King yudhishthira interrogates his four pandava brothers

In the Hindu epic Mahābhārata, the Pandava (Sanskrit: पाण्‍डव pāṇḍavaḥ; also, Pandawa) are the five acknowledged sons of Pandu (Sanskrit: पांडु), by his two wives Kunti and Madri. Their names are Yudhisthira, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva. Although, Karna is told by Lord Krishna that according to the laws and ethics he is the first son of Kunti making him the eldest Pandava. Hence, he is also a Pandava and one could say that there were six pandavas instead of five. All five brothers were married to the same woman, Draupadi. (Each brother also had multiple other wives.)

Together, the brothers fought and prevailed in a great war against their cousins the Kauravas, which came to be known as the Battle of Kurukshetra. They unknowingly fought their brother Karna who was separated from them before their birth. (Karna was born previously.)

Story[link]

Pandav brothers with Krishna, in Razm-Nama, a Mahabharata translation initiated by Akbar the Great in the 16th century.

The story begins with the introduction of the brothers' parents. Amongst the primary antagonists was Duryodhan (Sanskrit: दुर्योधन) named Suyodhan (Sanskrit: सुयोधन) at birth, but took the name Duryodhana (roughly meaning 'unconquerable') of his own free will^{[citation needed]}. He was the eldest of the 100 brothers known as the Kauravas, who were born to the blind king of Hastinapura Dhritarashtra and his queen Gandhari (princess of Gandhara).

The Pandavas were born to Kunti and Madri after Pandu's voluntary renunciation of royal life to do penance for having accidentally killed the sage(Rishi) Kindama and his wife. After the death of Pandu, Kunti brought the Pandavas back to Hastinapura. As children, the Pandavas and Kauravas often played together. However, Bhima (one of the Pandavs) was always at loggerheads with the Kauravas, particularly Duryodhana who refused to accept the Pandavas as his kin. This usually led to much tension between the cousins. Insecure and jealous, Duryodhana harboured intense hatred for the five brothers throughout his childhood and youth, and following the vile advice of his maternal uncle Shakuni, often plotted to get rid of them to clear his path to the lordship of the Kuru Dynasty.

This plotting took a grave turn when Dhritarashtra had to relent to the will of the masses and rightfully appointed his nephew Yudhisthira as crown prince. This went against the personal ambitions of both father and son (Dhritarashtra and Duryodhana), and drove Duryodhana into such a rage, that he enthusiastically agreed to an evil ploy by Shakuni to murder Yudhisthira. Shakuni commissioned the construction of a palace in Varnavata, secretly built by incorporating flammable materials into the structure, most notably sealing wax(known as Laac). This palace was known as Laacshaghar. Duryodhana then successfully lobbied with Dhritarashtra to send Yudhisthira to represent the royal household in Varnavata during the celebrations of Shiva Mahotsava. The plan was to set the palace on fire during the night while Yudhisthira would likely be asleep. As Yudhisthira left for Varnavata, accompanied by his four brothers and mother Kunti, fortunately for the Pandavas, the plan was discovered by their paternal uncle Vidura, who was very loyal to them and an extraordinarily wise man. In addition, Yudhisthira had been forewarned about this plot by a hermit who came to him and spoke of an imminent disaster. Vidura arranged for a tunnel to be secretly built for the Pandavs to safely escape the wax palace as it was set afire.

Draupadi and Pandavas

After their flight from the wax palace, the five brothers lived in the forests for some time, in the disguise of Brahmins. They heard from a group of traveling sages about a contest (Swayamvara) being held in the Kingdom of Panchaal that offered the princess Draupadi's hand in marriage to the winner. The Swayamvara turned out to rely on the skills of archery, and Arjuna, who was a peerless archer, entered the competition and won. When the brothers took Draupadi to introduce her to their mother, they announced to Kunti that they had arrived with an excellent "alms". Kunti was busy with some work, and replied without turning to look at Draupadi (who was the "alms" referred to) ordering the brothers to share the "alms" equally amongst the five of them. Even when uttered erroneously, their mother's word was supreme for the Pandavas, who then agreed to "share" the princess, who was subsequently married to all five brothers.

When Dhritarashtra heard that the five brothers were alive, he invited them back to the kingdom, however in their absence, Duryodhana had succeeded in being made the crown prince. Upon the return of the Pandavas, the issue of returning Yudhisthira's crown to him was raised. Dhritarashtra led the subsequent discussions into ambiguity and agreed to a partition of the kingdom "to do justice to both crown princes". He retained the developed Hastinapura for himself and Duryodhana, and gave the barren, arid and hostile lands of Khandavaprastha to the Pandavas. The Pandavas successfully developed their land and built a great and lavish city which was considered comparable to the heavens, and thus came to be known as Indraprastha (which is now Delhi).^[1] Reeling under the loss of half the lands of his future kingdom, Duryodhana's jealousy and rage were further fueled by the Pandavas' success and prosperity. Eventually, Shakuni sired yet another ploy and got Duryodhana to invite the Pandavas over to his court for a game of dice (gambling). Shakuni was a master at gambling and owned a pair of dice which magically did his bidding and produced numbers desired by him. Owing to this, bet after bet, Yudhisthira lost all of his wealth and eventually, his kingdom in the game. He was then enticed by Duryodhana and Shakuni to place his brothers as bets. Yudhisthira fell for it and put his brothers on stake, losing them too. He then placed himself as a bet and lost again. Duryodhana now played another trick and told Yudhisthira that he still had his wife Draupadi to place as a bet, and if Yudhisthira won, he would return everything to the Pandavas. Yudhisthira fell for the ruse and bet Draupadi, losing her too. At this point Duryodhan ordered that Draupadi, who was now a slave to him, be brought to the court. Duryodhana's younger brother Dushasana dragged Draupadi to the royal court, pulling her by her hair, insulting her dignity and asserting that she, like the Pandava brothers, was now their servant. This caused immense anguish to all the great warriors seated in the court, but each of them, namely, Bhishma (the grandsire of the clan), Dronacharya (the teacher/guru of Kauravas and Pandavas) and others like Kripacharya and Vidura remained silent. Duryodhana then ordered Dushasana to disrobe Draupadi before everyone as a slave girl has no human rights. The elders and warriors in audience were shocked but did not intervene. As Dushasana began pulling Draupadi's sari off, she silently prayed to lord Krishna to protect her honour, and miraculously, regardless of how much of it dushasana pulled off, Draupadi's sari kept growing in length as if the fabric had no end. Thus lord Krishna saved Draupadi. Finally as the blind king Dhrithrasthra realized that this humiliation could prompt Draupadi to curse his sons, he intervened, apologizing to Draupadi for the behavior of his sons and turned the winnings of the dice game back over to the Pandava brothers, releasing them from the bondage of slavery.

Arjuna shooting at the eye of a fish to win Draupadi in marriage, Kalighat painting

Incensed at the loss of all that he had won, Duryodhana threatened suicide and coerced his father into inviting the Pandavas for one last round of gambling, the terms of which were that the loser would be condemned to 12 years of exile into forests, and a 13th year to be spent incognito, and if the cover be blown during the 13th year, another cycle of 13 years would ensue. Obeying their uncle's orders, the Pandavas played the round, and again lost to Shakuni's cheating. However, this time, their patience had been nearly pushed to its edge. During the 12 years of exile in the forest, they prepared for war. Arjuna performed penance and won the entire gamut of celestial weapons (Divyasatras) as boons from the Gods. The 13th year was spent masquerading as peasants in the servitude of the royal family of Virata, the king of Matsya. Upon completion of the terms of the last bet, the Pandavas returned and demand their kingdom to be rightfully returned to them. Duryodhana refused to turn Indraprastha over. For the sake of peace, and to avert a disastrous war, Krishna proposed that if Hastinapura agrees to give the Pandavas only five villages, they would be satisfied and would make no more demands. Duryodhana vehemently refused, commenting that he shall not part even with land as much as the point of a needle. Thus the stage was set for the great war, for which the epic of Mahabharata is known most of all.

The war was intense and was fought for 18 days over the course of which both parties worked around, bent, and even broke rules of warfare. At the end all 100 Kaurava brothers and their entire army was slain, with only three surviving on their side. The Pandavas too lost several allies but the 5 brothers survived. After having won the war, they returned to Hastinapura and Dhritarashtra renounced the kingdom. Yudhisthira was crowned, and after ruling peacefully for many years, the Pandava brothers and their wife departed for the heavens, taking a long journey through the Himalayas. On this journey, one by one, Draupadi and the four younger brothers fell to their deaths, due to their various shortcomings. Only Yudhisthira, who had never abandoned (in fact some people say only thumb of Yudhisthira fell down, because he lied just once to Drona in the battlefield) sanctity and had always upheld his Dharma completed the journey. Nevertheless, after completing a punitive separation, the four brothers and Draupadi were reunited with Yudhisthira in the heavens.

Krishna's help for the Pandavas[link]

The Five Pandavas in Wayang form. From left to right: Bhima, Arjuna, Yudhishtira, Nakula, and Sahadeva. Indonesia Museum, Jakarta.

Lord Krishna being a well wisher of the Pandavas, helps them in various ways during the time of their ordeals from time to time as described below:

1) Krishna protected Draupadi's honour in the court of Hastinapur when Dushasana tried to strip her saree. He extended the length of her saari while Dushasana went on stripping and opening it. Nobody was able to say any word against Duryodana including Bhishma, Drona and Kripacharya among others.

2) When sage Durvasa and his students visited Yudistra's hermitage during their exile to have food, the Akshaya paatra which used to produce huge amounts of food, was unable to supply any further food for the rest of the day. At such an odd moment, Lord Krishna appeared before Draupadi and Pandavas and said that he was very hungry. He ate the only last grain of food that was left in the Akshaya patra. The sage Durvasa and his students hunger gets quenched immediately by this act of Krishna. Thus, lord Krishna saved the Pandavas from the curse of Durvasa.

3) Sahadeva was very good in Astronomy. Duryodana, on the advice of Shakuni approached Sahadeva in order to seek the right time (muhurtaam) to start the Mahabharata war so that the Kauravas will be victorious. Sahadeva disclosed the same for the Kauravas in spite of knowing that Kauravas were their enemy, as Sahadeva was known to be very honest. Then, Lord Krishna planned to create an eclipse much before the beginning of the war. In the mean time, both Sun and Moon got shocked by lord Krishna's thought and appeared before Krishna stating that this will create a huge imbalance in the entire Universe. Then, lord Krishna smilingly declared that as Earth, Moon and Sun are together in one place, this in itself was an eclipse.

4) Lord Krishna rescued Arjuna from Karna's shakthi weapon by not exposing him to Karna, until Karna used it against Ghatotchkacha.

5) When Karna shot Nagastra on Arjuna, then Lord Krishna pressed the chariot and the chariot sinked by two inches below the ground, as a result of which the astra hit Arjuna's crown instead of his head.

6) When Ashwatama launched the Narayanastra on the Pandavas immediately after the death of Dronacharya, then lord Krishna rescues the pandavas army by instructing them to put down their arms and to surrender themselves completely towards the weapon.

7) When Bhagadatta launched the Vaishnava astra on Arjuna, then lord Krishna intervened. Consequently, this weapon turned into a garland and fell on Krishna. The Vaishnava astra is an astra of Vishnu. By this way, that weapon came back to Vishnu and Arjuna was saved.

8) When Duryodana was about to meet his mother by being totally naked, then lord Krishna instigates him to wear the leaves of banana in order to cover his thighs before meeting Gandhari. When Gandhari removed her blindfold and looked at Duryodana's body, all of his body turned into an diamond except his thighs as they were covered with leaves. This made the thighs vulnerable. This weakness was later exploited by Bheema in order to defeat Duryodana in Gadayudda.

9) Lord Krishna saved the pandavas when Ashwatamma launched an ambush attack on the pandavas camp during night. Consequently, Ashwatamma ended up killing the upapandavas (sons of Draupadi and Pandavas) instead of Pandavas.

10) Lord Krishna revived Parikshit who was killed in Uttara's womb by Ashwatamma's misuse of Brahmastra.

11) Lord Krishna saved Bheema from getting killed from the hands of Dhritarashtra when all the Pandavas came to meet him after the war. Dhritarashtra insists each one of the Pandavas to hug him. When, Bheema approached Dhritarashtra, then Lord Krishna instructed him to place Bheema's iron statue that was used by Duryodayana while practicing Gadayudda, before Dhritarashtra instead of Bheema himself hugging Duryodana's father. Dhritarashtra crushed the iron statue into pieces. Thus, lord Krishna prevented Bheema from getting crushed from the hands of Dhritarashtra.

Parents of the Pandavas[link]

The first three of the Pandavas were the sons of Kunti, and the younger two were sons of Madri. Since Pandu had been cursed to die if ever he had intercourse with a woman, the actual fatherhood of the children is traditionally attributed to various gods, in virtue of a boon that Kunti had received from Durvaasa and had transferred to Madri. Thus, Yudhisthira was the son of Dharma, the god of righteousness; Bhima the son of Vayu, the wind-god; Arjuna the son of Indra, the sky-god; and Nakula and Sahadeva the sons of the Ashwini Gods. Karna was also born of Kunti Devi, and was the son of Surya, the Sun God.

Kunti leading Gandhari. Description: Gandhari, blindfolded, supporting Dhritarashtra and following Kunti when Dhritarashtra became old and infirm and retired to the forest. A miniature painting from a sixteenth century manuscript of part of the Razmnama, the Persian translation of the Hindu epic Mahabharata

Iravati Karve has suggested in her book, Yuganta, that the actual father of Yudhisthira, or of all of the brothers, may have been Vidura (probably since he was considered to be an avatar of Yama), and that this was edited and hidden in the story to strengthen the claim for the kingdom by the brothers. Vidura had been cursed by Sage Mandavya in his last birth that he would take birth as a man and suffer the fate of never becoming a king despite having the qualities of a perfect ruler. And so he was born as Vidura.

However, Iravati Karve's theory has been criticised by many Mahabaharata authorities like Buddhadeb Bose and Nrsimhaprasad Bhaduri on grounds that the author of Mahbharata had no need to "hide" about Yudhisthira's birth when he apparently writes explicitly and undauntedly about all "illicit" relationships.

Pandavas description as per wife Draupadi[link]

Dream portrait of Nakula, the Pandava brother, circa 1725-1750

The Pandava brothers were collectively married to Draupadi. On one occasion, Draupadi was kidnapped and abducted from a hermitage in the forest by the wicked king Jayadratha. When her husbands learned of the crime, they came in hot pursuit. Seeing them approach, Jayadratha asked Draupadi to describe them. Angrily, Draupadi told the king his time was up, and that the knowledge would do him no good. She then proceeded to give the description. (Mahābhārat, Book III: Varna Parva, Section 268.)

• According to Draupadi, Yudhisthira possessed a "complexion like that of pure gold, possessed of a prominent nose and large eyes, and endued with a slender make." Master of the spear. He was just, had a correct sense of morality, and was merciful to surrendering foes. Draupadi counselled Jayadratha to run to Yudhisthira and to beg for forgiveness.
• Draupadi described Bhima as tall and long-armed. In a display of ferocity, he was "biting his lips, and contracting his forehead so as to bring the two eyebrows together." The master of the mace, his superhuman feats had earned him great renown. "They that offend him are never suffered to live. He never forgets a foe. On some pretext or other he wreaks his vengeance."
• Arjuna she praised as the greatest of archers, intelligent, second to none "with senses under complete control." Neither lust nor fear nor anger could make him forsake virtue. Though capable of withstanding any foe, he would never commit an act of cruelty.
• Nakula, said Draupadi, was "the most handsome person in the whole world." An accomplished master swordsman, he was also "versed in every question of morality and profit" and "endued with high wisdom." He was unflinchingly devoted to his brothers, who in turn regarded him as more valuable than their own lives. The name Nakula generally means full of love and the male characteristics implied by the name are: Intelligence, Focus, Hard-Work, Handsomeness, Health, Attractiveness, Success, Popularity, Respect, and unconditional Love.
• Finally, Sahadeva was the youngest of the brothers, and like the others formidable in war and observant of morality. Master of the swords "Heroic, intelligent, wise and ever wrathful, there is not another man equal unto him in intelligence or in eloquence amid assemblies of the wise."

Conch shells[link]

Before going to battle each warrior blew his conch shell to warn his enemies. In old days, each warrior in India had his own unique conch shell and hence had a unique voice of conch shell associated with himself.

• Yudhisthira: Anantha Vijaya
• Bhima: Paundra
• Arjuna: Devadatta
• Nakula: Sughosha
• Sahadeva: Manipuspaka

Others[link]

• Lord Krishna: Panchajanya
• Pandu descendants: Dakshinavarti

References[link]

• Chakravarti V. Narasimhan; The Mahabharata. Columbia University Press, 1965.

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Pandavas

• The Mahābhārata of Vyasa, translated from Sanskrit into English by Kisari Mohan Ganguli and published online at sacred-texts.com.

v t e Mahabharata Kuru Kingdom Shantanu · Ganga · Bhishma · Satyavati · Chitrāngada · Vichitravirya · Ambika · Ambalika · Vidura · Dhritarashtra · Gandhari · Shakuni · Pandu · Kunti · Madri · Yudhisthira · Bhima · Arjuna · Nakula · Sahadeva · Duryodhana · Dushasana · Yuyutsu · Dushala · Draupadi · Hidimbi · Ghatotkacha · Ahilawati · Subhadra · Uttara · Ulupi · Chitrāngadā  · Abhimanyu  · Iravan · Babruvahana · Barbarika · Parikshit  · Janamejaya Other characters Karna · Drona · Amba · Vyasa · Krishna · Satyaki · Dhristadyumna · Sanjaya · Virata · Kichaka · Kripa · Ashwatthama · Ekalavya · Kritavarma · Jarasandha · Mayasura · Durvasa · Jayadratha · Balarama · Drupada · Hidimba · Shalya · Adhiratha · Shikhandi Other Mahābhārata and the Indian caste system · Avatars · Pandava · Kaurava · Hastinapur · Indraprastha · Kingdoms · Kurukshetra War · Bhagavad Gita

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Ray Conniff
Conniff in 1979
Background information
Birth name	Joseph Raymond Conniff
Also known as	Jay Raye
Born	(1916-11-06)November 6, 1916
Died	October 12, 2002(2002-10-12) (aged 85)
Occupations	composer
Instruments	trombone, vocals
Website	http://www.rayconniff.info/

Joseph Raymond Conniff (November 6, 1916 – October 12, 2002) was an American bandleader and arranger best known for his Ray Conniff Singers during the 1960s.

Biography[link]

Conniff was born in Attleboro, Massachusetts, and learned to play the trombone from his father. He studied music arranging from a course book.^[1] After serving in the U.S. Army in World War II (where he worked under Walter Schumann), he joined the Artie Shaw big band and wrote many arrangements for him. After his stint with Shaw he was then hired by Mitch Miller, then head of A&R at Columbia Records, as their home arranger, working with several artists including Rosemary Clooney, Marty Robbins, Frankie Laine, Johnny Mathis, Guy Mitchell and Johnnie Ray. He wrote a top 10 arrangement for Don Cherry's "Band of Gold" in 1955, a single that sold more than a million copies.

Among the hit singles he backed with his orchestra (and eventually with a male chorus) were "Yes Tonight Josephine" and "Just Walkin' in the Rain" by Johnnie Ray; "Chances Are" and "It's Not for Me to Say" by Johnny Mathis; "A White Sport Coat" and "The Hanging Tree" by Marty Robbins; "Moonlight Gambler" by Frankie Laine; "Up Above My Head," a duet by Frankie Laine and Johnnie Ray; and "Pet Me, Poppa" by Rosemary Clooney. He also backed up the albums Tony by Tony Bennett, Blue Swing by Eileen Rodgers, Swingin' for Two by Don Cherry, and half the tracks of The Big Beat by Johnnie Ray.

In these early years he also produced similar-sounding records for Columbia's Epic label under the name of Jay Raye (which stands for "Joseph Raymond") amongst them a backing album and singles with Somethin' Smith and the Redheads, an American male vocal group.

Between 1957 and 1968, Conniff had 28 albums in the American Top 40, the most famous one being Somewhere My Love (1966). He topped the album list in Britain in 1969 with His Orchestra, His Chorus, His Singers, His Sound, an album which was originally published to promote his European tour (Germany, Austria, Switzerland) in 1969. He also was the first American popular artist to record in Russia—in 1974 he recorded Ray Conniff in Moscow with the help of a local choir. His later albums like Exclusivamente Latino, Amor Amor and Latinisimo made him very popular in Latin-American countries, even more so after performing in the Viña del Mar International Song Festival. In Brazil and Chile he was treated like a young pop superstar in the 1980s and 1990s when he was in his 70s and 80s. He even played live with his orchestra and eight-person chorus in large football stadiums as well as in Viña del Mar.

Conniff commented, "One time I was recording an album with Mitch Miller - we had a big band and a small choir. I decided to have the choir sing along with the big band using wordless lyrics. The women were doubled with the trumpets and the men were doubled with the trombones. In the booth Mitch was totally surprised and excited at how well it worked." Because of the success of his backings Mitch Miller and the new sound Conniff created Miller allowed him to make his own record, and this became the successful 'S Wonderful, a collection of standards that were recorded with an orchestra and a wordless singing chorus (four men, four women). He released many more albums in the same vein, including Dance The Bop (1957) (a story follows about that album), S Marvelous (1957, gold album), S Awful Nice (1958), Concert in Rhythm (1958, gold album), Hollywood in Rhythm (1958), Broadway in Rhythm (1959), and Concert in Rhythm, Volume II (1959, gold album). The 1957 album Dance the Bop was an experiment by one of the brass at Columbia to cash in on a conceived dance step creation, but Ray didn't like it from the outset, and when it sold poorly, Ray had it pulled off the market.

The Ray Conniff Singers[link]

In 1959 he started The Ray Conniff Singers (12 women and 13 men) and released the album It's the Talk of the Town. This group brought him the biggest hit he ever had in his career: Somewhere My Love (1966). The title track of the album was written to the music of "Lara's Theme" from the film Doctor Zhivago, and was a top 10 single in the US. The album also reached the US top 20 and went platinum, and Conniff won a Grammy. The single and album reached high positions in the international charts (a.o. Australia, Germany, Great Britain, Japan) as well. Also extraordinarily successful was the first of four Christmas albums by the Singers, Christmas with Conniff (1959). Nearly 50 years after its release, in 2004, Conniff was posthumously awarded with a platinum album/CD. Other well-known releases by the Singers included Ray Conniff's Hawaiian album (1967), featuring the hit song "Pearly Shells"; and Bridge Over Troubled Water (1970), which included Coniff's original composition "Someone", and remakes of such hits as "All I Have to do is Dream", "I'll Never Fall in Love Again", and "Something".

Musically different highlights in Conniff's career are two albums he produced in cooperation with Billy Butterfield, an old friend from earlier swing days. Conniff Meets Butterfield (1959) featured Butterfield's solo trumpet and a small rhythm group; Just Kiddin' Around (after a Conniff original composition from the 1940s), released 1963, featured additional trombone solos by Ray himself. Both albums are pure light jazz and did not feature any vocals.

Later years[link]

Conniff recorded in New York from 1955 through 1961 and mainly in Los Angeles from 1962 through 2000. Later in the 1960s he produced an average of two instrumental and one vocal album a year.

Conniff was a quiet, modest sympathetic artist. He sold about 70 million albums worldwide, and continued recording and performing until his death in 2002.

He died in Escondido, California, and is interred in the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles, California. His grave marker bears a musical score with the first four notes of "Somewhere My Love." Conniff was survived by his wife, Vera; a daughter, Tamara Conniff; son, Jimmy Conniff; and three grandchildren.

Legacy[link]

In 2004, a memorial two-CD compilation set, The Essential Ray Conniff, was released, featuring many rare and previously unreleased tracks. The Singles Collection, Vol. 1 was released on the Collectables label in 2005 and The Singles Collection, Vol. 2 was released in 2007. These collections also feature rare singles and previously unissued tracks.

His music is also featured prominently in the movie There's Something About Mary.

Ray Conniff Singers[link]

From 1962 through 1971, membership in the Ray Conniff Singers included:^[2]

Tenor

• Dick Castle (also known as Dick Kent)
• Dick Cathcart (father of Betsy Cathcart, who provided the singing voice in the Don Bluth film An American Tail)
• Jack Halloran (as in Jack Halloran Singers)
• Jay Meyer
• Verne Rowe
• Bob Shepard
• Bill Stephens

Bass and Baritone

• Wayne Dunstan
• Jimmy Joyce (as in Children's Choir, featured on "Sing" (The Carpenters song))
• Bill Kanady
• Bob Tebow
• Dick Wessler
• Ted Wills

Soprano

• Jackie Allen
• Sally Castle (wife of Dick above)
• Pat Collier
• Betty Joyce (wife of Jimmy, above)
• Loulie Jean Norman
• Myra Stephens
• Laura Savitz
• Lisa Semko

Alto

• B.J. Baker
• Vangie Carmichael
• Rica Moore (the Disney narrator)
• Marge Stafford
• Doreen Tryden
• Karen Wessler

Original albums[link]

Spinoffs[link]

A special version of the song "Happiness Is" was recorded for use in a TV commercial for Kent cigarettes, prior to the ban on TV advertising of tobacco products.

Songs composed by Ray Conniff[link]

• "I Don't Love Nobody but You" (1956)
• "Unwanted Heart" (1956)
• "A Girl Without a Fella" (1956)
• "Please Write While I'm Away" (1956)
• "Love Her in the Morning" (1956)
• "No Wedding Today" (1956; under pseudonym, "Engberg")
• "There's a Place Called Heaven" (1956; under pseudonym, "Engberg")
• "Three Way Love" (1957)
• "Walkin' and Whistlin" (1957)
• "Grown Up Tears" (1957)
• "Steel Guitar Rock" (1957)
• LP Dance the Bop! (1957; all titles)
• "Ann's Theme" (1957; under pseudonym, "Engberg")
• "(If 'n' You Don't) Somebody Else Will" (1957)
• "Just a Beginner in Love" (1957)
• "Window Shopping" (1957)
• "Soliloquy of a Fool" (1957; co-written)
• "When We're All Through School" (1957)
• "Make It Baby" (1957/58)
• "Let's Walk" (1957/58)
• "Lonely for a Letter" (1958)
• "Early Evening (Theme from the Ray Conniff Suite)" (1958)
• "Let's Be Grown Up Too" (1958)
• "Pacific Sunset" (1958)
• "A Love is Born" (1959)
• "Stay" (1959; co-written)
• "Will You Love Me" (1959; co-written)
• "African Safari" (1961)
• "To my Love" (1962)
• "Just Kiddin' Around" (1963; composed in the 1930s)
• "Scarlet" (1963)
• "Love Has no Rules" (1963)
• "The Real Meaning of Christmas" (1965)
• "Midsummer in Sweden" (1966)
• "The Power of Love" (1969)
• "Everybody Knows" (1970)
• "Someone" (1970)
• "With Every Beat of my Heart" (1971)
• "A Man Without a Vision" (1972; co-written with Robert Pickett and Fred Sadoff)
• "Here Today and Gone Tomorrow" (1973)
• "Frost Festival" (1973)
• "Ecstasy" (1974)
• "Ray Conniff In Moscow" (1974)
• "I Need You Baby" (1975)
• "Theme from an X-Rated Movie" (1975)
• "Vera's Theme" (1976)
• "Dama Latina" (1977)
• "The 23rd Psalm" (1979)
• "Exclusivamente Latino" (1980)
• "Fantastico" (1983; co-written)
• "Supersonico" (1984)
• "Campeones" (1985)
• "The Lord's Prayer" (1985)
• "I Can Do All Things" (1986)

References[link]

External links[link]

• The Ray Conniff page
• SpaceAgePop.com biography

• Ray Conniff CDs released on the Collectables label
• The Ray Conniff Lyrics Web Page

Baldev Raj Chopra (B.R. Chopra) (22 April 1914 – 5 November 2008)^[1] was an Indian director and producer of Bollywood movies and television serials. Best known for making Hindi films like Naya Daur (1957), Sadhna (1958), Kanoon (1961), Gumrah (1963) and Humrāz (1967) and the TV Series, Mahabharat in the late 1980s,^[2] he was awarded the Dadasaheb Phalke Award in 1998.^[3]

His younger brother Yash Chopra, son Ravi Chopra and nephew Aditya Chopra are also directors in the Bollywood industry. His nephew, Uday Chopra, is an actor. The second brother Vinod Chopra, found his Vinod Chopra Productions along with his son Vidhu Vinod Chopra and never worked with B.R.Films. His son Vidhu Vinod Chopra is very famous Producer in bollywood with hits like Munnabhai and 3 idiots in his bag.

Biography[link]

Born in Ludhiana, "B.R." received an M.A. in English literature from University of the Punjab in Lahore. He started his career in 1944 as a film journalist with Cine Herald, a film-monthly published in Lahore, he later took over the magazine and ran it until 1947.^[4] In the same year, he launched a film with a story by I. S. Johar, Chandni Chowk. Naeem Hashmi was hero of this movie and Erika Rukhshi was the heroine. Just as the production of film was to start, riots broke out in Lahore and he and his family had to flee from the city. After the partition of India into India and Pakistan in 1947, he moved to Delhi. He later moved to Bombay (Mumbai), where his first production, Karwat, began in 1948, though it turned out to be a flop. His first film as a director, Afsana, was released in 1951 and featured Ashok Kumar in a double role - the film was a hit and established his name in Bollywood. Chopra made Chandni Chowk, with Meena Kumari as a lead, in 1954. In 1955, B.R. formed his own production house, B.R Films. His first movie for this production house was the highly successful Naya Daur (1957) starring Dilip Kumar and Vyjayantimala Bali, the film became a golden jubilee hit. In 1963 he was a member of the jury at the 13th Berlin International Film Festival.^[5]

B.R. was instrumental in developing the career of singer Mahendra Kapoor whom he employed in most of his movies. (Director-producer Yash Chopra cast Mahendra Kapoor's son in Fasle.)

B.R.'s forayed into television with Mahabharat, one of the most successful TV serials in Indian television history. Another of his memorable TV dramas is Bahadur Shah Zafar.

He died in Mumbai at the age of 94 on 5 November 2008,^[6] survived by his son, Ravi Chopra and two daughters.^[7]

Awards[link]

• 1962: Filmfare Best Director Award: Kanoon
• 1998: Dadasaheb Phalke Award
• 1998: Kalakar Awards for Lifetime Achievement^{[citation needed]}
• 2003: Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award
• 2008: Phalke Ratna Award by the Dadasaheb Phalke Academy ^[8]

Filmography[link]

Actor[link]

• Ghar (1978)

Story Writer[link]

• Baghban (2003)
• Bābul (2006)

Director-Producer[link]

• Naya Daur (1957)
• Sadhna (1958)
• Kanoon (1961)
• Gumrah (1963)
• Humrāz (1967)
• Dastān (1972)
• Dhund (1973)
• Karm (1977)
• Pati Patni Aur Woh (1978)
• Insāf Kā Tarāzoo (1980)
• Nikaah (1982)
• Awām (1987)
• Kal Ki Awaz (1992)

Director[link]

• Afsānā (1951)
• Chāndni Chowk (1954)
• Ek Hi Raasta (1956)
• Tawaif (1985)

Producer[link]

• Dhool Kā Phool (1959)
• Dharm Putra (1962)
• Waqt (1965)
• Ittefaq (1969)
• Ādmi Aur Insān (1970)
• Zameer (1975)
• Chhoti Si Bāt (1976)
• The Burning Train (1980)
• Agnee Pareeksha (1982)
• Mazdoor (1983)
• Aaj Ki Awaaz (1984)
• Kirayedār (1986)
• Dahleez (1986)
• Pratigyābadh (1991)
• Baghban (2003)
• Bābul (2006)

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikinews has related news: Indian filmmaker Baldev Raj Chopra dies at age 94

• Baldev Raj Chopra at the Internet Movie Database
• B R Chopra's unforgettable movies Rediff.com

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The Five
Mily Balakirev César Cui Modest Mussorgsky Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov Alexander Borodin
v t e

The Five, also known as The Mighty Handful, The Mighty Five, or The Mighty Coterie (Russian: Могучая кучка, Moguchaya kuchka), refers to a circle of composers who met in Saint Petersburg, Russia, in the years 1856–1870: Mily Balakirev (the leader), César Cui, Modest Mussorgsky, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and Alexander Borodin. The group had the aim of producing a specifically Russian kind of art music, rather than one that imitated older European music or relied on European-style conservatory training. In a sense, they were a branch of the Romantic Nationalist movement in Russia, sharing similar artistic goals with the Abramtsevo Colony and Russian Revival.

History[link]

Name[link]

Vladimir Stasov
(1824–1906)

In May 1867 the critic Vladimir Stasov wrote an article, Mr. Balakirev's Slavic Concert, on a concert given for visiting Slav delegations to the "All-Russian Ethnographical Exhibition" in Moscow. The four Russian composers whose works were played at the concert were Mikhail Glinka, Alexander Dargomyzhsky, Mily Balakirev, and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov.^[1] The article ended with the following statement:

God grant that our Slav guests may never forget today's concert; God grant that they may forever preserve the memory of how much poetry, feeling, talent, and intelligence are possessed by the small but already mighty handful of Russian musicians.^[2]

—Vladimir Stasov, Sankt-Peterburgskie Vedomosti, 1867

The expression "mighty handful" (Russian: Могучая кучка, Moguchaya kuchka, "Mighty Bunch" or "Group"), was mocked by enemies of Balakirev and Stasov: Aleksandr Serov, academic circles of the conservatory, the Russian Musical Society, and their press supporters. The group responded by defiantly adopting the name.^[2] This loose collection of composers gathered around Balakirev now included Cui, Mussorgsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, and Borodin — the five who have come to be associated with the name "Mighty Handful", or sometimes "The Five". Gerald Abraham stated flatly in the Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians that "they never called themselves, nor were they ever called in Russia, 'The Five'"^[3] (although today the Russian equivalent "Пятерка" ("Pyatyorka") is occasionally used to refer to this group).^[4] In his memoirs, Rimsky-Korsakov routinely refers to the group as "Balakirev's circle", and occasionally uses "The Mighty Handful", usually with an ironic tone. He also makes the following reference to "The Five":

If we leave out of account Lodyzhensky, who accomplished nothing, and Lyadov, who appeared later, Balakirev's circle consisted of Balakirev, Cui, Mussorgsky, Borodin, and me (the French have retained the denomination of "Les Cinq" for us to this day).^[5]

—Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov, Chronicle of My Musical Life, 1909

The Russian word kuchka also spawned the terms "kuchkism" and "kuchkist", which may be applied to artistic aims or works in tune with the sensibilities of The Mighty Handful.

The name of Les Six, an even looser collection of French-speaking composers, emulates that of "The Five".

Formation[link]

The formation of the group began in 1856, with the first meeting of Balakirev and César Cui. Modest Mussorgsky joined them in 1857, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov in 1861, and Alexander Borodin in 1862. All the composers in The Five were young men in 1862. Balakirev was 25, Cui 27, Mussorgsky 23, Borodin the eldest at 28, and Rimsky-Korsakov just 18. They were all self-trained amateurs. Borodin combined composing with a career in chemistry. Rimsky-Korsakov was a naval officer (he wrote his First Symphony on a three-year naval voyage circumnavigating the globe). Mussorgsky had been in the Guards, then in the civil service before taking up music; even at the height of his career in the 1870s he was forced by the expense of his drinking habit to hold down a full-time job in the State Forestry Department.^[6]

In contrast to the élite status and court connections of Conservatory composers such as Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, The Five were mainly from the minor gentry of the provinces. To some degree their esprit de corps depended on the myth, which they themselves created, of a movement that was more "authentically Russian," in the sense that it was closer to the native soil, than the classic academy.^[7]

Before them, Mikhail Glinka and Alexander Dargomyzhsky had gone some way towards producing a distinctly Russian kind of music, writing operas on Russian subjects, but The Mighty Handful represented the first concentrated attempt to develop such a music, with Stasov as their artistic adviser and Dargomyzhsky as an elder statesman to the group, so to speak. The circle began to fall apart during the 1870s, no doubt partially due to the fact that Balakirev withdrew from musical life early in the decade for a period of time. All of "The Five" are buried in Tikhvin Cemetery in Saint Petersburg.

Musical language[link]

Stylization[link]

The musical language The Five developed set them far apart from the Conservatoire. This self-conscious Russian styling was based on two elements:

• They tried to incorporate in their music what they heard in village songs, in Cossack and Caucasian dances, in church chants and the tolling of church bells (to the point where the bell tolling became a cliché). The Five's music became filled with imitative sounds of Russian life. They also tried to reproduce the long-drawn, lyrical and melismatic peasant song, what Glinka had once called "the soul of Russian music." Balakirev made this possible by his study of songs from the Volga in the 1860s. More than any previous anthology, his transcriptions artfully preserved the distinctive aspects of Russian folk music:
  • Tonal mutability

  A tune seems to shift naturally from one tonal center to another, often ending up in a different key than the one in which the song began. This can produce a feeling of elusiveness, a lack of definition or of logical progression in the harmony. Even when stylized by The Five, this quality can make Russian music sound very different from the tonal structures of the West.

  • Heterophony

  A melody is simultaneously rendered by two or more performers in different variations. This is improvised by the singers until the end, when the song reverts to a single melodic line.

  • Parallel fifths, fourths and thirds

  The effect lends Russian music a raw sonority missing entirely from the comparatively polished harmonies of Western music.

• The Five also adopted a series of harmonic devices to create a distinct "Russian" style and color different from Western music. This "exotic" styling of "Russia" was not just self-conscious but entirely invented. None of these devices was actually used in Russian folk or church music:
  • Whole tone scale

  Although Glinka did not invent this scale, his application of it in the opera Ruslan and Lyudmila (1842) — most recognizable at the end of the festive overture — provided a characteristic harmonic and melodic device. This scale in "Russian" works often suggests evil or ominous personages or situations. It was used by all the major composers from Tchaikovsky (the appearance of the Countess's ghost in The Queen of Spades) to Rimsky-Korsakov (in all his magic-story operas—Sadko, Kashchey the Deathless and The Invisible City of Kitezh). Claude Debussy also uses this scale in his music, taking this, among many things, from the Russians. Later it became a standard device in horror-movie scores.

  • The Russian submediant^[8]

  Also linked to Glinka's Ruslan, this is a harmonic pattern (in major mode) in which one upper part proceeds from the dominant pitch chromatically to the submediant while the other harmony parts remain constant. The most basic form of this pattern can be shown as follows (beginning with typical tonic): root-position tonic triad --> root-position augmented tonic triad -> 1st inversion submediant minor triad. A famous example of the Russian submediant occurs in the very opening bars of the third movement of Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherezade.

  • Diminished or octatonic scale

  Rimsky-Korsakov first used this in his symphonic poem Sadko in 1867. This scale became a sort of Russian calling-card — a leitmotif of magic and menace used not just by Rimsky-Korsakov but all of his followers, above all Alexander Scriabin, Maurice Ravel, Igor Stravinsky and Olivier Messiaen (mode 2).

  • Modular rotation in sequences of thirds

  The Five made this device of Franz Liszt their own to base a loose symphonic-poem type of structure. This way, they could avoid the rigid Western laws of modulation in sonata form, allowing the form of a musical composition to be shaped entirely by the "content" of the music (its programmatic statements and visual descriptions) rather than by formal laws of symmetry. This loose structure became especially important for Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition, a work that may have done more than any other to define the Russian style.^[9]

  • Pentatonic scale

  This stylistic aspect became used by every Russian nationalist composer.^[10] Its distinctive feature is to have only five notes in the octave, rather than the seven of the heptatonic scales (e.g., major and minor). The pentatonic scale is one of the ways of suggesting a "primitive" folk-melodic style as well as the "Eastern" element (Middle East, Asia). A melodic example of the "major-mode" pentatonic scale (C-D-E-G-A) can be heard at the entrance of the chorus at the beginning of Borodin's Prince Igor.

Orientalism[link]

One hallmark of "The Five" was its reliance on orientalism.^[10] Many quintessentially "Russian" works were composed in orientalist style, such as Balakirev's Islamey, Borodin's Prince Igor and Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade.^[10] Orientalism, in fact, became widely considered in the West both one of the best-known aspects of Russian music and a trait of Russian national character.^[11] As leader of "The Five," Balakirev encouraged the use of eastern themes and harmonies to set their "Russian" music apart from the German symphonism of Anton Rubinstein and other Western-oriented composers.^[10] Because Rimsky-Korsakov used Russian folk and oriental melodies in his First Symphony, Stasov and the other nationalists dubbed it the "First Russian Symphony," even though Rubinstein had written his Ocean Symphony a dozen years before it.^[10] These were themes Balakirev had transcribed in the Caucasus.^[10] "The symphony is good," Cui wrote to Rimsky-Korsakov in 1863, while the latter was out on naval deployment. "We played it a few days ago at Balakirev's—to the great pleasure of Stassov. It is really Russian. Only a Russian could have composed it, because it lacks the slightest trace of any stagnant Germanness."^[12]

Orientalism was not confined to using authentic Eastern melodies.^[13] What became more important than the melodies themselves were the musical conventions added to them.^[13] These conventions allowed orientalism to become an avenue for writing music on subjects considered unmentionable otherwise, such as political themes and erotic fantasies.^[11] It also became a means of expressing Russian supremacy as the empire expanded under Alexander II.^[11] This was often reinforced through misogynist symbolism—the rational, active and moral Western man versus the irrational, passive and immoral Eastern woman.^[11]

Two major works entirely dominated by orientalism are Rimsky-Korsakov's symphonic suite Antar and Balakirev's symphonic poem Tamara.^[13] Antar, set in Arabia, uses two different styles of music, Western (Russian) and Eastern (Arabian).^[13] The first theme, Antar's, is masculine and Russian in character.^[13] The second theme, feminine and oriental in melodic contour, belongs to the queen, Gul Nazar.^[13] Rimsky-Korsakov was able to soften the implicit misogyny to some extent.^[13] However, female sensuality does exert a paralyzing, ultimately destructive influence.^[13] With Gul Nazar extinguishing Antar's life in a final embrace, the woman overcomes the man.^[13]

Balakirev gives a more overtly misogynistic view of oriental women in Tamara.^[13] He had originally planned to write a Caucasan dance called a lezginka, modeled on Glinka, for this work.^[14] However, he discovered a poem by Mikhail Lermontov about the beautiful Tamara, who lived in a tower alongside the gorge of Daryal.^[14] She lured travelers and allowed them to enjoy a night of sensual delights, only to kill them and throw their bodies into the River Terek.^[14] Balakirev uses two specific codes endemic to orientalism in writing Tamara. The first code, based on obsessive rhythms, note repetitions, climactic effects and accelerated tempi, represents Dionysian intoxication.^[13] The second code, consisting of unpredictable rhythms, irregular phrasing and based on long passages with many repeat notes, augmented and diminished intervals and extended melismas, depict sensual longing.^[13] Not only did Balakirev use these codes extensively, but he also attempted to supercharge them further when he revised the orchestration of Tamara in 1898.^[14]

A direct result of such orientalism was the big influence that this circle left on the formation of classical traditions in other nations of the east and south of Russia. For instance, one of Rimsky-Korsakov's famous students, Alexander Spendiaryan went on to become the founder of Armenian classical music, carrying on the traditions and aesthetics of the Mighty Handful to the Caucasus.

Quotations[link]

Rimsky-Korsakov provides the following picture of "The Mighty Handful" in his memoirs, Chronicle of My Musical Life (translated by J. A. Joffe):

Tastes[link]

"The tastes of the circle leaned towards Glinka, Schumann, and Beethoven's last quartets ... they had little respect for Mendelssohn ... Mozart and Haydn were considered out of date and naive ... J. S. Bach was held to be petrified ... Chopin was likened by Balakirev to a nervous society lady ... Berlioz was highly esteemed ...Liszt was comparatively unknown ... Little was said of Wagner ... They respected Dargomyzhsky for the recitative portions of Rusalka ... [but] he was not credited with any considerable talent and was treated with a shade of derision. ...Rubinstein had a reputation as a pianist, but was thought to have neither talent nor taste as a composer."

Balakirev[link]

"Balakirev, who had never had any systematic course in harmony and counterpoint and had not even superficially applied himself to them, evidently thought such studies quite unnecessary ... An excellent pianist, a superior sight reader of music, a splendid improviser, endowed by nature with the sense of correct harmony and part-writing, he possessed a technique partly native and partly acquired through a vast musical erudition, with the help of an extraordinary memory, keen and retentive, which means so much in steering a critical course in musical literature ... He instantly felt every technical imperfection or error, he grasped a defect in form at once. Whenever I or other young men, later on, played him our essays at composition, he instantly caught all the defects of form, modulation, and so on, and forthwith seating himself at the piano, he would improvise and show how the composition in question should be changed exactly as he indicated, and frequently entire passages in other people's compositions became his and not their putative authors' at all. He was obeyed absolutely, for the spell of his personality was tremendous. ... His influence over those around him was boundless, and resembled some magnetic or mesmeric force. ... he despotically demanded that the tastes of his pupils should exactly coincide with his own. The slightest deviation from his taste was severely censured by him. By means of raillery, a parody or caricature played by him, whatever did not suit him at the moment was belittled — and the pupil blushed with shame for his expressed opinion and recanted...."

Abilities[link]

"Balakirev considered me a symphony specialist ... in the sixties, Balakirev and Cui, though very intimate with Mussorgsky and sincerely fond of him, treated him like a lesser light, and of little promise at that, in spite of his undoubted talent. It seemed to them that there was something missing in him and, in their eyes, he was in need of advice and criticism. Balakirev often said that Mussorgsky had "no head" or that his "brains were weak." ... Balakirev thought that Cui understood little in symphony and musical forms and nothing in orchestration, but was a past master in vocal and operatic music; Cui, in turn, thought Balakirev a master in symphony, form, and orchestration, but with little liking for operatic composition and vocal music in general. Thus they complemented each other, but each, in his own way, felt mature and grown up. Borodin, Mussorgsky, and I, however — we were immature and juvenile. Obviously, towards Balakirev and Cui we were in somewhat subordinate relations; their opinions were listened to unconditionally...."

Influence[link]

Except perhaps for Cui, the members of this group influenced or taught many of the great Russian composers who were to follow, including Alexander Glazunov, Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov, Sergei Prokofiev, Igor Stravinsky, and Dmitri Shostakovich. They also influenced the two french symbolist composers Maurice Ravel and Claude Debussy through their radical tonal language.

Timeline[link]

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 from: 1855 till: 1881 color: yellow text: Alexander II
 from: 1881 till: 1894 color: orange text: Alexander III
 from: 1894 till: 1917 color: yellow text: Nicholas II
 bar:Borodin color:Borodin
 from: 1833 till: 1887  
 bar:Cui color:Cui
 from: 1835 till: 1918 
 bar:Balakirev color:Balakirev
 from: 1837 till: 1910  
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</timeline>

See also[link]

• List of Russian composers
• Tchaikovsky and the Five
• Les Six, French composers
• Armenian Mighty Handful
• Group of Eight (music), Spanish composers

References[link]

External links[link]

• Encyclopædia Britannica article about "The Five" [1]
• The Article about The Five in "1000 years of Russian Music" [2]
• Turgenev and Russian Music: The Mighty Handful (with music samples)
• Russian musical influences of The Five on works of Claude Debussy [3]