal lineage of animals, at least among those 21 phyla. The authors speculate that sponges—or at least those lines of sponges they investigated—are not so primitive, but may instead be secondarily simplified.

Among the other phyla, the Ctenophora and the Cnidaria, which includes sea anemones, corals, and jellyfish, are radially symmetric and have digestive chambers with a single opening, which serves as both the mouth and the anus. Both have distinct tissues, but they are not organized into organs. There are only two main germ layers, the ectoderm and endoderm, with only scattered cells between them. As such, these animals are sometimes called diploblastic. The tiny placozoans are similar, but they do not have a permanent digestive chamber.

The remaining animals form a monophyletic group called the Bilateria. For the most part, they are bilaterally symmetric, and often have a specialized head with feeding and sensory organs. The body is triploblastic, i.e. all three germ layers are well-developed, and tissues form distinct organs. The digestive chamber has two openings, a mouth and an anus, and there is also an internal body cavity called a coelom or pseudocoelom. There are exceptions to each of these characteristics, however — for instance adult echinoderms are radially symmetric, and certain parasitic worms have extremely simplified body structures.

Genetic studies have considerably changed our understanding of the relationships within the Bilateria. Most appear to belong to two major lineages: the deuterostomes and the protostomes, the latter of which includes the Ecdysozoa, Platyzoa, and Lophotrochozoa. In addition, there are a few small groups of bilaterians with relatively similar structure that appear to have diverged before these major groups. These include the Acoelomorpha, Rhombozoa, and Orthonectida. The Myxozoa, single-celled parasites that were originally considered Protozoa, are now believed to have developed from the Medusozoa as well.

Deuterostomes

Deuterostomes differ from the other Bilateria, called protostomes, in several ways. In both cases there is a complete digestive tract. However, in protostomes, the first opening of the gut to appear in embryological development (the archenteron) develops into the mouth, with the anus forming secondarily. In deuterostomes the anus forms first, with the mouth developing secondarily. In most protostomes, cells simply fill in the interior of the gastrula to form the mesoderm, called schizocoelous development, but in deuterostomes, it forms through invagination of the endoderm, called enterocoelic pouching. Deuterostomes also have a dorsal, rather than a ventral, nerve chord and their embryos undergo different cleavage.

All this suggests the deuterostomes and protostomes are separate, monophyletic lineages. The main phyla of deuterostomes are the Echinodermata and Chordata. The former are radially symmetric and exclusively marine, such as starfish, sea urchins, and sea cucumbers. The latter are dominated by the vertebrates, animals with backbones. These include fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals.

In addition to these, the deuterostomes also include the Hemichordata, or acorn worms. Although they are not especially prominent today, the important fossil graptolites may belong to this group.

The Chaetognatha or arrow worms may also be deuterostomes, but more recent studies suggest protostome affinities.

Ecdysozoa

The Ecdysozoa are protostomes, named after the common trait of growth by moulting or ecdysis. The largest animal phylum belongs here, the Arthropoda, including insects, spiders, crabs, and their kin. All these organisms have a body divided into repeating segments, typically with paired appendages. Two smaller phyla, the Onychophora and Tardigrada, are close relatives of the arthropods and share these traits.

The ecdysozoans also include the Nematoda or roundworms, perhaps the second largest animal phylum. Roundworms are typically microscopic, and occur in nearly every environment where there is water. A number are important parasites. Smaller phyla related to them are the Nematomorpha or horsehair worms, and the Kinorhyncha, Priapulida, and Loricifera. These groups have a reduced coelom, called a pseudocoelom.

The remaining two groups of protostomes are sometimes grouped together as the Spiralia, since in both embryos develop with spiral cleavage.

Platyzoa

The Platyzoa include the phylum Platyhelminthes, the flatworms. These were originally considered some of the most primitive Bilateria, but it now appears they developed from more complex ancestors. A number of parasites are included in this group, such as the flukes and tapeworms. Flatworms are acoelomates, lacking a body cavity, as are their closest relatives, the microscopic Gastrotricha.

The other platyzoan phyla are mostly microscopic and pseudocoelomate. The most prominent are the Rotifera or rotifers, which are common in aqueous environments. They also include the Acanthocephala or spiny-headed worms, the Gnathostomulida, Micrognathozoa, and possibly the Cycliophora. These groups share the presence of complex jaws, from which they are called the Gnathifera.

Lophotrochozoa

The Lophotrochozoa include two of the most successful animal phyla, the Mollusca and Annelida. The former, which is the second-largest animal phylum by number of described species, includes animals such as snails, clams, and squids, and the latter comprises the segmented worms, such as earthworms and leeches. These two groups have long been considered close relatives because of the common presence of trochophore larvae, but the annelids were considered closer to the arthropods because they are both segmented. Now, this is generally considered convergent evolution, owing to many morphological and genetic differences between the two phyla.

The Lophotrochozoa also include the Nemertea or ribbon worms, the Sipuncula, and several phyla that have a ring of ciliated tentacles around the mouth, called a lophophore. These were traditionally grouped together as the lophophorates. but it now appears that the lophophorate group may be paraphyletic, with some closer to the nemerteans and some to the molluscs and annelids. They include the Brachiopoda or lamp shells, which are prominent in the fossil record, the Entoprocta, the Phoronida, and possibly the Bryozoa or moss animals.

Model organisms

Because of the great diversity found in animals, it is more economical for scientists to study a small number of chosen species so that connections can be drawn from their work and conclusions extrapolated about how animals function in general. Because they are easy to keep and breed, the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster and the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans have long been the most intensively studied metazoan model organisms, and were among the first life-forms to be genetically sequenced. This was facilitated by the severely reduced state of their genomes, but as many genes, introns, and linkages lost, these ecdysozoans can teach us little about the origins of animals in general. The extent of this type of evolution within the superphylum will be revealed by the crustacean, annelid, and molluscan genome projects currently in progress. Analysis of the starlet sea anemone genome has emphasised the importance of sponges, placozoans, and choanoflagellates, also being sequenced, in explaining the arrival of 1500 ancestral genes unique to the Eumetazoa.

An analysis of the homoscleromorph sponge Oscarella carmela also suggests that the last common ancestor of sponges and the eumetazoan animals was more complex than previously assumed.

Other model organisms belonging to the animal kingdom include the mouse (Mus musculus) and zebrafish (Danio rerio).

History of classification

Aristotle divided the living world between animals and plants, and this was followed by Carolus Linnaeus (Carl von Linné), in the first hierarchical classification. Since then biologists have begun emphasizing evolutionary relationships, and so these groups have been restricted somewhat. For instance, microscopic protozoa were originally considered animals because they move, but are now treated separately.

In Linnaeus's original scheme, the animals were one of three kingdoms, divided into the classes of Vermes, Insecta, Pisces, Amphibia, Aves, and Mammalia. Since then the last four have all been subsumed into a single phylum, the Chordata, whereas the various other forms have been separated out. The above lists represent our current understanding of the group, though there is some variation from source to source.

See also

Ethology

Animal colouration

Animal rights

Fauna

List of animal names

List of animals by number of neurons

Lists of animals

References

Bibliography

Klaus Nielsen. Animal Evolution: Interrelationships of the Living Phyla (2nd edition). Oxford University Press, 2001.

Knut Schmidt-Nielsen. Animal Physiology: Adaptation and Environment. (5th edition). Cambridge University Press, 1997.

External links

Tree of Life Project

Animal Diversity Web - University of Michigan's database of animals, showing taxonomic classification, images, and other information.

ARKive - multimedia database of worldwide endangered/protected species and common species of UK.

Scientific American Magazine (December 2005 Issue) - Getting a Leg Up on Land About the evolution of four-limbed animals from fish.

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Name	Ani DiFranco
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Angela Marie DiFranco
Birth date	September 23, 1970
Birth place	Buffalo, New York
Instrument	Guitar, bass guitar, tenor guitar, vocals, percussion, piano
Genre	Folk rock, indie, alternative
Occupation	Singer-songwriter, musician
Years active	1990–present
Label	Righteous Babe
Website	righteousbabe.com
Past members	}}

Ani DiFranco (; born Angela Maria DiFranco on September 23, 1970) is an American Grammy Award-winning singer, guitarist, poet, and songwriter. She has released more than 20 albums, and is a feminist icon.

Biography

DiFranco was born in Buffalo, New York, to Elizabeth and Dante, who met while they attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She started playing Beatles covers at local bars and busking with her guitar teacher, Michael Meldrum, at the age of nine.

In 1989, DiFranco started her own record company, Righteous Records (renamed Righteous Babe Records in 1994). Prior to the renaming of Righteous Records to Righteous Babe Records, DiFranco worked with manager Dale Anderson, a writer for the Buffalo News, who started another record label called Hot Wings Records after the two parted ways. Hot Wings released the work of Buffalo area female musical performers with styles similar to that of DiFranco. Early releases of her CDs produced prior to 1994 are labeled with the original Righteous Records label. Her self-titled debut album was issued on the label in the winter of 1990. Later, she relocated to New York City, where she took poetry classes at The New School and toured vigorously.

DiFranco identifies herself as bisexual, and has written songs about love and sex with women and men. She addressed the controversy about her sexuality with the song "In or Out". In 1998, she married sound engineer Andrew Gilchrist in a Unitarian Universalist service in Canada, overseen by renowned folk singer Utah Phillips. Numerous media sources reported that her fans felt betrayed by her union with a man. DiFranco and Gilchrist divorced five years later.

In 1998, DiFranco's drummer, Andy Stochansky, left the band to pursue a solo career as a singer-songwriter. Their rapport during live shows is showcased on the 1997 album Living in Clip.

DiFranco's father died early in the summer of 2004. In July 2005, DiFranco developed tendinitis and took a hiatus from touring. DiFranco had toured almost continuously in the preceding fifteen years, only taking brief breaks to record studio albums. Her 2005 tour concluded with an appearance at the FloydFest World Music and Genre Crossover festival in Floyd, Virginia. DiFranco returned to touring in late April 2006, including a performance at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival on April 28 and a performance at the renowned Calgary Folk Music Festival on July 30, 2006.

DiFranco gave birth to a daughter, Petah Lucia DiFranco Napolitano, at her Buffalo home on January 20, 2007. The child's father is DiFranco's new husband, Mike Napolitano, the co-producer of DiFranco's 2006 release Reprieve. Essentially a full-time resident of New Orleans, DiFranco is heavily influenced by the city's post-Katrina plight.

She has continued touring into 2008 with a backing band consisting of Todd Sickafoose on upright bass, Allison Miller on drums, and Mike Dillon on percussion and vibes. DiFranco returned to the Calgary Folk Music Festival in July 2008.

Recognition

On July 21, 2006, DiFranco received the "Woman of Courage Award" at the National Organization for Women (NOW) Conference and Young Feminist Summit in Albany, New York. Past winners have included singer and actress Barbra Streisand and Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif. DiFranco is one of the first musicians to receive the award, given each year to a woman who has set herself apart by her contributions to the feminist movement.

DiFranco has been toasted by the Buffalo News as the "Buffalo's leading lady of rock music." The News further said:

"Through the Righteous Babe Foundation, DiFranco has backed various grassroots cultural and political organizations, supporting causes ranging from abortion rights to gay visibility."

Starting in 2003, DiFranco was nominated four consecutive times for Best Recording Package at the Grammy Awards, one of which she won, in 2004, for Evolve.

Musical style and the "folk" label

DiFranco's guitar playing is often characterized by a signature staccato style, rapid fingerpicking and many alternate tunings. She delivers many of her lines in a speaking style notable for its rhythmic variation. Her lyrics, which often include alliteration, metaphor, word play and a more or less gentle irony, have also received praise for their sophistication.

Although DiFranco's music has been classified as both folk rock and alternative rock, she has reached across genres since her earliest albums. DiFranco has collaborated with a wide range of artists including musician Prince, who recorded two songs with DiFranco in 1999 ("Providence" on her To the Teeth album, and "I Love U, but I Don't Trust U Anymore" on Prince's Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic album); folk musician and social activist Utah Phillips (on The Past Didn't Go Anywhere in 1996 and Fellow Workers in 1999); funk and soul jazz musician Maceo Parker; and rapper Corey Parker. She has used a variety of instruments and styles: brass instrumentation was prevalent in 1998's Little Plastic Castle; a simple walking bass in her 1997 cover of Hal David and Burt Bacharach's "Wishin' and Hopin'"; strings on the 1997 live album Living in Clip and 2004's Knuckle Down; and electronics and synthesisers in 1999's To the Teeth and 2006's Reprieve. Samples from the track "Coming Up" were used by DJ Spooky in his album Live Without Dead Time, produced for AdBusters Magazine in 2003.

DiFranco herself noted that "folk music is not an acoustic guitar – that's not where the heart of it is. I use the word 'folk' in reference to punk music and rap music. It's an attitude, it's an awareness of one's heritage, and it's a community. It's subcorporate music that gives voice to different communities and their struggle against authority."

Lyrics, politics and religion

Although much of DiFranco's material is autobiographical, it is often also strongly political. Many of her songs are concerned with contemporary social issues such as racism, sexism, sexual abuse, homophobia, reproductive rights, poverty, and war. The combination of personal and political is partially responsible for DiFranco's early popularity among politically active college students, particularly those of the left wing, some of whom set up fan pages on the web to document DiFranco's career as early as 1994. DiFranco's rapid rise in popularity in the mid-1990s was fueled mostly by personal contact and word of mouth rather than mainstream media.

DiFranco has expressed political views outside of her music. During the 2000 U.S. presidential election, she actively supported and voted for Green Party candidate Ralph Nader. She supported Dennis Kucinich in the 2004 and 2008 Democratic primaries. Kucinich appeared with her at a number of concerts across the country during both primary seasons. DiFranco went on to perform at the 2008 Democratic National Convention.

Early in her career, DiFranco considered herself an atheist. On the subject of religion, DiFranco has stated:

"Well, I'm not a religious person myself. I'm an atheist. I think religion serves a lot of different purposes in people's lives, and I can recognize the value of that, you know, the value of ceremony, the value of community, or even just having a forum to get together and talk about ideas, about morals – that's a cool concept. But then, of course, institutional religions are so problematic."

Since becoming a mother and releasing her Red Letter Year album in 2009, DiFranco has talked in concert about "finding religion". At concerts she has stated that her song "The Atom" is an "alternative Christian proposal". In "The Atom" she sings ”Oh holy is the atom/ The truly intelligent design/ To which all of evolution/ Is graciously aligned.” In Reno in 2008 prior to singing "The Atom", she said "I've kind of gotten religion lately, I took a sweet religion, one I am sort of familiar with and sprayed a can of patriarchy-off and this is what I came up with."

Ani has also appeared as herself as part of a new wave of protest music sweeping across America in music documentary Sounds Like a Revolution.

Ani is also a poet and has been featured on Def Jam's poetry hour.

Label independence

Ownership of Righteous Babe Records allows DiFranco a great deal of artistic freedom. For example, on her 2004 album Educated Guess, DiFranco played all of the instruments, provided all of the vocals, and recorded the album by herself at her home on an analog 8-track reel to reel. She was also involved in much of the artwork and design for the packaging. The only other person involved in the record's musical production was Greg Calbi, who mastered it.

References to her independence from major labels appear occasionally in DiFranco's songs, including "The Million You Never Made" (Not A Pretty Girl), which discusses the act of turning down a lucrative contract, "The Next Big Thing" (Not So Soft), which describes an imagined meeting with a label head-hunter who evaluates the singer based on her looks, and "Napoleon" (Dilate), which sympathizes sarcastically with an unnamed friend who did sign with a label.

DiFranco has occasionally joined with Prince in discussing publicly the problems associated with major record companies. Righteous Babe Records employs a number of people in her hometown of Buffalo. In a 1997 open letter to Ms. magazine she expressed displeasure that what she considers a way to ensure her own artistic freedom was seen by others solely in terms of its financial success.

Recent work

DiFranco should be releasing an album of new material either late in 2011 or early 2012. The album will be entitled "Which Side Are You On." Included on the album could be the following songs: "Promiscuity", "Splinter", "Albacore", "Mariachi", "Unworry", "If You're Not", "Which Side Are You On", "Life Boat", "A New Bible", "Amendment", "Hearse", "See See See See", "Zoo", and "Jay". She will have collobarations with Pete Seeger, Willie Nelson, CC Adcock, Cyril Neville, and many other special guests on the new album.

DiFranco performed a live webcast from Ex'pression College for Digital Arts on June 24, 2010. She debuted a selection of new material, including the songs "Which Side Are You On?" (a reworking of the Florence Reece song with different lyrics penned by DiFranco), "Life Boat", "Unworry", "Promiscuity", "Splinter", "Amendment", "See See..." and "Hearse".

Red Letter Year was released on September 30, 2008. Says DiFranco about the album:

“When I listen to my new record, I hear a very relaxed me, which I think has been absent in a lot of my recorded canon. Now I feel like I’m in a really good place. My partner Mike Napolitano co-produced this record – my guitar and voice have never sounded better, and that’s because of him. I’ve got this great band and crew. And my baby, she teaches me how to just be in my skin, to do less and be more.”

On September 11, 2007, she released the first retrospective of her career, titled Canon and for the first time, a collection of poetry in a book titled Verses.

DiFranco's album Reprieve was released on August 8, 2006. It was previously leaked on iTunes for several hours around July 1, 2006, due to an error saying it was released in 2002. DiFranco performed with Cyndi Lauper on "Sisters of Avalon", a track from Lauper's 2005 collection The Body Acoustic.

She also collaborated with fellow folk singer Dar Williams on "Comfortably Numb", a Pink Floyd cover song from Williams' 2005 album, My Better Self.

In 2002 her rendition of Greg Brown's "The Poet Game" appeared on Going Driftless: An Artists' Tribute to Greg Brown.

Lawsuit against Necro

In 2010, DiFranco sued hip-hop horrorcore artist Necro for sampling her song, "Used to You" in a response track called "The Asshole Anthem" on his DIE! album. Due to the lawsuit, the album was reissued without the track.

Discography

Studio albums

1990 – Ani DiFranco

1991 – Not So Soft

1992 – Imperfectly

1993 – Puddle Dive

1994 – Out of Range

1995 – Not a Pretty Girl

1996 – Dilate

1998 – Little Plastic Castle

1999 – Up Up Up Up Up Up

1999 – To the Teeth

2001 – Revelling/Reckoning

2003 – Evolve

2004 – Educated Guess

2005 – Knuckle Down

2006 – Reprieve

2008 – Red Letter Year

Compilations

1993 – Like I Said: Songs 1990–91

2007 – Canon

Live albums

1994 – An Acoustic Evening With

1994 – Women in (E)motion (German Import)

1997 – Living in Clip

2002 – So Much Shouting, So Much Laughter

2004 – Atlanta – 10.9.03 (Official Bootleg series)

2004 – Sacramento – 10.25.03 (Official Bootleg series)

2004 – Portland – 4.7.04 (Official Bootleg series)

2005 – Boston – 11.16.03 (Official Bootleg series)

2005 – Chicago – 1.17.04 (Official Bootleg series)

2005 – Madison – 1.25.04 (Official Bootleg series)

2005 – Rome – 11.15.04 (Official Bootleg series)

2006 – Carnegie Hall – 4.6.02 (Official Bootleg series – available in stores)

2007 – Boston – 11.10.06 (Official Bootleg series)

2008 – Hamburg – 10.18.07 (Official Bootleg series)

2009 – Saratoga, CA – 9.18.06 (Official Bootleg series)

2009 – Chicago – 9.22.07 (Official Bootleg series)

2010 – Live at Bull Moose Music (Limited edition)

EPs

1996 – More Joy, Less Shame

1999 – Little Plastic Remixes (limited distribution)

2000 – Swing Set

Demos

1989 – Demo tape (unreleased)

Videos

2002 – Render: Spanning Time with Ani DiFranco

2004 – Trust

2008 – Live at Babeville

Poetry

2004 – "Self-evident: poesie e disegni"

2007 – Verses

Other contributions

2004 – WFUV: City Folk Live VII – "Bliss Like This"

2006 – Jason Karaban – "Doomed to Make Choices"

2008 – The City That Care Forgot – Contributed backing vocals to the title track of Dr. John's 2008 album.

2009 – Jason Karaban – "Sobriety Kills"

2010 – Anais Mitchell – "Hadestown"

2011 – Twilight Singers – "Blackbird and the Fox"

2011 – Every Mother Counts – "Present/Infant" (Remix)

See also

Righteous Babe Records

:Category:Righteous Babe artists

References

External links

The Righteous Babe homepage

Ani DiFranco at Rolling Stone

Category:1970 births Category:Living people Category:American composers Category:American female singers Category:American folk guitarists Category:American singer-songwriters Category:American female guitarists Category:American folk singers Category:Feminist musicians Category:Anti-corporate activists Category:Bisexual musicians Category:Musicians from New York Category:Righteous Babe artists Category:American buskers Category:People from Buffalo, New York Category:LGBT musicians from the United States Category:LGBT composers Category:LGBT parents Category:Grammy Award winners

ca:Ani DiFranco cs:Ani DiFranco da:Ani DiFranco de:Ani DiFranco es:Ani DiFranco fr:Ani DiFranco hy:Անի Դիֆրանկո it:Ani DiFranco he:אני דיפרנקו csb:Ani DiFranco nl:Ani DiFranco ja:アーニー・ディフランコ pl:Ani DiFranco pt:Ani DiFranco ru:Дифранко, Ани sk:Ani DiFrancová fi:Ani DiFranco sv:Ani DiFranco

name	Ani LorakАні Лорак
background	solo_singer
birth name	Karolina Miroslavivna Kuiek(Кароліна Мирославівна Куєк)
alias	Ani Lorak (Ани Лорак)
birth date	September 27, 1978
spouse	Murat Nalçacıoğlu (2009 - present)
origin	Kitsman, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union
instrument	voice
genre	Pop, Soul, Pop rock
occupation	singer
years active	1996–present
label	Moon Records, Lavina Music
website	www.anilorak.com
notable instruments	}}

Karolina Miroslavivna Kuiek, (), popularly known as Ani Lorak (), born 27 September 1978, Kitsman, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union, is a famous Ukrainian pop singer, songwriter, actress, entrepreneur, and former UN Goodwill Ambassador. Having received Ukraine's most prestigious and honorary title, the People's Artist of Ukraine, Lorak has been cited as one of the most powerful and influential women in her country, as well as ranked one of the most beautiful women from Eastern Europe.

Lorak represented Ukraine at the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 with the song "Shady Lady" and came in 2nd place behind Dima Bilan from Russia. She came second in the Press Award Eurovision Song Contest and won the Artistic Award for her performance.

Early life

Karolina Kuiek developed the desire to become a singer as early as the age of four. She often performed at various school vocal competitions. In 1992, she took part in the popular contest 'Pervotsvit' and was the winner. It was here where she met her ex-producer Yuriy Falyosa. As a result, at the age of 14 she signed her first professional contract. Kuiek became known as Ani Lorak in March 1995 when she took part in a contest at the television program "Morning Star" in Moscow, Russia. There was a Russian singer with the same name already enrolled in that competition so Kuiek had to invent a stage name. Ani Lorak is the name Karolina read backwards. Ani Lorak moved to Kiev in 1995. By that time her name was well known in Ukrainian show business. She became even more popular after winning the "Big Apple Music 1996 Competition" in New York, U.S.. She was named "Discovery of the Year" at the popular Ukrainian festival "Tavria Games" in 1996. The same year she released her first album "I Want to Fly".

1997–2011

Lorak continued recording new songs in 1997. Her two videos "The Model" and "My God" were filmed and the latter became a soundtrack to the movie "The Right to Choose". In the spring of 1998 her new video "I will be back" was shot and in December Lorak's second album "I will be back" was released. Mastering of this album took place in New York. Simultaneously her two music videos "Oh my love" and "A Stranger's City" were filmed to accompany her new album. At the outset of 1999 she started extensive touring, performing in the US, France, Germany, Hungary, and her concerts took place in every major city of Ukraine. In 1999 she earned the title of the Honored Artist of Ukraine.

In the spring of 2000 Ani Lorak recorded the soundtrack for an advert for the Chocolate "Korona" at the London studio "Astoria". Here, the singer met British composers Burrie Guard and Josh Phillips. Also, in London Lorak recorded new songs. In 2004-2005 Ani Lorak was a UN Good Will Ambassador in Ukraine for HIV/AIDS.

In October 2009, Lorak was ranked 41st in a top 100 of "most influential women in Ukraine" compiled by experts for the Ukrainian magazine Focus.

Business Ventures

In 2005, Ani Lorak and her fiance Murat opened the Angel Lounge, a restaurant that specializes in Mediterranean cuisine and Lorak's favorite dishes, in the center of Kiev. In 2009, they opened a Ukrainian travel agency called "Holiday Travel", which is a sub-division of "Turtess Travel", a company Murat works for. In 2010, Lorak became an Oriflame advert. She participated in several catalofues and developed a new fragrance called Chiffon by Ani Lorak.

In 2011, Lorak was announced the fifth richest singer in Ukraine, with revenues amounting to $2.35 million that year. Her typical fee is $25,000-$40,000 per concert.

Personal life

On 21 August 2009, Lorak married her longtime Turkish fiance and manager Murat Nalçacıoğlu, whom she met in 2003 when vacationing in Turkey. Her husband, Murat, is a Turkish hotel manager and travel agent. She confirmed her pregnancy at the end of November 2010. Their daughter, Sophia Nalçacıoğlu, was born on June 9, 2011. She and her family live in a house on the outskirts of Kiev, Ukraine but frequently travel to Turkey.

Eurovision

2005

In 2005, Ani Lorak made her first attempt to perform at the Eurovision Song Contest and was virtually certain to sing the home country's entry in Kiev, but ultimately failed to be selected. Her narrow defeat in the 2005 national pre-selection competition was particularly controversial, given that the winners, GreenJolly, did not have to qualify for the final by winning one of the fifteen preliminary heats (unlike her). Ani finished in second place in the Ukrainian national final with the song A Little Shot Of Love.

2008

Having come close to singing the home country's entry in 2005, when Ukraine staged the Eurovision Song Contest, Ukrainian television NTU announced in late December that Ani Lorak, one of the country's most successful singers would represent the country at Eurovision in Belgrade and that the public and a jury would choose the song. On 23 February, Ani performed five potential entries, in a special show and the winner, chosen by both the public and by the jury was "Shady Lady", written by Greek composer and producer Dimitris Kontopoulos, also known in the Eurovision bubble.

She also recorded a Russian version of her Eurovision song "Shady Lady" with the title "S neba v nebo". Ani had visited other countries to present her song, like Malta, Russia, Bulgaria, Spain and Germany. At the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest in Belgrade, she sang the song "Shady Lady" in the second semi final on the 22nd of May 2008 winning a place in the final. She took the second place in the final after Dima Bilan. She was awarded a prize for being the Best Artist at the contest from the media. Italian designer Roberto Cavalli designed a dress for Ani Lorak performance at the festival. The ornate dress was made with Swarovski Diamonds, and her choreography produced by Fokas Evangelinos who designed the stage show for her entry. He also arranged the stage shows of Greece 2005, Russia 2006 and Belarus 2007.

Charity

Ani spends a lot of time on charitable activities. In 2004-2005 Ani Lorak has been a UN Goodwill Ambassador on HIV/AIDS in Ukraine. UNICEF and UN in Ukraine have awarded a commendation to Ani Lorak for assistance and help to HIV positive citizens of Ukraine. In 2005, Ani Lorak was conferred with the St. Stanislav Order of the 4th degree and the Officer's Cross "for strengthening the international authority of Ukraine, for the high professionalism, great creative achievements, charity and adherence to the ideals of chivalry".

Albums

! Album Title	! English translation	! Year
	-	2010
	Sun	2009
	-	2008
	–	2007
Розкажи...	Tell me...	2006
Smile	–	2005
Ані Лорак	Ani Lorak	2004
REMIX Мрій про мене	REMIX Dream about me	2003
Там, де ти є...	There where you are...	2001
www.anilorak.com	–	2000
Ангел Мрій Моїх	Dream Angel	1999
Я вернусь	I will return	1998
Хочу летать	I want to fly	1996

Singles

{|class="wikitable" |- !rowspan="2"| Year !rowspan="2"| Single !colspan="5"| Chart Positions |- !width="50"|Ukraine !width="50"|Russia !width="50"|Sweden |- ||1998 |"Ya Vernus'" | style="text-align:center;"| — | style="text-align:center;"| — | style="text-align:center;"| — |- ||2000 |"Zerkala" | style="text-align:center;"| 1 | style="text-align:center;"| — | style="text-align:center;"| — |- |rowspan="3"|2001 |"Tam, De Ty Ye" | style="text-align:center;"| — | style="text-align:center;"| — | style="text-align:center;"| — |- |"Poludneva Speka" | style="text-align:center;"| — | style="text-align:center;"| — | style="text-align:center;"| — |- |"Potsiluy" | style="text-align:center;"| 5 | style="text-align:center;"| — | style="text-align:center;"| — |- |rowspan="3"|2004 |"Moi Bazhannya" | style="text-align:center;"| — | style="text-align:center;"| — | style="text-align:center;"| — |- |"Try Zvychnyh Slova" | style="text-align:center;"| — | style="text-align:center;"| — | style="text-align:center;"| — |- |"Mriy Pro Mene" | style="text-align:center;"| — | style="text-align:center;"| — | style="text-align:center;"| — |- |rowspan="4"|2005 |"A Little Shot Of Love " | style="text-align:center;"|18 | style="text-align:center;"| — | style="text-align:center;"| — |- |"Car Song" | style="text-align:center;"| — | style="text-align:center;"| — | style="text-align:center;"| — |- |"100 kisses" feat. Oleksandr Ponomaryov | style="text-align:center;"| 3 | style="text-align:center;"| — | style="text-align:center;"| — |- |"Smile" | style="text-align:center;"| — | style="text-align:center;"| — | style="text-align:center;"| — |- ||2006 |"Розкажи""Tell me" | style="text-align:center;"| 4 | style="text-align:center;"| — | style="text-align:center;"| — |- |rowspan="3"|2007 |"Верни мою любовь""Return my love" feat. V. Meladze | style="text-align:center;"|2 | style="text-align:center;"|37 | style="text-align:center;"| — |- |"С первого взгляда""From first view" | style="text-align:center;"| — | style="text-align:center;"|4 | style="text-align:center;"| — |- |"Я с тобой""I'm with you" | style="text-align:center;"| — | style="text-align:center;"| — | style="text-align:center;"| — |- |rowspan="3"|2008 |"Shady Lady" | style="text-align:center;"|1 | style="text-align:center;"|21 | style="text-align:center;"|57 |- |"Я стану морем""I will become the sea" | style="text-align:center;"| 2 | style="text-align:center;"| — | style="text-align:center;"| — |- |"Солнце""Sun" | style="text-align:center;"| 1 | style="text-align:center;"| 1 | style="text-align:center;"| — |- ||2009 |"А дальше…""And More..." | style="text-align:center;"| 1 | style="text-align:center;"| 10 | style="text-align:center;"| — |- ||2010 |"Небеса - ладони""Heaven - palm" | style="text-align:center;"| 19 | style="text-align:center;"| 15 | style="text-align:center;"| — |- ||2010 |"Нежность рассвета""Tenderness of a dawn | style="text-align:center;"| 15 | style="text-align:center;"| 32 | style="text-align:center;"| — |- ||2010 |"Для тебя""For you | style="text-align:center;"| 1 | style="text-align:center;"| 1 | style="text-align:center;"| — |}

See also

Ukraine in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008

References

External links

Myspace

Twitter

Facebook

Category:1978 births Category:Living people Category:People from Kitsman Category:Ukrainian female singers Category:Ukrainian-language singers Category:Ukrainian Eurovision Song Contest entrants Category:Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 2008 Category:Ukrainian pop singers Category:People from Chernivtsi Oblast Category:English-language singers

az:Ani Lorak ca:Ani Lorak de:Ani Lorak el:Άνι Λόρακ es:Ani Lorak fr:Ani Lorak hy:Անի Լորակ hr:Ani Lorak id:Ani Lorak it:Ani Lorak ka:ანი ლორაკი lv:Ani Lorak lb:Ani Lorak lt:Ani Lorak hu:Anyi Lorak mk:Ани Лорак mn:Ани Лорак na:Ani Lorak nl:Ani Lorak oc:Ani Lorak pl:Ani Lorak pt:Ani Lorak ru:Ани Лорак sq:Ani Lorak sr:Ани Лорак sh:Ani Lorak fi:Ani Lorak sv:Ani Lorak tr:Ani Lorak uk:Ані Лорак

Name	Chöying Drolma
Background	solo_singer
Label	Six Degrees Records
Website	http://www.choying.com/ }}

Ani Choying Drolma (born June 4, 1971, in Kathmandu, Nepal), also known as Choying Drolma and Ani Choying (Ani, "nun", is an honorific), is a Buddhist nun and musician from the Nagi Gompa nunnery in Nepal. She is known in Nepal and throughout the world for bringing many Tibetan Buddhist chants and feast songs to mainstream audiences.

Biography

thumb|Chöying DrölmaAni Choying was born in 1971 in Kathmandu, Nepal, to Tibetan exiles. She entered monastic life as a means of escape from her physically abusive father, and she was accepted into the Nagi Gompa nunnery at the age of 13. For a number of years, the monastery's resident chant master (who was trained directly by the wife of Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche) taught Ani Choying the music that she is famous for performing.

Musical career

In 1994, guitarist Steve Tibbetts visited the nunnery and eventually recorded much of the Tibetan music with Ani Choying on two albums. The recordings, titled Chö and Selwa, were released to critical acclaim. Tibbetts and Ani Choying embarked on small performance tours, which included shows at several historical Tibetan monasteries.

Sina Vodjani recorded an album in collaboration with Ani Choying Drolma.

Ani Choying Dolma is part of a fairly large group of musicians in the Tibetan tradition now active outside Tibet, including singer Techung, singer Karjam Saeji, singer Phurbu T Namgyal, flautist Nawang Khechog, singer Amchok Gompo Dhondup, singer Yungchen Lhamo and Jewish-American Tibetan-genre performer Amalia Rubin.

References

Category:1971 births Category:Living people Category:Nepalese singers Category:Tibetan musicians

de:Chöying Drölma fr:Ani Chöying Drolma fi:Choying Drolma

thumb|Ani Phyo at Free Arts For Abused Children fundraiser Ani Phyo (born July 17, 1968) is an Eco-Lifestylist, an organic chef and author. Phyo uses seasonal, local, organic, fresh produce coupled with nuts and seeds to create raw food recipes. Phyo is the author of three cookbooks: “Ani's Raw Food Essentials”, “Ani's Raw Food Desserts”, and “Ani's Raw Food Kitchen” (awarded “Best Vegetarian Cookbook USA 2007”). Phyo hosts “Ani's Raw Food Kitchen Show”, on YouTube.

In August 2010, Phyo was named one of 12 “warriors” in Sambazon Acai’s “Warrior Up” advertising campaign celebrating the work of leading social and environmental activists. In honor of her work with the Pedal Patch Community, a Los Angeles based community organization, where she teaches at-risk youth how to garden and make food in urban areas; images of Ani wearing a warrior headdress are being featured on billboards and bus stops around southern California.

Phyo lives in Los Angeles and is currently working on her next book along with planning projects for TV, DVD, and the web.

Ani Phyo was been chosen by Vitamix to launch their newest blender, the TurboBlend Variable Speed. A 60-minute instructional DVD of Phyo will be included with the blender.

Personal life

Born: July 17, 1968 Nova Scotia, Canada Residence: Los Angeles, CA, United States Occupation: Author, show host, health, nutrition, well-being expert www.AniPhyo.com

Ani Phyo is of Korean descent. She was born in Nova Scotia, Canada, and raised primarily in upstate New York, outside Buffalo. Her father raised her on mostly vegan fresh whole and raw foods. They had their own organic farm growing up, and grew their own produce for food and juicing.

Her first job after college was working retail management at Macy’s in Herald Square in New York City. Soon afterwards, she moved to London, England for a year and a half, then to Sydney, Australia for 7 months. Upon her return to upstate New York, she studied post-graduate social psychology, computer art, and fine art, which launched her career in multimedia. She produced live multimedia events and convergence TV and internet experiences through the 1990s. During this time, she discovered that eating raw foods fueled her mental clarity and focus, and kept her healthy. This was the early beginning of her raw food career.

Today, Phyo lives in Los Angeles, California with her Rhodesian Ridgeback, Kanga.

Education

Phyo attended Ewha and Yonsei Universities and studied international business, graduating in 1987 and 1989, respectively. She then graduated from Cornell University with a dual bachelor's in human ecology design and business management in 1990. She then did some post-graduate work in social psychology, 3-D modeling and simulation, computer art, fine art and sculpting at SUNY Buffalo, finishing in 1994.

Food

Phyo has always loved to make food of all sorts. From an early age, she worked with catering companies to refine her culinary skills. Though her background is in high end gourmet complex recipes, today, her she teaches simple, fast, easy to make recipes using common ingredients.

SmartMonkey Foods was co-founded by Ani Phyo in 1999 in Los Angeles, CA. SMF started as a catering and events company, hosting gourmet raw food dinners in Hollywood, Santa Monica, and Pasadena, CA. As customer requests increased for packed and prepared foods, the SmartMonkey Foods line of packed dressings, sauces, cheeses, pizza crust, desserts was launched.

The company moved to Portland, OR for 4 years 2003-2006, where SmartMonkey Foods provided catering, packaged prepared foods, classes, retreats, weekly cafes, monthly special events, and their fruit and nut bars called SmartMonkey Bars. Clients included Nike, Adidas, Portland Institute of Contemporary Art, and Carnival Cruise Lines, to name a few.

SmartMonkey Foods ceased operations in 2009.

The Web and multimedia

Ani Phyo moved to San Francisco and founded a multimedia company called SmartMonkey Media, which produced live multimedia events, including the world’s first online fashion show, "Fiber," in 1994. Netcast over copper lines before ISDN or T1 lines were available to the U.C. Berkeley multicast backbone (known as MBone), this show was attended by a global audience via the internet, and has changed our marketing landscape.

As an early pioneer of the web, Phyo was a part of San Francisco digital lab, Cyberlab 7, and founder of Dimension 7, where she handled CG work on Virtuosity, the early cyber film starring Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe and produced by Paramount Pictures. A partial client list includes Warner Bros. (Porno For Pyros tour, Perry Farrell), Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, Microsoft, Pacific Bell, and Ninja Tunes UK.

Phyo’s produced numerous websites, including a 14,000 page rich-media educational site for Simon and Schuster in 1996. One ground breaking project sent video jockeys across the Mediterranean on bicycles with laptops and video cameras. The VJs would post their journals online, shoot video and overnight it to Ani, who would edit them and put them onto the website. The VJs would chat online from a different classroom weekly during their journey, and this occurred more than 10 years prior to YouTube and Facebook.

Her book Return on Design was an early educational book on user-centered interaction design for the Web and wireless technologies which came out of the design and media classes she taught at U.C. Berkeley, San Francisco State University, and San Jose State University.

She has been a consultant for the Disney Channel (convergence TV and web), ABC Family, Gymboree, Electronic Arts, and Apple Inc., among others.

Television and media

She has appeared on the Travel Channel's Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern, KGO-TV ABC 7's View From the Bay, WNBC 4 New York's LX New York, XETV CW 6's San Diego Living, and KSWB's FOX 5 San Diego's Morning Show. Phyo is also on various online networks including the VCN, produced by Breakdown Services and the Hollywood Reporter, and on VegNews.com.

Phyo has been featured in numerous publications including Food Network, Food & Wine, Oxygen, VegNews, and Alternative Medicine Magazines.

Product endorsements

She is currently endorsed by many leaders in the natural products movement including Vitamix blenders, Excalibur Dehydrator, and Sambazon Acai. Phyo is also featured as part of the Vitamix Blender’s Star Chef series.

Controversy

Phyo promotes raw food lifestyle but is often criticized by loyal raw foodists for suggesting her food can be paired with cooked foods. She supports vegetarianism, believing this will help with weight loss and also will help cure chronic diseases.

References

External links

Ani Phyo Official Website www.AniPhyo.com

Category:Cornell University alumni Category:Living people Category:1968 births Category:Canadian food writers Category:Canadian chefs Category:Canadian writers of Asian descent Category:Raw foodists Category:Cookbook authors