Approaching the east coast of Redonda.

Redonda is a very small, uninhabited Caribbean island which is part of Antigua and Barbuda,^[1] in the Leeward Islands, West Indies. The island is about 1 mile (1.6 km) long, 0.3 miles (0.48 km) wide, and 971 feet high.[1]

This small island lies between the islands of Nevis and Montserrat 56.2 kilometres (34.9 mi) southwest of Antigua. Redonda is closer to Montserrat than to any other island; it is located at 22.5 kilometres (14.0 mi) northwest of Montserrat, and 32 kilometres (20 mi) southeast of Nevis.

At a distance Redonda resembles one very large rock. It is the remnant of an ancient volcanic core, and the land rises extremely steeply from sea level, mostly as sheer cliffs, especially on the leeward side of the island. At the top of the island there is an area of grassland that slopes fairly steeply to the east. There is no source of freshwater other than rain. Judging by the name he gave the island, to Columbus the island appeared to be rounded, at least in profile. In reality the island is long and narrow. The actual land area of the island is hard to estimate because of the extreme steepness of the slopes, but it is calculated as somewhere between 1.6 square kilometres (400 acres) and 2.6 square kilometres (640 acres). Redonda is uninhabited, except by seabirds and a herd of feral goats that manage to survive on the poor grazing on top of the island. The steepness of the surface and lack of any fresh water source save rainfall makes the island inhospitable to humans.

History[link]

The island of Redonda as seen from Nevis with Montserrat faintly visible in the distance.

Christopher Columbus discovered Redonda in 1493 on his second journey. He claimed it for the Spanish crown, but did not land there. He named the island Santa María la Redonda, meaning Saint Mary the Round, reflecting the island's apparent profile when viewed from the side. In the 1860s, the island became a British possession.

During the decades after the 1860s, the rich guano (phosphine oxide) deposits of Redonda were mined for fertiliser, with an annual yield of up to 7,000 tons. Only during this time was the island inhabited, by workers. The population was 120 in 1901. During the First World War, the mining operations ceased, and the workers left the island, which has remained uninhabited since then. Two stone huts still stand from the time when the island was occupied. Although the closest island to Redonda is Montserrat, and the second closest is Nevis, Redonda became a dependency of somewhat further away Antigua and Barbuda in 1967.

Scientists from the Montserrat Volcano Observatory^[2] visit the island in a helicopter periodically; they are using Redonda as an observation point from which to take measurements of the Soufrière Hills active volcano on Montserrat. The only postcard of Redonda was published by Kimagic.^[3]

The micronation[link]

Redonda is internationally known, in a minor way, as a micronation, because of the curious on-going myth of the "Kings of Redonda", a story which interweaves fact and fiction. According to a (possibly imaginary) version of events, first recounted decades later by M.P. Shiel, an author of fantasy novels: in the year of his birth, 1865, his father Matthew Dowdy Shiell, from Montserrat, decided to celebrate his first male child by arranging (supposedly legitimately) for the boy to be crowned King of Redonda at the age of 15, in a ceremony purportedly carried out on the small island by a bishop.

M.P. Sheil, the son and author, was the first person to ever mention the idea of the "Kingdom of Redonda" and that was in a promotional leaflet for his books. Since then, the title has been "passed down", and continues to the present day. For a period of time the "Royal" lineage of Redonda had a more or less solely literary theme, with the title being given to writers and the like, such as John Gawsworth and Jon Wynne-Tyson. Wynne Tyson later went on to publicly renounce his assumed Kingship of the island on a BBC Radio 4 documentary, Redonda: The Island with Too Many Kings, broadcast May 2007.^[4]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Category:Redonda

References[link]

•  This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Library of Congress Country Studies.
•  This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the CIA World Factbook.

External links[link]

• Antigua and Barbuda Museum

v t e Parishes and dependencies of Antigua and Barbuda Parishes Saint George Saint John Saint Mary Saint Paul Saint Peter Saint Philip Dependencies Barbuda Redonda

Coordinates: 16°56′20″N 62°20′30″W / 16.93889°N 62.34167°W / 16.93889; -62.34167

Angelo Branduardi (born February 12, 1950), is an Italian folk singer and composer who scored relevant success in Italy and European countries such as France, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands.

Biography[link]

Branduardi was born in Cuggiono, a small town in the province of Milan, but early moved with the family to Genoa. He was educated as a classical violinist in the local school of music. At the age of 18, he composed the music for the Confessioni di un malandrino (Hooligan's Confession) by Sergei Yesenin.

He is married to Luisa Zappa, who wrote the lyrics for many of his songs. They have two daughters, Sarah and Maddalena, both musicians.

Works[link]

The beginnings[link]

Branduardi's first album was never released, and resulted from a co-operation with Maurizio Fabrizio, composer and gifted performer. The first released album, Angelo Branduardi '74 was arranged with Paul Buckmaster.

The minstrel[link]

La Luna ("The Moon"), including "Hooligan's Confession" (translation of a poem by Esenin) and the fine, delicate song giving the LP its name, was a prelude to the success of the following works. Alla fiera dell'Est (English edition: Highdown Fair, 1976) was Branduardi's first vastly popular album, followed by La Pulce d'Acqua (English version, Fables and Fantasies 1978) and Cogli la prima mela (English edition, Life is the Only Teacher, 1979). Lyrics for the English versions of Branduardi's albums were written by Peter Sinfield, also lyricist for King Crimson and Emerson, Lake & Palmer.

In those albums, Branduardi exploited themes and patterns from ancient music, mostly Renaissance and early Baroque. The very song "Alla fiera dell'Est" ("At the Eastern Fair") is still popular among Italians of every age, who test themselves to send in memory all the fable-like, repetition-based lyrics. It is based on an old Jewish song in Aramaic ("Chad Gadya" - One Kid Goat) sung at the end of the Passover Seder night service. In 2007 "Alla fiera dell'Est" was covered by Israeli singer Shlomi Shabat for a Passover time commercial for cellphone company Pelephone.

Lyrics had a broad spectrum of inspiration: a Danse macabre, the theme of Satan's mistress, Chinese, Native American and Druidic tradition, the apocryphal Gospels. Concertation owes much to the talents of Maurizio Fabrizio, and exploits unusual instruments for pop music: dulcimer, Pan flute, lute, clarinet, among others - mixed with more standard guitar-bass-and-drums.

Experimentation and crisis[link]

Subsequent albums showed an increasing desire towards experimentation and differentiation. Branduardi (1981) had a more intimate tone, Cercando l'oro ("Searching for Gold", 1983) had very sophisticated and delicate arrangements (starts with a String Quartet), Branduardi canta Yeats ("Branduardi sings Yeats", 1985) was a tribute to William Butler Yeats. Pane e rose ("Bread and Roses", 1988) was a still inspired, but increasingly dark picture of life and death. Il Ladro ("The Thief", 1991) marked a very delicate point of Branduardi's life, edging on depression, echoed in a dark, almost cemeterial, style of singing.

The album Si può fare ("It Can Be Done", 1993) brought back Branduardi to normality, but the artist is now struggling to evade the minstrel character which was now too tight for him. In 1994, he published Domenica e lunedì ("Sunday and Monday"), dedicated to the Italian poet Franco Fortini.

New directions[link]

In 1996, during the celebrations for the restoration of the Duomo of Spilimbergo after the catastrophic 1976 earthquake, he recorded the album Futuro antico ("Ancient Future"), in which he, as an early Baroque musician, keeps reusing, mixing, wording pre-existing material along with his own. This experience, accomplished with the aid of musicians and musicologists, continued with Futuro antico II and Futuro antico III. The same year he performed "Te vojo 'bbene assaje" ("I love you so much" in Neapolitan) with Italian pop singer Eugenio Finardi.

In 1998, Branduardi teamed up with Italian stand-up comedian and writer Giorgio Faletti for Il dito e la luna ("The Finger and the Moon").

He subsequently reworked earlier musical themes with writings of and about St. Francis to produce L'infinitamente piccolo ("The Infinitely Small"); he wrote a musical on the same topic (Francesco).

In 2003, a new album, Altro ed altrove ("Other and Elsewhere"), in a time period marked by a rise of racism and intolerance, brought together (mainly) love stories from several cultures.

Discography[link]

• Angelo Branduardi (1974)
• La luna (1975 - French edition: Confession d'un malandrin, 1981)
• Alla fiera dell'est (1976, Italian Music Critics's Award - French edition: A la foire de l'est - English edition: Highdown Fair, 1978)
• La pulce d'acqua (1977 - English edition: Fables and fantasies, 1980)
• Cogli la prima mela (1979 - French Edition: La demoiselle)
• (1980 - French Edition: va ou le vent te mene avec Maurizio Fabrizio)
• Gulliver,la luna e altri disegni (1980)
• Branduardi '81 (1981)
• Cercando l'oro (1983 - French edition: Tout l'or du monde)
• State buoni se potete (1983, soundtrack for the movie with the same name)
• Branduardi canta Yeats (1986)
• Pane e rose (1988 - French edition: Du pain et des roses)
• Il ladro (1990)
• Musiche da film (1992)
• Si può fare (1992 - French edition: Ça se fait)
• Domenica e lunedì (1994 - French edition: La menace, 1995)
• Camminando camminando (1996, live collection)
• Futuro antico I (1996)
• Il dito e la luna (1998, lyrics by Giorgio Faletti)
• Studio Collection (1998, collection)
• Futuro antico II (1999)
• L'infinitamente piccolo (2000)
• Futuro antico III (2002)
• Altro ed altrove (2003)
• The Platinum Collection (2005, collection)
• Futuro antico IV (2007)
• Senza Spina (2009)

External links[link]

• Official website
• Branduardi.info
• Branduardi-ans Official Mailing List
• Videos of Angelo
• La Locanda del Malandrino - reportages, photos, videos
• Si può fare - Official web radio with complete discography and artist's commentary

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Angelo Branduardi

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Alberto Olmedo
Alberto Olmedo as "Captain Piluso".
Born	(1933-08-24)August 24, 1933 Rosario, Santa Fe, Argentina
Died	March 5, 1988(1988-03-05) (aged 54) Mar del Plata, Argentina
Website
http://www.olmedo.com.ar/

Alberto Olmedo (August 24, 1933 – March 5, 1988) was an Argentine comedian and actor.

Olmedo was born in Barrio Pichincha, Rosario, Santa Fe Province. In his teens, he was a gifted gymnast and an aspiring actor, who tried his luck with several amateur theater companies and enjoyed some local success.

Olmedo moved to Buenos Aires in 1954. One year later, while working as a technician in Canal 7, Argentina's first television station, his improvisation skills caught the attention of the management, who gave him acting jobs in several TV shows.

Even though Olmedo had a string of successful children's programs during the 1960s, the peak of his abilities would arrive when given the opportunity to mix slapstick, nonsense, and adult-oriented entertainment.

Film career[link]

Starting with Gringalet in 1959, Olmedo starred in 49 movies, including: Los Doctores las Prefieren Desnudas (Doctors Prefer Them Naked), in 1973, Maridos en Vacaciones, (Husbands on Vacation, 1975), Fotógrafo de Señoras (Ladies' Photographer, 1978), Las Mujeres Son Cosas de Guapos (1981), Los Fierecillos Indomables (The Indomitable Little Beasts, 1982), Sálvese Quien Pueda (Every Man for Himself, 1984), and Rambito y Rambón, Primera Misión (Little Rambo and Big Rambo, First Mission, 1986). His last movie was Atracción Peculiar, released shortly after his death. Los Fierecillos Indomables had a sequel in 1983.

Many of Olmedo's movies in the 1980s were adult-oriented comedies featuring Jorge Porcel and vedettes Moria Casán and Susana Giménez. Conservative Argentine authorities rated these movies as PM-18 (age 18 and above), save for a few tamer films aimed at family audiences.

The "Olmedo and Porcel" movies are considered to be the pinnacle of Argentina's sexploitation movie genre. Most of these movies were directed by Gerardo Sofovich or his brother Hugo, who also directed Olmedo's TV shows El Chupete (The Pacifier) and No Toca Botón! (Don't Touch That Button!).

TV career[link]

Alberto Olmedo as Capitán Piluso, with Humberto Ortiz, fencing with Guy Williams

Olmedo's Capitán Piluso show was a hit with children in the 1960s, but he preferred working for adult audiences. After acting in the successful Operación Ja Ja weekly show, Olmedo landed his first leading role in El Chupete.

In 1976, shortly after the beginning of the military dictatorship known as the National Reorganization Process, Olmedo had his own death announced on the show. Once the truth was revealed, the actor was punished for his prank and banished from the airwaves for two years.

In the 1980s, No Toca Botón! was the highest-rated show in Argentina. In fits of improvisation, Olmedo would stray from script, tear down props, dash past the cameras, and verbally abuse his fellow actors. He created popular characters such as General González, Rucucu the Ukrainian magician, the dictator of Costa Pobre (a parody of a banana republic ruler; its name is a pun on Costa Rica, since the country's name means "rich coast" and Costa Pobre means "poor coast"), and above all el Manosanta ("the miracle healer"), a multi-level parody on charlatans of all stripes and Argentines' reckless pursuit of sex and money.

Those years saw the blooming of a partnership with character actor Javier Portales, who provided a counterweight to Olmedo's wild improvising.

Olmedo, who was nicknamed el Negro, would evoke his Rosario background by using Rosario slang and narrating implausible stories about his childhood exploits.

Death[link]

Olmedo died in the vacation town of Mar del Plata, Buenos Aires Province, on March 5, 1988. According to police reports, he slipped off his eleventh-floor apartment's balcony. It is believed that he tried, possibly under the influence of alcohol or cocaine [1], to perform a high-wire stunt on the balcony and lost his balance. The only witness to his last moments was girlfriend Nancy Herrera, who was pregnant with his posthumous son Alberto [2].

Olmedo married and divorced twice, and had six children (including Alberto Jr.). He is buried in La Chacarita Cemetery, Buenos Aires.

See also[link]

• Jorge Porcel
• Argentine humour

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Alberto Olmedo

• Alberto Olmedo at cinenacional.com
• "Official" home page (in Spanish)
• Olmedo Bio (in Spanish)
• Alberto Olmedo at the Internet Movie Database
• An exposition of Olmedo-related art

This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. It needs additional citations for verification. Tagged since October 2007. It includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Tagged since February 2008. It relies on references to primary sources or sources affiliated with the subject, rather than references from independent authors and third-party publications. Tagged since October 2007.

Jorge Porcel
Born	Jorge Raúl Porcel de Peralta (1936-09-07)September 7, 1936 Buenos Aires, Argentina
Died	May 16, 2006(2006-05-16) (aged 69) Miami, United States

Jorge Raúl Porcel de Peralta (September 7, 1936 – May 16, 2006) was a comedy actor and television host from Argentina. He was nicknamed El Gordo de América (America's Fat Guy). Porcel is considered, along with Alberto Olmedo, one of Argentina's greatest comic actors of the twentieth century.

Movie career[link]

Porcel made a total of 49 movies, starting with 1962's Disloque en Mar del Plata, and ending with Carlito's Way (1993). Many of these 49 movies were collaborations with Olmedo. Among the movies they did together was 1986's Rambito y Rambón: Primera Misión. (Little Rambo and Big Rambo: First Mission)

Many of Porcel and Olmedo's movies in the 1970s and 1980s were adult-oriented comedies. Conservative Argentine authorities rated these movies as PM-18 (age 18 and above), except for some movies planned for family audiences, which had "tamer" content. These movies are considered to be the pinnacle of Argentina's sexploitation movie genre. Most of these movies were directed by Gerardo Sofovich or his brother Hugo. Porcel virtually stopped appearing in these movies after the accidental death of Olmedo, which left him clinically depressed.

Films[link]

Television career[link]

Porcel had many TV hit shows as well, including Operación Ja Ja (both the 1960s original and the 1980s remake) and Polémica en el Bar (Debate at the Café), where he had celebrated moments of comedy with fellow comedian Juan Carlos Altavista. Most of these TV efforts were linked to the Sofovich brothers.

After he retired from filming movies in Argentina, he moved to Miami, where he starred in a risqué late-night variety show named A la cama con Porcel (To Bed with Porcel) on the Telemundo network, and was given a cameo in Hollywood production Carlito's Way. A La Pasta con Porcel is a restaurant in Miami Beach opened by Porcel and named after his popular television show.

Porcel's health deteriorated with time, due to his struggles with obesity and diabetes, to the point of ending up using a wheelchair in his later years. He toured during 1999 through Latin America to promote his autobiography Laughs, Applause and Tears, visiting such places as Puerto Rico and some other countries in that endeavor. By this time, he had also become a born again Christian.

Porcel died in a hospital in Miami after a gallbladder surgery at the age of 69. His body was flown to Argentina and buried at the Chacarita Cemetery.

See also[link]

• Argentine humour
• List of television presenters/Argentina

References[link]

External links[link]

• Jorge Porcel at the Internet Movie Database
• Jorge Porcel at cinenacional.com
• Obituary at Canada.com