}} ''One Thousand and One Nights'' ( ''Kitāb 'alf layla wa-layla'') is a collection of Middle Eastern and South Asian stories and folk tales compiled in Arabic during the Islamic Golden Age. It is often known in English as the ''Arabian Nights'', from the first English language edition (1706), which rendered the title as ''The Arabian Nights' Entertainment''.

The work as we have it was collected over many centuries by various authors, translators and scholars across the Middle East, Central Asia and North Africa. The tales themselves trace their roots back to ancient and medieval Arabic, Persian, Indian, Turkish, Egyptian and Mesopotamian folklore and literature. In particular, many tales were originally folk stories from the Caliphate era, while others, especially the frame story, are most probably drawn from the Pahlavi Persian work ''Hazār Afsān'' (, lit. ''A Thousand Tales'') which in turn relied partly on Indian elements.

What is common throughout all the editions of the ''Nights'' is the initial frame story of the ruler Shahryār (from , meaning "king" or "sovereign") and his wife Scheherazade (from , possibly meaning "of noble lineage") and the framing device incorporated throughout the tales themselves. The stories proceed from this original tale; some are framed within other tales, while others begin and end of their own accord. Some editions contain only a few hundred nights, while others include 1,001 or more.

Some of the stories of ''The Nights'', particularly "Aladdin's Wonderful Lamp", "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves" and "The Seven Voyages of Sinbad the Sailor", while almost certainly genuine Middle-Eastern folk tales, were not part of ''The Nights'' in Arabic versions, but were interpolated into the collection by Antoine Galland and other European translators.

It is also notable that the innovative and rich poetry and poetic speeches, chants, songs, lamentations, hymns, beseeching, praising, pleading, riddles and annotations provided by Scheherazade or her story characters are unique to the Arabic version of the book. Some are as short as one line, while others go for tens of lines.

Synopsis

The main frame story concerns a Persian king and his new bride. He is shocked to discover that his brother's wife is unfaithful; discovering his own wife's infidelity has been even more flagrant, he has her executed: but in his bitterness and grief decides that all women are the same. The king, Shahryar, begins to marry a succession of virgins only to execute each one the next morning, before she has a chance to dishonour him. Eventually the vizier, whose duty it is to provide them, cannot find any more virgins. Scheherazade, the vizier's daughter, offers herself as the next bride and her father reluctantly agrees. On the night of their marriage, Scheherazade begins to tell the king a tale, but does not end it. The king is thus forced to postpone her execution in order to hear the conclusion. The next night, as soon as she finishes the tale, she begins (and ''only'' begins) a new one, and the king, eager to hear the conclusion, postpones her execution once again. So it goes on for 1,001 nights.

The tales vary widely: they include historical tales, love stories, tragedies, comedies, poems, burlesques and various forms of erotica. Numerous stories depict djinn, magicians, and legendary places, which are often intermingled with real people and geography, not always rationally; common protagonists include the historical caliph Harun al-Rashid, his vizier, Ja'far al-Barmaki, and his alleged court poet Abu Nuwas, despite the fact that these figures lived some 200 years after the fall of the Sassanid Empire in which the frame tale of Scheherazade is set. Sometimes a character in Scheherazade's tale will begin telling other characters a story of his own, and that story may have another one told within it, resulting in a richly layered narrative texture.

The different versions have different individually detailed endings (in some Scheherazade asks for a pardon, in some the king sees their children and decides not to execute his wife, in some other things happen that make the king distracted) but they all end with the king giving his wife a pardon and sparing her life.

The narrator's standards for what constitutes a cliffhanger seem broader than in modern literature. While in many cases a story is cut off with the hero in danger of losing his life or another kind of deep trouble, in some parts of the full text Scheherazade stops her narration in the middle of an exposition of abstract philosophical principles or complex points of Islamic philosophy, and in one case during a detailed description of human anatomy according to Galen—and in all these cases turns out to be justified in her belief that the king's curiosity about the sequel would buy her another day of life.

History: versions and translations

The history of the ''Nights'' is extremely complex and modern scholars have made many attempts to untangle the story of how the collection as it currently exists came about. Robert Irwin summarises their findings: "In the 1880s and 1890s a lot of work was done on the ''Nights'' by [the scholar] Zotenberg and others, in the course of which a consensus view of the history of the text emerged. Most scholars agreed that the Nights was a composite work and that the earliest tales in it came from India and Persia. At some time, probably in the early 8th century, these tales were translated into Arabic under the title ''Alf Layla'', or 'The Thousand Nights'. This collection then formed the basis of ''The Thousand and One Nights''. The original core of stories was quite small. Then, in Iraq in the ninth or tenth century, this original core had Arab stories added to it – among them some tales about the Caliph Harun al-Rashid. Also, perhaps from the tenth century onwards, previously independent sagas and story cycles were added to the compilation [...] Then, from the thirteenth century onwards, a further layer of stories was added in Syria and Egypt, many of these showing a preoccupation with sex, magic or low life. In the early modern period yet more stories were added to the Egyptian collections so as to swell the bulk of the text sufficiently to bring its length up to the full 1,001 nights of storytelling promised by the book’s title."

Speculation about Indian origins

Some scholars have seen an ultimate Indian origin for the ''Nights''. This is because the collection makes use of devices found in Sanskrit literature: frame stories and animal fables. Indian folklore is represented in the ''Nights'' by certain animal stories, which reflect influence from ancient Sanskrit fables. The influence of the ''Panchatantra'' and ''Baital Pachisi'' is particularly notable. ''The Jataka Tales'' are a collection of 547 Buddhist stories, which are for the most part moral stories with an ethical purpose. ''The Tale of the Bull and the Ass'' and the linked ''Tale of the Merchant and his Wife'' are found in the frame stories of both the ''Jataka'' and the ''Nights''.

Persian prototype: ''Hazār Afsān''

The earliest mentions of the ''Nights'' refer to it as an Arabic translation from a Persian book, ''Hazār Afsān'' (or ''Afsaneh'' or ''Afsana''), meaning "The Thousand Stories". In the 10th century Ibn al-Nadim compiled a catalogue of books (the "Fihrist") in Baghdad. He noted that the Sassanid kings of Iran enjoyed "evening tales and fables". Al-Nadim then writes about the Persian ''Hazār Afsān'', explaining the frame story it employs: a bloodthirsty king kills off a succession of wives after their wedding night; finally one concubine had the intelligence to save herself by telling him a story every evening, leaving each tale unfinished until the next night so that the king would delay her execution. In the same century Al-Masudi also refers to the ''Hazār Afsān'', saying the Arabic translation is called ''Alf Khurafa'' ("A Thousand Entertaining Tales") but is generally known as ''Alf Layla'' ("A Thousand Nights"). He mentions the characters Shirazd (Scheherazade) and Dinazad. No physical evidence of the ''Hazār Afsān'' has survived so its exact relationship with the existing later Arabic versions remains a mystery. However, in the mid-20th century the scholar Nabia Abbott found a document with a few lines of an Arabic work with the title ''The Book of the Tale of a Thousand Nights'', dating from the ninth century. This is the earliest surviving fragment of the ''Nights''.

The Scheherezade frame story of the ''Nights'' as it now exists was taken from the Persian prototype. Several other tales have Persian origins, although it is unclear how they entered the collection. They include the cycle of "King Jali'ad and his Wazir Shimas" and "The Ten Wazirs or the History of King Azadbakht and his Son" (derived from the seventh-century Persian ''Bakhtiyarnama'').

Arabic versions

The first reference to the Arabic version under its full title ''The One Thousand and One Nights'' appears in Cairo in the 12th century. Professor Dwight Reynolds describes the subsequent transformations of the Arabic version: "Some of the earlier Persian tales may have survived within the Arabic tradition altered such that Arabic Muslim names and new locations were substituted for pre-Islamic Persian ones, but it is also clear that whole cycles of Arabic tales were eventually added to the collection and apparently replaced most of the Persian materials. One such cycle of Arabic tales centres around a small group of historical figures from 9th-century Baghdad, including the caliph Harun al-Rashid (died 809), his vizier Jafar al-Barmaki (d.803) and the licentious poet Abu Nuwas (d. c. 813). Another cluster is a body of stories from late medieval Cairo in which are mentioned persons and places that date to as late as the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries."

Two main Arabic manuscript traditions of the Nights are known: the Syrian and the Egyptian. The Syrian tradition includes the oldest manuscripts; these versions are also much shorter and include fewer tales. It is represented in print by the so-called ''Calcutta I'' (1814–1818) and most notably by the ''Leiden edition'' (1984), which is based above all on the ''Galland manuscript''. It is believed to be the purest expression of the style of the mediaeval ''Arabian Nights''.

Texts of the Egyptian tradition emerge later and contain many more tales of much more varied content; a much larger number of originally independent tales have been incorporated into the collection over the centuries, most of them after the Galland manuscript was written, and were being included as late as in the 18th and 19th centuries, perhaps in order to attain the eponymous number of 1001 nights. The final product of this tradition, the so-called Zotenberg Egyptian Recension, does contain 1001 nights and is reflected in print, with slight variations, by the editions known as the ''Bulaq'' (1835) and the ''Macnaghten'' or ''Calcutta II'' (1839–1842).

All extant substantial versions of both recensions share a small common core of tales, namely:

The Merchant and the Demon.

The Fisherman and the Jinni.

The Story of the Porter and the Three Ladies.

The Hunchback cycle.

The Story of the Three Apples, enframing the Story of Nur al-Din and Shams al-Din

The Story of Nur al-Din Ali and Anis al-Jalis

The Story of Ali Ibn Baqqar and Shams al-Nahar, and

The Story of Qamar al-Zaman.

The texts of the Syrian recension don't contain much beside that core. It is debated which of the Arabic recensions is more "authentic" and closer to the original: the Egyptian ones have been modified more extensively and more recently, and scholars such as Muhsin Mahdi have suspected that this may have been caused in part by European demand for a "complete version"; but it appears that this type of modification has been common throughout the history of the collection, and independent tales have always been added to it.

Modern translations

The first European version (1704–1717) was translated into French by Antoine Galland from an Arabic text of the Syrian recension and other sources. This 12-volume book, ''Les Mille et une nuits, contes arabes traduits en français'' ("Thousand and one nights, Arab stories translated into French"), included stories that were not in the original Arabic manuscript. "Aladdin's Lamp" and "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves" appeared first in Galland's translation and cannot be found in any of the original manuscripts. He wrote that he heard them from a Syrian Christian storyteller from Aleppo, a Maronite scholar whom he called "Hanna Diab." Galland's version of the ''Nights'' was immensely popular throughout Europe, and later versions were issued by Galland's publisher using Galland's name without his consent.

As scholars were looking for the presumed "complete" and "original" form of the Nights, they naturally turned to the more voluminous texts of the Egyptian recension, which soon came to be viewed as the "standard version". The first translations of this kind, such as that of Edward Lane (1840, 1859), were bowdlerized. Unabridged and unexpurgated translations were made, first by John Payne, under the title ''The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night'' (1882, nine volumes), and then by Sir Richard Francis Burton, entitled ''The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night'' (1885, ten volumes) – the latter was, according to some assessments, partially based on the former, leading to charges of plagiarism. In view of the sexual imagery in the source texts (which Burton even emphasized further, especially by adding extensive footnotes and appendices on Oriental sexual mores) and the strict Victorian laws on obscene material, both of these translations were printed as private editions for subscribers only, rather than published in the usual manner. Burton's original 10 volumes were followed by a further six entitled ''The Supplemental Nights to the Thousand Nights and a Night'', which were printed between 1886 and 1888. It has, however, been severely criticized for its "archaic language and extravagant idiom" and "obsessive focus on sexuality" (and has even been condemned as an "eccentric ego-trip" and a "highly personal reworking of the text").

Later versions of the ''Nights'' include that of the French doctor J. C. Mardrus, issued from 1898 to 1904. It was translated into English by Powys Mathers, and issued in 1923. Like Payne's and Burton's texts, it is based on the Egyptian recension and retains the erotic material, indeed expanding on it, but it has been criticized for inaccuracy.

A notable recent version, which reverts to the Syrian recension, is a critical edition based on the 14th or 15th century Syrian manuscript in the Bibliothèque Nationale, originally used by Galland. This version, known as the Leiden text, was compiled in Arabic by Muhsin Mahdi (1984) and rendered into English by Husain Haddawy (1990). Mahdi argued that this version is the earliest extant one (a view that is largely accepted today) and that it reflects most closely a "definitive" coherent text ancestral to all others that he believed to have existed during the Mamluk period (a view that remains contentious). Still, even scholars who deny this version the exclusive status of "the only ''real'' Arabian Nights" recognize it as being the best source on the original ''style'' and linguistic form of the mediaeval work and praise the Haddawy translation as "very readable" and "strongly recommended for anyone who wishes to taste the authentic flavour of those tales". An additional second volume of ''Arabian nights'' translated by Haddawy, composed of popular tales ''not'' present in the Leiden edition, was published in 1995.

In 2008 a new English translation was published by Penguin Classics in three volumes. It is translated by Malcolm C. Lyons and Ursula Lyons with introduction and annotations by Robert Irwin. This is the first complete translation of the Macnaghten or Calcutta II edition (Egyptian recension) since Sir Richard Burton. It contains, in addition to the standard text of 1001 Nights, the so-called "orphan stories" of ''Aladdin'' and ''Ali Baba'' as well as an alternative ending to ''The seventh journey of Sindbad'' from Antoine Galland's original French. As the translator himself notes in his preface to the three volumes, "[N]o attempt has been made to superimpose on the translation changes that would be needed to 'rectify' ... accretions, ... repetitions, non sequiturs and confusions that mark the present text," and the work is a "representation of what is primarily oral literature, appealing to the ear rather than the eye." The Lyons translation includes all the poetry, omitted in some translations, but does not attempt to reproduce in English the internal rhyming of some prose sections of the original Arabic.

Timeline

Scholars have assembled a timeline concerning the publication history of ''The Nights'':

One of the oldest Arabic manuscript fragments from Syria (a few handwritten pages) dating to the early 9th century. Discovered by scholar Nabia Abbott in 1948, it bears the title ''Kitab Hadith Alf Layla'' ("The Book of the Tale of the Thousand Nights") and the first few lines of the book in which Dinazad asks Shirazad (Scheherazade) to tell him stories.

10th century – Mention of ''Hazar Afsan'' in Ibn al-Nadim's "Fihrist" (Catalogue of books) in Baghdad. He attributes a pre-Islamic Sassanian Persian origin to the collection and refers to the frame story of Scheherazade telling stories over a thousand nights to save her life. However, according to al-Nadim, the book contains only 200 stories. Curiously, al-Nadim also writes disparagingly of the collection's literary quality, observing that "it is truly a coarse book, without warmth in the telling".

10th century – Reference to ''The Thousand Nights'', an Arabic translation of the Persian ''Hazar Afsan'' ("Thousand Stories"), in ''Muruj Al-Dhahab'' (The Meadows of Gold) by Al-Masudi.

11th century – Mention of ''The Nights'' by Qatran Tabrizi in the following couplet in Persian:

هزار ره صفت هفت خوان و رويين دژ فرو شنيدم و خواندم من از ''هزار افسان''

A thousand times, accounts of ''Rouyin Dezh'' and ''Haft Khān'' I heard and read from ''Hezār Afsān'' (literally Thousand Fables)

12th century; - A document from Cairo refers to a Jewish bookseller lending a copy of ''The Thousand and One Nights'' (this is the first appearance of the final form of the title).

14th century – Existing Syrian manuscript in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris (contains about 300 tales).

1704 – Antoine Galland's French translation is the first European version of ''The Nights''. Later volumes were introduced using Galland's name though the stories were written by unknown persons at the behest of the publisher wanting to capitalize on the popularity of the collection.

1706 – An anonymously translated version in English appears in Europe dubbed the "Grub Street" version. This is entitled ''The Arabian Nights' Entertainment'' - the first known use of the common English title of the work.

1775 – Egyptian version of ''The Nights'' called "ZER" (Hermann Zotenberg's Egyptian Recension) with 200 tales (no surviving edition exists).

1814 – Calcutta I, the earliest existing Arabic printed version, is published by the British East India Company. A second volume was released in 1818. Both had 100 tales each.

Early 19th century: Modern Persian translations of the text are made, variously under the title ''Alf leile va leile'', ''Hezār-o yek šab'' (), or, in distorted Arabic, ''Alf al-leil''. One early extant version is that illustrated by Sani al-Molk (1814–1866) for Mohammad Shah Qajar.

1825–1838 – The Breslau/Habicht edition is published in Arabic in 8 volumes. Christian Maxmilian Habicht (born in Breslau, Germany, 1775) collaborated with the Tunisian Murad Al-Najjar and created this edition containing 1001 stories. Using versions of ''The Nights'', tales from Al-Najjar, and other stories from unknown origins Habicht published his version in Arabic and German.

1842–1843 – Four additional volumes by Habicht.

1835 Bulaq version – These two volumes, printed by the Egyptian government, are the oldest printed (by a publishing house) version of ''The Nights'' in Arabic by a non-European. It is primarily a reprinting of the ZER text.

1839–1842 – Calcutta II (4 volumes) is published. It claims to be based on an older Egyptian manuscript (which was never found). This version contains many elements and stories from the Habicht edition.

1838 – Torrens version in English.

1838–1840 – Edward William Lane publishes an English translation. Notable for its exclusion of content Lane found "immoral" and for its anthropological notes on Arab customs by Lane.

1882–1884 – John Payne publishes an English version translated entirely from Calcutta II, adding some tales from Calcutta I and Breslau.

1885–1888 – Sir Richard Francis Burton publishes an English translation from several sources (largely the same as Payne). His version accentuated the sexuality of the stories ''vis-à-vis'' Lane's bowdlerized translation.

1889–1904 – J. C. Mardrus publishes a French version using Bulaq and Calcutta II editions.

1984 – Muhsin Mahdi publishes an Arabic edition which he claims is faithful to the oldest Arabic versions surviving (primarily based on the Syrian manuscript in the Bibliothèque Nationale in combination with other early manuscripts of the Syrian branch).

1990 – Husain Haddawy publishes an English translation of Mahdi.

2008 — New Penguin Classics translation (in three volumes) by Malcolm C. Lyons and Ursula Lyons of the Calcutta II edition

Literary themes and techniques

The ''One Thousand and One Nights'' and various tales within it make use of many innovative literary techniques, which the storytellers of the tales rely on for increased drama, suspense, or other emotions. Some of these date back to earlier Persian, Indian and Arabic literature, while others were original to the ''One Thousand and One Nights''.

Frame story

An early example of the frame story, or framing device, is employed in the ''One Thousand and One Nights'', in which the character Scheherazade narrates a set of tales (most often fairy tales) to the Sultan Shahriyar over many nights. Many of Scheherazade's tales are also frame stories, such as the ''Tale of Sindbad the Seaman and Sindbad the Landsman'' being a collection of adventures related by Sindbad the Seaman to Sindbad the Landsman. The concept of the frame story dates back to ancient Sanskrit literature, and was introduced into Persian and Arabic literature through the ''Panchatantra''.

Embedded narrative

An early example of the "story within a story" technique can be found in the ''One Thousand and One Nights'', which can be traced back to earlier Persian and Indian storytelling traditions, most notably the ''Panchatantra'' of ancient Sanskrit literature. The ''Nights'', however, improved on the ''Panchatantra'' in several ways, particularly in the way a story is introduced. In the ''Panchatantra'', stories are introduced as didactic analogies, with the frame story referring to these stories with variants of the phrase "If you're not careful, that which happened to the louse and the flea will happen to you." In the ''Nights'', this didactic framework is the least common way of introducing the story, but instead a story is most commonly introduced through subtle means, particularly as an answer to questions raised in a previous tale.

An early example of the "story within a story within a story" device is also found in the ''One Thousand and One Nights'', where the general story is narrated by an unknown narrator, and in this narration the stories are told by Scheherazade. In most of Scheherazade's narrations there are also stories narrated, and even in some of these, there are some other stories. This is particularly the case for the "Sinbad the Sailor" story narrated by Scheherazade in the ''One Thousand and One Nights''. Within the "Sinbad the Sailor" story itself, the protagonist Sinbad the Sailor narrates the stories of his seven voyages to Sinbad the Porter. The device is also used to great effect in stories such as "The Three Apples" and "The Seven Viziers". In yet another tale Scheherazade narrates, "The Fisherman and the Jinni", the "Tale of the Wazir and the Sage Duban" is narrated within it, and within that there are three more tales narrated.

Dramatic visualization

Dramatic visualization is "the representing of an object or character with an abundance of descriptive detail, or the mimetic rendering of gestures and dialogue in such a way as to make a given scene 'visual' or imaginatively present to an audience". This technique dates back to the ''One Thousand and One Nights''. An example of this is the tale of "The Three Apples" (see Crime fiction elements below).

Fate and destiny

A common theme in many ''Arabian Nights'' tales is fate and destiny. The Italian filmmaker Pier Paolo Pasolini observed:

Though invisible, fate may be considered a leading character in the ''One Thousand and One Nights''. The plot devices often used to present this theme are coincidence, reverse causation and the self-fulfilling prophecy (see Foreshadowing below).

Foreshadowing

Early examples of the foreshadowing technique of repetitive designation, now known as "Chekhov's gun", occur in the ''One Thousand and One Nights'', which contains "repeated references to some character or object which appears insignificant when first mentioned but which reappears later to intrude suddenly in the narrative". A notable example is in the tale of "The Three Apples" (see Crime fiction elements below).

Another early foreshadowing technique is ''formal patterning'', "the organization of the events, actions and gestures which constitute a narrative and give shape to a story; when done well, formal patterning allows the audience the pleasure of discerning and anticipating the structure of the plot as it unfolds". This technique also dates back to the ''One Thousand and One Nights''.

Another form of foreshadowing is the self-fulfilling prophecy, which dates back to the story of Krishna in ancient Sanskrit literature. A variation of this device is the self-fulfilling dream, which dates back to medieval Arabic literature. Several tales in the ''One Thousand and One Nights'' use this device to foreshadow what is going to happen, as a special form of literary prolepsis. A notable example is "The Ruined Man who Became Rich Again through a Dream", in which a man is told in his dream to leave his native city of Baghdad and travel to Cairo, where he will discover the whereabouts of some hidden treasure. The man travels there and experiences misfortune, ending up in jail, where he tells his dream to a police officer. The officer mocks the idea of foreboding dreams and tells the protagonist that he himself had a dream about a house with a courtyard and fountain in Baghdad where treasure is buried under the fountain. The man recognizes the place as his own house and, after he is released from jail, he returns home and digs up the treasure. In other words, the foreboding dream not only predicted the future, but the dream was the cause of its prediction coming true. A variant of this story later appears in English folklore as the "Pedlar of Swaffham" and Paulo Coelho's "The Alchemist"; Jorge Luis Borges' collection of short stories ''A Universal History of Infamy'' featured his translation of this particular story into Spanish, as "The Story Of The Two Dreamers."

Another variation of the self-fulfilling prophecy can be seen in "The Tale of Attaf", where Harun al-Rashid consults his library (the House of Wisdom), reads a random book, "falls to laughing and weeping and dismisses the faithful ''vizier''" Ja'far ibn Yahya from sight. Ja'afar, "disturbed and upset flees Baghdad and plunges into a series of adventures in Damascus, involving Attaf and the woman whom Attaf eventually marries." After returning to Baghdad, Ja'afar reads the same book that caused Harun to laugh and weep, and discovers that it describes his own adventures with Attaf. In other words, it was Harun's reading of the book that provoked the adventures described in the book to take place. This is an early example of reverse causation. Near the end of the tale, Attaf is given a death sentence for a crime he didn't commit but Harun, knowing the truth from what he has read in the book, prevents this and has Attaf released from prison. In the 12th century, this tale was translated into Latin by Petrus Alphonsi and included in his ''Disciplina Clericalis'', alongside the "Sinbad the Sailor" story cycle. In the 14th century, a version of "The Tale of Attaf" also appears in the ''Gesta Romanorum'' and Giovanni Boccaccio's ''The Decameron''.

Repetition

''Leitwortstil'' is 'the purposeful repetition of words' in a given literary piece that "usually expresses a motif or theme important to the given story". This device occurs in the ''One Thousand and One Nights'', which binds several tales in a story cycle. The storytellers of the tales relied on this technique "to shape the constituent members of their story cycles into a coherent whole."

Thematic patterning is "the distribution of recurrent thematic concepts and moralistic motifs among the various incidents and frames of a story. In a skillfully crafted tale, thematic patterning may be arranged so as to emphasize the unifying argument or salient idea which disparate events and disparate frames have in common". This technique also dates back to the ''One Thousand and One Nights'' (and earlier).

Several different variants of the "Cinderella" story, which has its origins in the Egyptian story of Rhodopis, appear in the ''One Thousand and One Nights'', including "The Second Shaykh's Story", "The Eldest Lady's Tale" and "Abdallah ibn Fadil and His Brothers", all dealing with the theme of a younger sibling harassed by two jealous elders. In some of these, the siblings are female, while in others they are male. One of the tales, "Judar and His Brethren", departs from the happy endings of previous variants and reworks the plot to give it a tragic ending instead, with the younger brother being poisoned by his elder brothers.

Satire and parody

The ''Nights'' contain many examples of sexual humour. Some of this borders on satire, as in the tale called "Ali with the Large Member" which pokes fun at obsession with human penis size.

Repetition is also used to humorous effect in the ''One Thousand and One Nights''. Sheherezade sometimes follows up a relatively serious tale with a cruder or more broadly humorous version of the same tale. For example, "Wardan the Butcher's Adventure With the Lady and the Bear" is paralleled by "The King's Daughter and the Ape", "Harun al-Rashid and the Two Slave-Girls" by "Harun al-Rashid and the Three Slave-Girls", and "The Angel of Death With the Proud King and the Devout Man" by "The Angel of Death and the Rich King". The idea has been put forward that these pairs of tales are deliberately intended as examples of self parody, although this assumes a greater degree of editorial control by a single writer than the history of the collection as a whole would seem to indicate.

Unreliable narrator

The literary device of the unreliable narrator was used in several fictional medieval Arabic tales of the ''One Thousand and One Nights''. In one tale, "The Seven Viziers" (also known as "Craft and Malice of Women or The Tale of the King, His Son, His Concubine and the Seven Wazirs"), a courtesan accuses a king's son of having assaulted her, when in reality she had failed to seduce him (inspired by the Qur'anic/Biblical story of Yusuf/Joseph). Seven viziers attempt to save his life by narrating seven stories to prove the unreliability of women, and the courtesan responds back by narrating a story to prove the unreliability of viziers. The unreliable narrator device is also used to generate suspense in "The Three Apples" and humor in "The Hunchback's Tale" (see Crime fiction elements below).

Crime fiction elements

The earliest known murder mystery and suspense thriller with multiple plot twists and detective fiction elements was "The Three Apples", also known as ''Hikayat al-sabiyya 'l-muqtula'' ("The Tale of the Murdered Young Woman"), one of the tales narrated by Scheherazade in the ''One Thousand and One Nights''. In this tale, a fisherman discovers a heavy locked chest along the Tigris river and he sells it to the Abbasid Caliph, Harun al-Rashid, who then has the chest broken open only to find inside it the dead body of a young woman who was cut into pieces. Harun orders his vizier, Ja'far ibn Yahya, to solve the crime and find the murderer within three days or else he will have him executed instead. This whodunit mystery may thus be considered an archetype for detective fiction. Ja'far, however, fails to find the culprit before the deadline. Just when Harun is about to have Ja'far executed for his failure, a plot twist occurs when two men appear, one a handsome young man and the other an old man, both claiming to be the murderer. Both men argue and call each other liars as each attempts to claim responsibility for the murder. This continues until the young man proves that he is the murderer by accurately describing the chest in which the young woman was found.

The young man reveals that he was her husband and the old man her father, who was attempting to save his son-in-law by taking the blame. Harun then demands to know his motives for murdering his wife, and the young man then narrates his reasons as a flashback of events preceding Harun's discovery of the locked chest. He eulogizes her as a faultless wife and mother of his three children, and describes how she one day requested a rare apple when she was ill. He then describes his two-week long journey to Basra, where he finds three such apples at the Caliph's orchard. On his return to Baghdad, he finds out that she would no longer eat the apples because of her lingering illness. When he returns to work at his shop, he discovered a slave passing by with the same apple. He asked him about it and the slave replied that he received it from his girlfriend, who had three such apples that her husband found for her after a half-month journey. The young man then suspected his wife of unfaithfulness, rushed home, and demanded to know how many apples remained there. After finding one of the apples missing, he drew a knife and killed her. He then describes how he attempted to get rid of the evidence by cutting her body to pieces, wrapping it in multiple layers of shawls and carpets, hiding her body in a locked chest, and abandoning it in the Tigris river. Yet another twist occurs after he returns home and his son confesses to him that he had stolen one of the apples, and a slave had taken it and run off with it. The boy also confesses that he told the slave about his father's quest for the three apples. Out of guilt, the young man concludes his story by requesting Harun to execute him for his unjust murder. Harun, however, refuses to punish the young man out of sympathy, but instead sets Ja'far a new assignment: to find the tricky slave who caused the tragedy within three days, or be executed for his failure.

Ja'far yet again fails to find the culprit before the deadline has passed. On the day of the deadline, he is summoned to be executed for his failure. As he bids farewell to all his family members, he hugs his beloved youngest daughter last. It is then, by complete accident, that he discovers a round object in her pocket which she reveals to be an apple with the name of the Caliph written on it. In the story's twist ending, the girl reveals that she brought it from their slave, Rayhan. Ja'far thus realizes that his own slave was the culprit all along. He then finds Rayhan and solves the case as a result. Ja'far, however, pleads to Harun to forgive his slave and, in exchange, narrates to him the "Tale of Núr al-Dín Alí and His Son Badr al-Dín Hasan".

"The Three Apples" served as an inspiration for Hugo von Hofmannsthal's ''The Golden Apple'' (''Der Goldene Apfel'') (1897). It has also been noted that the flashback narrated by the young man in "The Three Apples" resembles the later story of Shakespeare's ''Othello'' (1603), which was itself based on "Un Capitano Moro", a tale from Giovanni Battista Giraldi's ''Gli Hecatommithi'' (1565).

Another ''Nights'' tale with crime fiction elements was "The Hunchback's Tale" story cycle which, unlike "The Three Apples", was more of a suspenseful comedy and courtroom drama rather than a murder mystery or detective fiction. The story is set in a fictional China and begins with a hunchback, the emperor's favourite comedian, being invited to dinner by a tailor couple. The hunchback accidentally chokes on his food from laughing too hard and the couple, fearful that the emperor will be furious, take his body to a Jewish doctor's clinic and leave him there. This leads to the next tale in the cycle, the "Tale of the Jewish Doctor", where the doctor accidentally trips over the hunchback's body, falls down the stairs with him, and finds him dead, leading him to believe that the fall had killed him. The doctor then dumps his body down a chimney, and this leads to yet another tale in the cycle, which continues with twelve tales in total, leading to all the people involved in this incident finding themselves in a courtroom, all making different claims over how the hunchback had died. Crime fiction elements are also present near the end of "The Tale of Attaf" (see Foreshadowing above).

Horror fiction elements

Haunting is used as a plot device in gothic fiction and horror fiction, as well as modern paranormal fiction. Legends about haunted houses have long appeared in literature. In particular, the ''Arabian Nights'' tale of "Ali the Cairene and the Haunted House in Baghdad" revolves around a house haunted by jinns. The ''Nights'' is almost certainly the earliest surviving literature that mentions ghouls, and many of the stories in that collection involve or reference ghouls. A prime example is the story ''The History of Gherib and His Brother Agib'' (from ''Nights'' vol. 6), in which Gherib, an outcast prince, fights off a family of ravenous Ghouls and then enslaves them and converts them to Islam.

Horror fiction elements are also found in "The City of Brass" tale, which revolves around a ghost town.

The horrific nature of Scheherazade's situation is magnified in Stephen King's ''Misery'', in which the protagonist is forced to write a novel to keep his captor from torturing and killing him. The influence of the ''Nights'' on modern horror fiction is certainly discernible in the work of H. P. Lovecraft. As a child, he was fascinated by the adventures recounted in the book, and he attributes some of his creations to his love of the ''1001 Nights''.

Science fiction elements

Several stories within the ''One Thousand and One Nights'' feature early science fiction elements. One example is "The Adventures of Bulukiya", where the protagonist Bulukiya's quest for the herb of immortality leads him to explore the seas, journey to Paradise and to Hell, and travel across the cosmos to different worlds much larger than his own world, anticipating elements of galactic science fiction; along the way, he encounters societies of djinns, mermaids, talking serpents, talking trees, and other forms of life. In "Abu al-Husn and His Slave-Girl Tawaddud", the heroine Tawaddud gives an impromptu lecture on the mansions of the Moon, and the benevolent and sinister aspects of the planets.

In another ''1001 Nights'' tale, "Abdullah the Fisherman and Abdullah the Merman", the protagonist Abdullah the Fisherman gains the ability to breathe underwater and discovers an underwater submarine society that is portrayed as an inverted reflection of society on land, in that the underwater society follows a form of primitive communism where concepts like money and clothing do not exist. Other ''Arabian Nights'' tales also depict Amazon societies dominated by women, lost ancient technologies, advanced ancient civilizations that went astray, and catastrophes which overwhelmed them. "The City of Brass" features a group of travellers on an archaeological expedition across the Sahara to find an ancient lost city and attempt to recover a brass vessel that Solomon once used to trap a jinn, and, along the way, encounter a mummified queen, petrified inhabitants, life-like humanoid robots and automata, seductive marionettes dancing without strings, and a brass horseman robot who directs the party towards the ancient city, which has now become a ghost town. "The Ebony Horse" features a flying mechanical horse controlled using keys that could fly into outer space and towards the Sun. Some modern interpretations see this horse as a robot. The titular ebony horse can fly the distance of one year in a single day, and is used as a vehicle by the , Qamar al-Aqmar, in his adventures across Persia, Arabia and Byzantium. This story appears to have influenced later European tales such as Adenes Le Roi's ''Cleomades'' and "The Squire's Prologue and Tale" told in Geoffrey Chaucer's ''The Canterbury Tales''. "The City of Brass" and "The Ebony Horse" can be considered early examples of proto-science fiction. The "Third Qalandar's Tale" also features a robot in the form of an uncanny boatman.

The Arabic poetry in One Thousand and One Nights

There is an abundance of poetry in One Thousand and One Nights. Characters occasionally provide poetry in certain settings, covering many uses. However, pleading, beseeching and praising toward the powerful is the most significant.

The uses would include but are not limited to:

Giving advice, warning, and solutions.

Praising God, royalties and those in power.

Pleading for mercy and forgiveness.

Lamenting wrong decisions or bad luck.

Providing riddles, laying questions, challenges.

Criticizing elements of life, wondering.

Expressing feelings to others or one’s self: happiness, sadness, anxiety, surprise, anger.

In a typical example, expressing feelings of happiness to one’s self from Night 203, Prince Qamar Al-Zaman, standing outside the castle, wants to inform Queen Bodour of his arrival. He wraps his ring in a paper and hands it to the servant who delivers it to the Queen. When she opens it and sees the ring, joy conquers her, and out of happiness she chants this poem (Arabic): }} Translation:

The ''Nights'' in world culture

The influence of the versions of ''The Nights'' on world literature is immense. Writers as diverse as Henry Fielding to Naguib Mahfouz have alluded to the collection by name in their own works. Other writers who have been influenced by the ''Nights'' include John Barth, Jorge Luis Borges, Salman Rushdie, Goethe, Walter Scott, Thackeray, Wilkie Collins, Elizabeth Gaskell, Nodier, Flaubert, Marcel Schwob, Stendhal, Dumas, Gérard de Nerval, Gobineau, Pushkin, Tolstoy, Hofmannsthal, Conan Doyle, W. B. Yeats, H. G. Wells, Cavafy, Calvino, Georges Perec, H. P. Lovecraft, Marcel Proust, A. S. Byatt and Angela Carter.

Various characters from this epic have themselves become cultural icons in Western culture, such as Aladdin, Sinbad and Ali Baba. Part of its popularity may have sprung from the increasing historical and geographical knowledge, so that places of which little was known and so marvels were plausible had to be set further "long ago" or farther "far away"; this is a process that continues, and finally culminate in the fantasy world having little connection, if any, to actual times and places. Several elements from Arabian mythology and Persian mythology are now common in modern fantasy, such as genies, bahamuts, magic carpets, magic lamps, etc. When L. Frank Baum proposed writing a modern fairy tale that banished stereotypical elements, he included the genie as well as the dwarf and the fairy as stereotypes to go.

In Arabic culture

There is little evidence that the ''Nights'' was particularly treasured in the Arab world. It is rarely mentioned in lists of popular literature and few pre-18th century manuscripts of the collection exist. Fiction had a low cultural status among Medieval Arabs compared with poetry, and the tales were dismissed as ''khurafa'' (improbable fantasies fit only for entertaining women and children). According to Robert Irwin, "Even today, with the exception of certain writers and academics, the ''Nights'' is regarded with disdain in the Arabic world. Its stories are regularly denounced as vulgar, improbable, childish and, above all, badly written." The ''Nights'' have proved an inspiration to some modern Egyptian writers, such as Tawfiq al-Hakim (author of the Symbolist play ''Shahrazad'', 1934), Taha Hussein (''Scheherazade's Dreams'', 1943) and Naguib Mahfouz (''Arabian Nights and Days'', 1981).

Possible early influence on European literature

Although the first known translation into a European language only appeared in 1704, it is possible that the ''Nights'' began exerting its influence on Western culture much earlier. Christian writers in Medieval Spain translated many works from Arabic, mainly philosophy and mathematics, but also Arab fiction, as is evidenced by Juan Manuel's story collection ''El Conde Lucanor'' and Ramón Llull's ''The Book of Beasts''. Knowledge of the work, direct or indirect, apparently spread beyond Spain. Themes and motifs with parallels in the ''Nights'' are found in Chaucer's ''The Canterbury Tales'' (in ''The Squire's Tale'' the hero travels on a flying brass horse) and Boccaccio's ''Decameron''. Echoes in Giovanni Sercambi's ''Novelle'' and Ariosto's ''Orlando furioso'' suggest that the story of Shahriyar and Shahzaman was also known. Evidence also appears to show that the stories had spread to the Balkans and a translation of the ''Nights'' into Romanian existed by the 17th century, itself based on a Greek version of the collection.

Western literature from the 18th century onwards

The modern fame of the ''Nights'' derives from the first known European translation by Antoine Galland, which appeared in 1704. According to Robert Irwin, Galland "played so large a part in discovering the tales, in popularizing them in Europe and in shaping what would come to be regarded as the canonical collection that, at some risk of hyperbole and paradox, he has been called the real author of the ''Nights''." The immediate success of Galland's version with the French public may have been because it coincided with the vogue for ''contes de fées'' ("fairy stories"). This fashion began with the publication of Madame d'Aulnoy's ''Histoire d'Hypolite'' in 1690. D'Aulnoy's book has a remarkably similar structure to the ''Nights'', with the tales told by a female narrator. The success of the ''Nights'' spread across Europe and by the end of the century there were translations of Galland into English, German, Italian, Dutch, Danish, Russian, Flemish and Yiddish. Galland's version provoked a spate of pseudo-Oriental imitations. At the same time, some French writers began to parody the style and concoct far-fetched stories in superficially Oriental settings. These tongue-in-cheek pastiches include Anthony Hamilton's ''Les quatre Facardins'' (1730), Crébillon's ''Le sopha'' (1742) and Diderot's ''Les bijoux indiscrets'' (1748). They often contained veiled allusions to contemporary French society. The most famous example is Voltaire's ''Zadig'' (1748), an attack on religious bigotry set against a vague pre-Islamic Middle Eastern background. The English versions of the "Oriental Tale" generally contained a heavy moralising element, with the notable exception of William Beckford's fantasy ''Vathek'' (1786), which had a decisive influence on the development of the Gothic novel. The Polish nobleman Jan Potocki's novel ''Saragossa Manuscript'' (begun 1797) owes a deep debt to the ''Nights'' with its Oriental flavour and labyrinthine series of embedded tales.

The ''Nights'' was a favourite book of many British authors of the Romantic and Victorian eras. According to A. S. Byatt, "In British Romantic poetry the Arabian Nights stood for the wonderful against the mundane, the imaginative against the prosaically and reductively rational." In their autobiographical writings, both Coleridge and de Quincey refer to nightmares the book had caused them when young. Wordsworth and Tennyson also wrote about their childhood reading of the tales in their poetry. Charles Dickens was another enthusiast and the atmosphere of the ''Nights'' pervades the opening of his last novel ''The Mystery of Edwin Drood'' (1870).

Several writers have attempted to add a thousand and second tale, including Théophile Gautier (''La mille deuxième nuit'', 1842) and Joseph Roth (''Die Geschichte von der 1002. Nacht'', 1939). Edgar Allan Poe wrote "The Thousand and Second Tale of Scheherazade" (1845). It depicts the eighth and final voyage of Sinbad the Sailor, along with the various mysteries Sinbad and his crew encounter; the anomalies are then described as footnotes to the story. While the king is uncertain—except in the case of the elephants carrying the world on the back of the turtle—that these mysteries are real, they are actual modern events that occurred in various places during, or before, Poe's lifetime. The story ends with the king in such disgust at the tale Scheherazade has just woven, that he has her executed the very next day.

Modern authors influenced by the ''Nights'' include James Joyce, Marcel Proust, Jorge Luis Borges and John Barth.

Cinema

Stories from the ''Nights'' have been popular subjects for films, beginning with Georges Méliès's ''Le Palais des Mille et une nuits'' in 1905. The critic Robert Irwin singles out the two versions of ''The Thief of Baghdad'' (1924 version directed by Raoul Walsh; 1940 version produced by Alexander Korda) and Pier Paolo Pasolini's ''Il fiore delle Mille ed una notte'' (1974) as ranking "high among the masterpieces of world cinema."

Music

The ''Nights'' has inspired many pieces of music, including Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's symphonic suite ''Scheherazade'' (1888).

See also

List of stories from ''The Book of One Thousand and One Nights'' (according to the Richard Francis Burton translation).

List of One Thousand and One Nights characters

List of works influenced by the 1001 Nights

Arabic literature

Persian literature

Hamzanama

Shahnameh

Notes

Sources

Robert Irwin ''The Arabian Nights: A Companion'' (Tauris Parke, 2005)

David Pinault ''Story-Telling Techniques in the Arabian Nights'' (Brill Publishers, 1992)

Ulrich Marzolph, Richard van Leeuwen, Hassan Wassouf,''The Arabian Nights Encyclopedia'' (2004)

Ulrich Marzolph (ed.) ''The Arabian Nights Reader'' (Wayne State University Press, 2006)

Dwight Reynolds, "''A Thousand and One Nights'': a history of the text and its reception" in ''The Cambridge History of Arabic Literature'' Vol 6. (CUP 2006)

Eva Sallis ''Scheherazade Through the Looking-Glass: The Metamorphosis of the Thousand and One Nights'' (Routledge, 1999),

Yamanaka, Yuriko and Nishio, Tetsuo (ed.) ''The Arabian Nights and Orientalism – Perspectives from East and West'' (I.B.Tauris, 2006) ISBN 1-85043-768-8

Ch. Pellat, "Alf Layla Wa Layla" in Encyclopaedia Iranica. Online Access June 2011 at

Further reading

''In Arabian Nights: A search of Morocco through its stories and storytellers'' by Tahir Shah, Doubleday, 2008.

Nurse, Paul McMichael. ''Eastern Dreams: How the Arabian Nights Came to the World'' Viking Canada: 2010. General popular history of the 1001 Nights from its earliest days to the present.

External links

Online translations

''The Thousand Nights and a Night'' in several classic translations, including unexpurgated version by Sir Richard Francis Burton, and John Payne translation, with additional material.

Project Bartleby edition of ''Stories From One Thousand and One Nights'', (Lane and Poole translation)

Galland's French translation (an edition from 1822)

Other

Interview with Claudia Ott: A New Chapter in the History of Arab Literature

Journal of the 1001 Nights – An online blog resource for new and developing news, scholarship and info on the 1001 (aka The Arabian) Nights and their many manifestations.

Arabian Nights Six full-color plates of illustrations from the 1001 Nights which are in the public domain

Category:Arab mythology Category:Iraqi culture Category:Medieval Arabic literature Category:Persian literature Category:Persian mythology Category:Iranian folklore

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Name	Peter Gabriel
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Peter Brian Gabriel
Born	February 13, 1950Chobham, SurreyEngland, United Kingdom
Instrumen	Vocals, keyboards, flute, drums, piano, guitar, bass, harmonica, oboe
genre	Progressive rock, experimental rock, pop rock, art rock, world music
occupation	MusicianproducerHumanitarian
Years active	1967–present
Label	Geffen (US & Canada)Real WorldVirginCharismaAtlantic (US & Canada)EMI (Brazil)
associated acts	Genesis, Phil Collins
website	}}

Peter Brian Gabriel (born 13 February 1950) is a British singer, musician, and songwriter who rose to fame as the lead vocalist and flautist of the progressive rock group Genesis. After leaving Genesis, Gabriel went on to a successful solo career. More recently he has focused on producing and promoting world music and pioneering digital distribution methods for music. He has also been involved in various humanitarian efforts. In 2007 Gabriel was honoured as a BMI Icon at the 57th annual BMI London Awards for his “influence on generations of music makers.” Gabriel was also awarded the Polar Music Prize in 2009 and inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Genesis in 2010.

Early life

Gabriel was born in Chobham, Surrey, England. His father, Ralph Parton Gabriel, was an electrical engineer, and his mother, Edith Irene Allen, from a musical family, taught him to play the clarinet at an early age. He attended Cable House, a private primary (pre-prep) school in Woking, Surrey, St Andrews Prep School in Horsell, then Charterhouse School (Godalming) from 1963.

Genesis

Gabriel founded Genesis in 1967 with fellow Charterhouse School pupils Tony Banks, Anthony Phillips, Mike Rutherford, and drummer Chris Stewart. The name of the band was suggested by fellow Charterhouse alumnus, the pop music impresario Jonathan King, who produced their first album, ''From Genesis to Revelation''.

Gabriel was influenced by many different sources in his way of singing, such as Family lead singer Roger Chapman. In 1970, he played the flute on Cat Stevens' album, ''Mona Bone Jakon''.

Genesis drew some attention in England and eventually also in Italy, Belgium, Germany and other European countries, largely due to Gabriel's flamboyant stage presence, which involved numerous bizarre costume changes and comical, dreamlike stories told as the introduction to each song (originally Gabriel developed these stories solely to cover the time between songs that the rest of the band would take tuning their instruments and fixing technical glitches). The concerts made extensive use of black light with the normal stage lighting subdued or off. A backdrop of fluorescent white sheets and a comparatively sparse stage made the band into a set of silhouettes, with Gabriel's fluorescent costume and make-up providing the only other sources of light.

Costumes

In an episode of the 2007 British documentary series ''Seven Ages of Rock'', Steve Hackett recalled the first appearance of Gabriel 'in costume'. It was the dress-wearing, fox-headed entity immortalised on the cover of ''Foxtrot''. Hackett and the rest of the band had no inkling that Gabriel was going to do this, and at the time Hackett worried that it would ruin the performance. However, it was a success, encouraging Gabriel to continue wearing costumes while singing.

Among Gabriel's many famous costumes, which he developed to visualise the musical ideas of the band as well as to gain press coverage, were "Batwings" for the band's usual opening number, "Watcher of the Skies".

Other costumes included "The Flower" and "Magog", which were both alternately worn for "Supper's Ready" from the album ''Foxtrot''.

"Britannia" was worn for "Dancing with the Moonlit Knight", and "The Reverend" was worn for "The Battle of Epping Forest" from ''Selling England by the Pound''.

"The Old Man" was worn for "The Musical Box" from ''Nursery Cryme''.

"The Slipperman" and "Rael" were worn during "The Colony of Slippermen", in which "Rael" was the protagonist of the album ''The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway''.

The backing vocals during Gabriel's tenure in Genesis were usually handled by bassist/guitarist Mike Rutherford, keyboardist/guitarist Tony Banks, and (most prominently) drummer Phil Collins, who, after a long search for a replacement, eventually became Genesis's lead singer after Gabriel had left the band in 1975.

Departure

Gabriel's departure from Genesis—which stunned fans of the group and left many commentators wondering if the band could survive—was the result of a number of factors. His stature as the lead singer of the band, and the added attention garnered by his flamboyant stage persona, led to tensions within the band. Genesis had always operated more or less as a collective, and Gabriel's burgeoning public profile led to fears within the group that he was being unfairly singled out as the creative hub. The band had also begun to feel confined by the reputation (and fans' expectations) attached to their famously elaborate theatrical performances, believing that the visual element of their performances was receiving more attention than their actual music.

Tensions were heightened by the ambitious album and tour of the concept work ''The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway'', a Gabriel-created concept piece which saw him taking on the lion's share of the lyric writing. During the writing and recording of ''The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway'', Gabriel was approached by director William Friedkin, allegedly because Friedkin had found Gabriel's short story in the liner notes to ''Genesis Live'' interesting. Gabriel's interest in a film project with Friedkin was another contributing factor in his decision to leave Genesis. The decision to quit the band was made before the tour supporting ''The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway'', but Gabriel stayed with the band until the conclusion of that tour. Although tensions were high, both Gabriel and the remaining members of Genesis have stated publicly that Gabriel left the band on good terms, supported by the fact that he officially left eight months after telling the band it was time for him to move on.

The breaking point came with the difficult pregnancy of Gabriel's wife, Jill, and the subsequent birth of their first child, Anna. When he opted to stay with his sick daughter and wife, rather than record and tour, the resentment from the rest of the band led Gabriel to conclude that he had to leave the group. "Solsbury Hill", Gabriel's début single as a solo artist, was written specifically about his departure from Genesis. The song also charted on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1978, reaching the Top 70, though it was recorded in 1976, and appeared on the 'Car' album in 1977. In 1982, Gabriel reunited with his former Genesis colleagues for the one-off concert, Six of the Best.

Solo career

Gabriel refused to title any of his first four solo albums, which were all labelled ''Peter Gabriel'' using the same typeface, but which featured different cover designs (by Hipgnosis); these designs are also notable for the fact that Gabriel's face is wholly or partially obscured in some way. They are usually differentiated by number in order of release (I, II, III, IV), or by sleeve design, with the first three solo albums often referred to as ''Car'', ''Scratch'' and ''Melt'' respectively, in reference to their cover artwork. His fourth solo album, also called ''Peter Gabriel'', was titled ''Security'' in the U.S. at the behest of Geffen Records.

After acquiescing to distinctive titles, Gabriel used a series of 2-letter words to title his next three albums: ''So'', ''Us'', and ''Up''. His most recent greatest hits compilation is titled ''Hit''; within the two-CD package, disc one is labelled "Hit" and disc two is labelled "Miss".

''Peter Gabriel'' albums (1977–1985)

Gabriel recorded his first self-titled solo album in 1976 and 1977 with producer Bob Ezrin. His first solo success came with the single "Solsbury Hill", an autobiographical piece expressing his thoughts on leaving Genesis. Although mainly happy with the music, Gabriel felt that the album, and especially the track "Here Comes the Flood" was over-produced. Sparser versions can be heard on Robert Fripp's ''Exposure'', and on Gabriel's greatest hits compilation ''Shaking the Tree'' (1990).

Gabriel worked with guitarist Fripp as producer of his second solo LP, in 1978. This album was leaner, darker and more experimental, and yielded decent reviews, but no major hits.

Gabriel developed a new interest in world music (especially percussion), and for bold production, which made extensive use of recording tricks and sound effects. Gabriel's interest in music technology is considered by many people to be the spark of his success as it inspired his third album. The third album is often credited as the first LP to use the now-famous "gated drum" sound. Collins played drums on several tracks, including the opener, "Intruder", which featured the reverse-gated, cymbal-less drum kit sound which Collins would also use on his single "In the Air Tonight" and through the rest of the 1980s. Gabriel had requested that his drummers use no cymbals in the album's sessions, and when he heard the result he asked Collins to play a simple pattern for several minutes, then built "Intruder" around it. The album achieved some chart success with the songs "Games Without Frontiers" (#4 U.K, #48 U.S.), "I Don't Remember", and "Biko".

Arduous and occasionally damp recording sessions at his rural English estate in 1981 and 1982, with co-producer/engineer David Lord, resulted in Gabriel's fourth LP release, on which Gabriel took more production responsibility. It was one of the first commercial albums recorded entirely to digital tape (using a Sony mobile truck), and featured the early, extremely expensive, Fairlight CMI sampling computer, which had already made its first brief appearances on the previous album. Gabriel combined a variety of sampled and deconstructed sounds with world-beat percussion and other unusual instrumentation to create a radically new, emotionally charged soundscape. Furthermore, the sleeve art consisted of inscrutable, video-based imagery. Despite the album's peculiar sound, odd appearance, and often disturbing themes, it sold very well. This album featured his first Top 40 hit in the U.S., "Shock the Monkey", as well as the song "I Have the Touch". The music video for "Shock the Monkey", which featured Gabriel in white face paint and a caged macaque, held the #1 spot on "MTV" for 9 weeks. Geffen records forced Peter to give his fourth self-titled album a name in the US - ''Security'' - to mark his arrival on the label and to differentiate his fourth album from the other three.

Alternate versions of Gabriel's third and fourth albums were also released with German lyrics. ''Peter Gabriel'' 3 consisted of basically the same recording overdubbed with new vocals, while ''Security'' was also remixed and several tracks were extended or altered in slight ways.

Gabriel toured extensively for each of his albums. Initially, he pointedly eschewed the theatrics that had defined his tenure with Genesis. For his second solo tour, his entire band shaved their heads. By the time of ''Security'' he began involving elaborate stage props and acrobatics which had him suspended from gantries, distorting his face with Fresnel lenses and mirrors, and wearing unusual make-up. His 1982–83 tour included a section opening for David Bowie. Recordings of this tour were released as the double LP ''Plays Live''.

The stage was set for Gabriel's critical and commercial breakout with his next studio release, which was in production for almost three years. During the recording and production of the album he also found time to develop the film soundtrack for Alan Parker's 1984 feature ''Birdy'', which consisted of new material as well as remixed instrumental tracks from his previous studio album.

''So'', ''Passion'' and ''Us'' (1986–1994)

Gabriel achieved his greatest popularity with songs from the 1986 ''So'' album, which produced three UK Top 20 hits ("Sledgehammer", "Big Time", and "Don't Give Up" — a duet with Kate Bush). The album also produced three Top 40 hits in the U.S., "Sledgehammer", "In Your Eyes" (featured in the John Cusack film ''Say Anything''), and "Big Time" (Gabriel's most recent Top Ten hit), as well as the single "Red Rain". "Sledgehammer", peaked at #4 in the UK but was a #1 hit in the U.S., knocking Genesis' "Invisible Touch" off the top spot. The ballad "Don't Give Up" was about the devastation of unemployment. Gabriel co-produced ''So'' with Daniel Lanois, also known for his work with U2 and Brian Eno.

Gabriel's song "Sledgehammer", which dealt specifically with the themes of sex and sexual relations, was accompanied by a much-lauded music video, which was a collaboration with director Stephen R. Johnson, Aardman Animations, and the Brothers Quay. The video won numerous awards at the 1987 MTV Music Video Awards, and set a new standard for art in the music video industry. A follow-up video for the song "Big Time" also broke new ground in music video animation and special effects. The song is a story of "what happens to you when you become a little too successful", in Gabriel's words. The success of the album earned Peter Gabriel two awards at The Brit Awards in 1987: Best British Male Solo Artist and Best British Video for "Sledgehammer".

In 1989, Gabriel released ''Passion'', the soundtrack for Martin Scorsese's movie ''The Last Temptation of Christ''. For this work he received his first Grammy Award, in the category of Best New Age Performance. He also received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Original Score - Motion Picture.

Following this, Gabriel released ''Us'' in 1992 (also co-produced with Daniel Lanois), an album in which he explored the pain of recent personal problems; his failed first marriage, and the growing distance between him and his first daughter.

Gabriel's introspection within the context of the album ''Us'' can be seen in the first single release "Digging in the Dirt" directed by John Downer. Accompanied by a disturbing video featuring Gabriel covered in snails and various foliage, this song made reference to the psychotherapy which had taken up much of Gabriel's time since the previous album. Gabriel describes his struggle to get through to his daughter in "Come Talk To Me" directed by Matt Mahurin, which featured backing vocals by Sinéad O'Connor. O'Connor also lent vocals to "Blood of Eden", directed by Nichola Bruce and Michael Coulson, the third single to be released from the album, and once again dealing with relationship struggles, this time going right back to Adam's rib for inspiration. The result was one of Gabriel's most personal albums. It met with less success than ''So'', reaching #2 in the album chart on both sides of the Atlantic, and making modest chart impact with the singles "Digging in the Dirt" and the funkier "Steam", which evoked memories of "Sledgehammer". Gabriel followed the release of the album with a world tour (with Paula Cole or Joy Askew filling O'Connor's vocal role) and accompanying double CD and DVD ''Secret World Live'' in 1994.

Gabriel employed an innovative approach in the marketing of the ''Us'' album. Not wishing to feature only images of himself, he asked artist filmmakers Nichola Bruce and Michael Coulson to coordinate a marketing campaign using contemporary artists. Artists such as Helen Chadwick, Rebecca Horn, Nils Udo, Andy Goldsworthy, David Mach and Yayoi Kusama collaborated to create original artworks for each of the 11 songs on the multi-million-selling CD. Coulson and Bruce documented the process on Hi-8 video. Bruce left Real World and Coulson continued with the campaign, using the documentary background material as the basis for a promotional EPK, the long-form video ''All About Us'' and the interactive CD-ROM ''Xplora1''.

Gabriel won three more Grammy Awards, all in the Music Video category. He won the Grammy Award for Best Short Form Music Video in 1993 and 1994 for the videos to "Digging in the Dirt" and "Steam" respectively. Gabriel also won the 1996 Grammy Award for Best Long Form Music Video for his ''Secret World Live'' video.

''OVO'', ''Up'', and ''Scratch My Back''

After five years of not releasing any new music, Gabriel re-emerged with ''OVO'', a soundtrack for the live Millennium Dome Show in London in 2000, and ''Long Walk Home'', the music from the Australian movie ''Rabbit-Proof Fence'', early in 2002. This soundtrack also received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Original Score - Motion Picture.

In September 2002, Gabriel released ''Up'', his first full-length studio album in a decade. Entirely self-produced, ''Up'' returned to some of the themes of his work in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Three singles failed to make an impression on the charts—in part because almost every track exceeded six minutes in length, with multiple sections—but the album sold well globally, as Gabriel continued to draw from a loyal fan base from his almost forty years in the music business. ''Up'' was followed by a world tour featuring his daughter Melanie Gabriel on backing vocals, and two concert DVDs, ''Growing Up Live'' (2003) and ''Still Growing Up: Live & Unwrapped'' (2004).

In 2008, Gabriel contributed to the ''WALL-E'' soundtrack with several new songs with Thomas Newman, including the film's closing song, "Down to Earth", for which they received the Grammy Award for Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media. The song was also nominated for the Golden Globe for Best Original Song - Motion Picture and the Academy Award for Best Original Song.

In 2010, Gabriel released ''Scratch My Back''. The album is made up entirely of cover songs including material written by David Bowie, Lou Reed, Arcade Fire, Radiohead, Regina Spektor, Neil Young, and more. The concept for the record is that Gabriel covers songs by various artists and those artists in turn will cover Gabriel songs to be released on a future follow-up album called ''I'll Scratch Yours''. ''Scratch My Back'' features only orchestral instrumentation; there are no guitars, drums, or electronic elements that are usual attributes of Gabriel records. A very brief tour followed the album's release where Gabriel performed with a full orchestra and two female backup singers, his daughter Melanie Gabriel and Norwegian singer-songwriter Ane Brun.

Musicians and collaborators

Gabriel has worked with a relatively stable crew of musicians and recording engineers throughout his solo career. Bass and Stick player Tony Levin, for example, has appeared on every Gabriel studio album (except ''Scratch My Back'' and the soundtracks ''Passion'' and ''Long Walk Home'') and has performed on every Gabriel solo tour (except The New Blood Tour). Guitar player David Rhodes has been Gabriel’s guitarist of choice since 1979. Prior to ''So'', Jerry Marotta was Gabriel's preferred drummer, both in the studio and on the road. (For the ''So'' and ''Us'' albums and tours Marotta was replaced by Manu Katché, who was then replaced by Ged Lynch on parts of the ''Up'' album and all of the subsequent tour). Gabriel is known for choosing top-flight collaborators, from co-producers such as Ezrin, Fripp, Lillywhite, and Lanois to musicians such as Natalie Merchant, Elizabeth Fraser, L. Shankar, Trent Reznor, Youssou N'Dour, Larry Fast, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Sinéad O'Connor, Kate Bush, Ane Brun, Paula Cole, John Giblin, Peter Hammill, Papa Wemba, Manu Katché, Bayete, Phil Collins (as drummer), and Stewart Copeland.

Over the years, Gabriel has collaborated with singer Kate Bush several times; Bush provided backing vocals for Gabriel's "Games Without Frontiers" and "No Self Control" in 1980, and female lead vocal for "Don't Give Up" (a Top 10 hit in the UK) in 1986, and Gabriel appeared on her television special. Their duet of Roy Harper's "Another Day" was discussed for release as a single, but never appeared.

He also collaborated with Laurie Anderson on two versions of her composition "Excellent Birds" – one for her 1984 album ''Mister Heartbreak'', and a slightly different version called "This is the Picture (Excellent Birds)", which appeared on cassette and CD versions of ''So''. In 1987, when presenting Gabriel with an award for his music videos, Anderson related an occasion in which a recording session had gone late into the night and Gabriel's voice had begun to sound somewhat strange, almost dreamlike. It was discovered that he had fallen asleep in front of the microphone, but had continued to sing.

Gabriel sang (along with Jim Kerr of Simple Minds) on "Everywhere I Go", from The Call's 1986 release, ''Reconciled''. On Toni Childs' 1994 CD, ''The Woman's Boat'', Gabriel sang on the track, "I Met a Man".

In 1998, Gabriel appeared on the soundtrack of ''Babe: Pig in the City'', not as a composer, but as the singer of the song "That'll Do", written by Randy Newman. The song was nominated for an Academy Award, and Gabriel and Newman performed it at the following year's Oscar telecast. He performed a similar soundtrack appearance for the 2004 film ''Shall We Dance?'', singing a cover version of "The Book of Love" by The Magnetic Fields.

Gabriel has also appeared on Robbie Robertson's self-titled album, singing on "Fallen Angel"; co-written two Tom Robinson singles; and appeared on Joni Mitchell's 1988 album ''Chalk Mark in a Rainstorm'', on the track "My Secret Place".

In 2001, Gabriel contributed lead vocals to the song "When You're Falling" on Afro Celt Sound System's Volume 3: Further in Time. In the summer of 2003, Gabriel performed in Ohio with a guest performance by Uzbek singer Sevara Nazarkhan.

Gabriel collaborated on tracks with electronic musician BT. The tracks were never released, as the computers they were contained on were stolen from BT's home in California. He also sang the lyrics for Deep Forest on their theme song for the movie Strange Days. In addition, Gabriel has appeared on Angelique Kidjo's 2007 album ''Djin Djin'', singing on the song "Salala".

Gabriel has recorded a cover of the Vampire Weekend single "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa" with Hot Chip, where his name is mentioned several times in the chorus. He substitutes the original line "But this feels so unnatural / Peter Gabriel too / This feels so unnatural/ Peter Gabriel too" with "It feels so unnatural / Peter Gabriel too / and it feels so unnatural / to sing your own name."

WOMAD and other projects

Gabriel has been interested in world music for many years, with the first musical evidence appearing on his third album. This influence has increased over time, and he is the driving force behind the World of Music, Arts and Dance (WOMAD) movement. He created the Real World Studios and record label to facilitate the creation and distribution of such music by various artists, and he has worked to educate Western culture about the work of such musicians as Yungchen Lhamo, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Youssou N'dour. He has a long-standing interest in human rights, and launched Witness, a nonprofit which trains human rights activists to use video and online technologies to expose human rights abuses. In 2006 his work with WITNESS and his long standing support of peace and human rights causes was recognised by the Nobel Peace Prize Laureates with the Man of Peace award.

In the 1990s, with Steve Nelson of Brilliant Media and director Michael Coulson, he developed advanced multimedia CD-ROM-based entertainment projects, creating the acclaimed ''Xplora'' (the world's largest selling music CD-ROM), and subsequently the ''EVE'' CD-ROM. ''EVE'' was a music and art adventure game directed by Michael Coulson and co-produced by the Starwave Corporation in Seattle; it won the prestigious Milia d'Or award Grand Prize at the Cannes in 1996 and featured themes and interactivity well in advance of its time. ''Xplora'' and ''EVE'' can no longer be played on modern PCs, due to changes to their operating systems.

In 1994, Gabriel starred in the Breck Eisner short film "Recon" as a detective who enters the minds of murder victims to find their killer's identity.

Gabriel helped pioneer a new realm of musical interaction in 2001, visiting Georgia State University's Language Research Center to participate in keyboard jam sessions with bonobo apes from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. (This experience inspired the song "Animal Nation," which was performed on Gabriel's 2002 "Growing Up" tour and was featured on the ''Growing Up Live'' DVD and ''The Wild Thornberrys Movie'' soundtrack.) Gabriel's desire to bring attention to the intelligence of primates also took the form of ApeNet, a project that aimed to link great apes through the internet, enabling the first interspecies internet communication.

He was one of the founders of On Demand Distribution (OD2), one of the first online music download services. Its technology is used by MSN Music UK and others, and has become the dominant music download technology platform for stores in Europe. OD2 was bought by US company Loudeye in June 2004 and subsequently by Finnish mobile giant Nokia in October 2006 for $60 million.

Additionally, Gabriel is also co-founder (with Brian Eno) of a musicians union called Mudda, short for "magnificent union of digitally downloading artists."

In 2000, Peter Gabriel collaborated with Zucchero, Anggun and others in charity for kids with AIDS. Erick Benzi have write words and music and Patrick Bruel, Stephan Eicher, Faudel, Lokua Kanza, Laam, Nourith, Axelle Red have accept to sing it.

In 2003, Gabriel's song "Burn You Up, Burn You Down" was featured in Cyan Worlds' video game Uru: Ages Beyond Myst. In 2004, Gabriel contributed another song ("Curtains") and contributed voice work on another game in the Myst franchise, Myst IV: Revelation.

During the latter part of 2004, Gabriel spent time in a village in eastern Nepal with musician Ram Sharan Nepali, learning esoteric vocal techniques. Gabriel subsequently invited Nepali to attend and perform at the Womad festival in Adelaide, Australia.

In June 2005, Gabriel and broadcast industry entrepreneur David Engelke purchased Solid State Logic, a leading manufacturer of mixing consoles and digital audio workstations. SSL is among the top 2 or 3 recording console manufacturers in the world of recording.

In May 2008, Gabriel's Real World Studios, in partnership with Bowers & Wilkins, started the Bowers & Wilkins Music Club - now known as Society of Sound - a subscription-based music retail site. Albums are currently available in either Apple Lossless or Flac format.

Activist for humanitarian causes

In 1986 he started what has become a longstanding association with Amnesty International, becoming a pioneering participant in all 28 of Amnesty's ''Human Rights Concerts'' — a series of music events and tours staged by the US Section of Amnesty International between 1986-1998. He performed during the six-concert ''A Conspiracy of Hope'' US tour in June 1986; the twenty-concert ''Human Rights Now!'' world tour in 1988; the ''Chile: Embrace Of Hope Concert'' in 1990 and at ''The Paris Concert For Amnesty International'' in 1998. He also performed in Amnesty's ''Secret Policeman's Ball'' benefit shows. He spoke of his support for Amnesty on NBC's ''Today Show'' in 1986.

Inspired by the social activism he encountered in his work with Amnesty, in 1992 Gabriel co-founded WITNESS, a non-profit group that equips, trains and supports locally-based organizations worldwide to use video and the internet in human rights documentation and advocacy.

In 1995 he was one of the two winners of the North-South Prize in its inaugural year.

In the late 1990s, Gabriel and entrepreneur Richard Branson discussed with Nelson Mandela their idea of a small, dedicated group of leaders, working objectively and without any vested personal interest to solve difficult global conflicts.

On 18 July 2007, in Johannesburg, South Africa, Nelson Mandela announced the formation of a new group, Global Elders, in a speech he delivered on the occasion of his 89th birthday. The present members of this group are Desmond Tutu, Graça Machel, Kofi Annan, Ela Bhatt, Lakhdar Brahimi, Gro Harlem Brundtland, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, Jimmy Carter, Mary Robinson, Muhammad Yunus, and Aung San Suu Kyi (with an empty chair for her).

The Elders will be independently funded by a group of "Founders", including Branson and Gabriel.

Desmond Tutu serves as the chair of the Elders, who will use their collective skills to catalyse peaceful resolutions to long-standing conflicts, articulate new approaches to global issues that are causing or may later cause immense human suffering, and share wisdom by helping to connect voices all over the world. They will work together over the next several months to consider carefully which specific issues they will confront.

In November 2007 Gabriel's non-profit group WITNESS launched The Hub, a participatory media site for human rights.

In September 2008 Gabriel was named as the recipient of Amnesty International’s 2008 ''Ambassador of Conscience Award''. In the same month, he received Quadriga ''United We Care'' award of Werkstatt Deutschland along with Boris Tadić, Eckart Höfling and Wikipedia. The award was presented to him by Queen Silvia of Sweden.

Gabriel lent his support to the campaign to release Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani, an Iranian woman sentenced to death by stoning after being convicted of committing adultery.

Politics

For the 1997 general election, Gabriel declared himself as a supporter for the Labour Party — who won that election by a landslide after 18 years out of power, led by Tony Blair.

In 1998, Gabriel was named in a list of the biggest private financial donors to the Labour Party. In 2003, he revealed he had voted for Labour and admired what they had done for health and education but distanced himself from the Labour government over Tony Blair’s support for George W. Bush and Britain’s involvement in the Iraq War, which he strongly opposed, although he continued to believe Blair was a man of conscience. Quoted in The Mirror newspaper, he said:

This is a fundamental issue of life and death and I very much think the Prime Minister is in the wrong. I'm also sure George W. Bush is an affable bloke but he's highly dangerous and I wish America was in the hands of someone else. To put oil interests ahead of human life is appalling. War is always terrible but unjustified war is obscene and on present evidence that is what we are facing. People want peace and I think it's great that the Mirror is leading this campaign. I think the consequences of this war would be the biggest threat to world peace in my lifetime. Blair has got to get it right. To take action without UN backing would be inviting disaster by setting the Muslim world against the West. If we are taking a moral position why did we arm Iraq when they were killing the Kurds? If it's because of weapons of mass destruction why isn't North Korea higher on the list? Not that I'd support action there. And if it's a principle of what Iraq has done to its own people why do we bend over for China? I'm sure Bush believes he is removing a scourge but he has never done one thing in office against the interests of the oil lobby who paid for a large part of the election. I don't actually believe Tony Blair is focused on oil but if he knows more than we do I wish he would tell us because there's no justification so far for taking life. War with Iraq would be an aggressive, uncalled for action. It's good the Prime Minister is prepared to stick to his principles, going against public opinion, because you elect leaders in part for their conscience. I just think it's terrible that on this of all issues he is making a stand which separates him from the nation. I think Tony Blair is following his conscience but I believe he is misguided. It could cost him the next election and I think he's aware of that. I'd personally be sad if they lost because Labour has done a lot for health and education, but an unjust war would be enough to lose my vote. I'd like to see a reinforced UN weapons inspection team in Iraq and disarmament much more in line with the French and German proposals. There is a slogan which says: 'Peace is what happens when you respect the rights of others'. Iraqis have rights too.

In 2005, Gabriel gave a Green Party of England and Wales general election candidate special permission to record a cover of his song "Don't Give Up" for his campaign.

In 2010, ''The Guardian'' described Gabriel as "a staunch advocate of proportional representation".

Personal life

Gabriel has two daughters with his first wife Jill Moore: Anna-Marie (born 26 July 1974) and Melanie Gabriel (born 23 August 1976). Married on 17 March 1971, they divorced in 1987. Moore's father was Lord Moore of Wolvercote.

Anna-Marie is a filmmaker and Melanie is a musician. Anna-Marie filmed and directed the ''Growing Up On Tour: A Family Portrait'' and ''Still Growing Up: Live & Unwrapped'' DVDs. Melanie has been a backing vocalist in her father's band since 2002.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Gabriel lived with actress Rosanna Arquette but they never married.

Gabriel also has two sons with Meabh Flynn: Isaac Ralph (born 27 September 2001) and Luc (born 5 July 2008). Gabriel and Flynn have been married since 9 June 2002.

Gabriel has resided for many years in the county of Wiltshire in England, where he also runs his Real World Studios. He previously lived in the Woolley Valley near Bath, Somerset. In 2010 he joined a campaign to stop an agricultural development at the valley, which had also inspired his first solo single "Solsbury Hill" in 1977.

Appearances: 2005–present

Gabriel actively coordinated and performed at the Eden Project Live 8 concert in July 2005. In his earliest days, Gabriel played flute on Cat Stevens's first album on the Island records label, ''Mona Bone Jakon'' as a "nervous session musician". Stevens, now known as Yusuf Islam, joined him on stage 33 years after that experience, in Johannesburg during Nelson Mandela's 46664 concert. The two performed the Stevens hit "Wild World".

A double DVD set, ''Still Growing Up: Live & Unwrapped'', was released in October 2005.

FIFA asked Gabriel and Brian Eno to organise an opening ceremony for the 2006 FIFA World Cup finals in Germany, planned to take place a couple of days before the start of the tournament. Gabriel had recently become a fan of the game and 2005 champions league winners Liverpool, and worked on songs for the show in Berlin's Olympic Stadium; however, the show was cancelled in January 2006 by FIFA after going over budget with an apparent lack of interest in the project. The official explanation was potential damage to the pitch.

Rumours of a possible reunion of the original Genesis line-up began circulating in 2004 after Phil Collins stated in an interview that he was open to the idea of sitting back behind the drums and "let Peter be the singer." The classic line-up has only reformed for a live performance once before, in 1982. However, the group did work together to create a new version of the 1974 song "The Carpet Crawlers", ultimately released on the ''Turn It on Again: The Hits'' album as "The Carpet Crawlers 1999". Gabriel later met with other Genesis band members, to discuss a possible reunion tour of ''The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway''. He chose to opt out of a reunion tour, and his former bandmates, Collins, Banks, and Rutherford chose to tour as Genesis without him.

At the opening ceremonies of the Winter Olympics in Torino, Italy, Gabriel performed John Lennon's "Imagine" during the opening of the festivities on 10 February 2006.

Cingular Wireless has aired commercials featuring Gabriel's "Solsbury Hill".

Gabriel's song "Digging in the Dirt" was used for promotional videos for the FX show "Dirt"

Gabriel is involved in The Filter, an add-on application for iTunes, Windows Media Player and some Nokia phones which can automatically generate playlists based on music you select.

In October 2006, Gabriel was given the first Pioneer Award at the BT Digital Music Awards, an award presented in recognition of his "profound and lasting influence on the development of digital music."

In November 2006, the Seventh World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates in Rome presented Gabriel with the Man of Peace award. The award, presented by former President of the USSR and Nobel Peace Prize winner Mikhail Gorbachev and Walter Veltroni, Mayor of Rome, was an acknowledgement of Gabriel's extensive contribution and work on behalf of human rights and peace. The award was presented in the Giulio Cesare Hall of the Campidoglio in Rome. At the end of the year, he was awarded the Q Magazine Lifetime Achievement Award, presented to him by American musician Moby. In an interview published in the magazine to accompany the award, Gabriel's contribution to music was described as "vast and enduring."

Gabriel took on a project with the BBC World Service's competition "The Next Big Thing" to find the world's best young band. Gabriel is judging the final six young artists with William Orbit, Geoff Travis and Angelique Kidjo.

''The Times'' reported on 21 January 2007, that Peter Gabriel had announced that he planned to release his next album in the U.S. without the aid of a record company. Gabriel, an early pioneer of digital music distribution, had raised £2 million towards recording and 'shipping' his next album, ''Big Blue Ball'' in a venture with investment boutique Ingenious Media. Gabriel is expected to earn double the money that he would through a conventional record deal. Commercial director Duncan Reid of Ingenious explains the business savvy of the deal, saying, "If you're paying a small distribution fee and covering your own marketing costs, you enjoy the lion's share of the proceeds of the album. Gabriel is expected to outsource CD production for worldwide release through Warner Bros. Records. The new album deal covers the North America territory, where Gabriel is currently out of contract.

The album ''Big Blue Ball'' was launched in America thanks to a venture capital trust initiative. Bosses at London-based firm Ingenious raised more than $4 million (GBP 2 million) to help promote the release in the United States. The venture capitalists, Gabriel and his Real World Limited partners, have created a new joint venture company, High Level Recordings Limited, to oversee the release of the album, which took place in 2008. Gabriel appeared on a nationwide tour for the album in 2009.

On 24 May 2007, he was honoured with the Ivor Novello Award for lifetime achievement.

Gabriel was a judge for the 6th and 8th annual Independent Music Awards to support independent artists.

He also appears in ''Strange Powers'', the 2009 documentary by Kerthy Fix and Gail O'Hara about Stephin Merritt and his band, the Magnetic Fields.

In February 2009, Gabriel announced that he would not be performing on the 2008 Academy Awards telecast because producers of the show were limiting his performance of "Down to Earth" from ''WALL-E'' to 65 seconds. John Legend and the Soweto Gospel Choir performed the song in his stead.

Gabriel's 2009 tour of Mexico and South America included visiting Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Peru, and Venezuela. His first ever performance in Peru was held in Lima on 20 March 2009, during his second visit to the country. His concert in Mexico City, on 27 March 2009, attracted more than 38,000 fans.

On 25 July 2009, he played at WOMAD Charlton Park, his only European performance of the year, to promote Witness. The show included two tracks from the forthcoming "Scratch My Back" album: Paul Simon's 'The Boy in the Bubble' and The Magnetic Fields' 'The Book of Love'.

Discography

''Peter Gabriel 1 (Car)'' (1977)

''Peter Gabriel 2 (Scratch)'' (1978)

''Peter Gabriel 3 (Melt)'' (1980)

''Ein Deutsches Album'' (1980)

''Peter Gabriel 4 (Security)'' (1982)

''Deutsches Album'' (1982)

''Birdy'' (1983)

''So'' (1986)

''Us'' (1992)

''OVO'' (2000)

''Long Walk Home'' (2002)

''Up'' (2002)

''Scratch My Back'' (2010)

''New Blood'' (2011)

See also

List of best selling music artists

List of artists who reached number one on the Hot 100 (U.S.)

List of artists who reached number one on the U.S. Dance chart

List of artists who reached number one on the U.S. Mainstream Rock chart

References

External links

Audio interview at BBC Wiltshire

Peter Gabriel takes part in a panel at the Global Philanthropy Forum video

TED Talks: Peter Gabriel fights injustice with a videocamera at TED in 2006

Category:1950 births Category:Living people Category:Charisma Records artists Category:Atlantic Records artists Category:BRIT Award winners Category:English film score composers Category:English male singers Category:English rock keyboardists Category:English rock singers Category:English singer-songwriters Category:Genesis (band) members Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Ivor Novello Award winners Category:International opponents of apartheid in South Africa Category:Old Carthusians Category:People from Chobham Category:Real World artists Category:Honorary Members of the Royal Academy of Music

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name	Ajay Devgn (Devgan)
birth date	April 02, 1969
birth place	New Delhi, India
yearsactive	1991–present
occupation	Film actor, Director, Producer
spouse	Kajol (1999–present)
birthname	Vishal Veeru Devgan
othername	Ajay Devgan
website	ajaydevgn.com }}

Ajay Devgn (), born Vishal Veeru Devgan on 2 April 1969, is an Indian film actor, director, and producer.

He made his film debut with ''Phool Aur Kaante'' in 1991 and received a Filmfare Award for Best Male Debut for his performance in the film and for which he won a Filmfare Best Debut Award. He then starred in films such as ''Jigar'' (1992), ''Dilwale'' (1994), ''Suhaag'' (1994), ''Naajayaz'' (1995), ''Diljale'' (1996) and ''Ishq'' (1997).

In 1999, Devgan received his first National Film Award for Best Actor for his performance in Mahesh Bhatt's drama ''Zakhm''. Some of his later films of the decade are ''Pyar To Hona Hi Tha'', ''Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam'' and ''Kachche Dhaage''.

In the early 2000s, he starred in ''Lajja'' (2001) and ''Company'' (2002). In 2003, he won his second National Film Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Bhagat Singh in Rajkumar Santoshi's biopic ''The Legend of Bhagat Singh''. Throughout his career he has given many critically and commercially successful films including ''Raincoat'' (2004), ''Yuva'' (2004), ''Omkara'' (2006), ''Golmaal'' (2006), ''Golmaal Returns'' (2008), ''All The Best: Fun Begins'' (2009), ''Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai'' (2010), ''Golmaal 3'' (2010), ''Raajneeti'' (2010), and ''Singham'' (2011). Having done so, he has established himself as one of the leading actors of Bollywood.

Biography

Devgan's father, Veeru Devgan, is a stunt choreographer, and his mother Veena Devgan, has produced one film. Anil Devgan, his brother, is a Hindi film director. He is a graduate of Bappu School in Juhu and Mithibai College. On February 23, 1999, he married Hindi film actress Kajol. The venue for the wedding was changed from a Gurdwara at Andheri in northwest Mumbai to the Devgan residence, after a newspaper revealed the location. The couple has two children. Daughter Nysa was born in April 2003 and son Yug was born in September 2010. In August 2009, Devgan changed his last name to Devgn on the request of his family. He became the first Bollywood personality to acquire an aircraft for transport to shooting locations, promotions and personal trips. His father is originally Punjabi Hindu from Amritsar Punjab.

Career

In 1992, Ajay starred in ''Jigar'' alongside Karishma Kapoor, which grossed Rs.7,00,00,000. In 1993, he worked with director Deepak Bahry in the action film ''Ek Hi Raasta'', and with Deepak Pawar in ''Platform''.

In 1994, Devgn worked in Harry Baweja's ''Dilwale'', ''Suhaag'' and ''Vijaypath".

In 1995, he appeared in Mahesh Bhatt's "Naajayaz", for which he was nominated for "filmfare best actor award". In 1996, he continued with "Diljale".

Devgn began starring in comedy films, such as ''Ishq'' in 1997.

In 1998, he starred in "Major Saab" and ''Pyaar To Hona Hi Tha''. He next starred in Mahesh Bhatt's ''Zakhm''. He won several awards for his performance, including the National Film Award for Best Actor and the Star Screen Award for Best Actor

Devgn's 1999 work included Sanjay Leela Bhansali's ''Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam'' as well as "Hindustan ki kasam" and "Kachche dhage".

In 2000, he worked in Harry Baweja's "Deewane". In this film, he essayed the role of two persons, where one is thief and another is police officer. The film was a flop at the box office. In the same year, he starred in his first home production "Raju Chacha" opposite wife Kajol. The film also bombed at the box office.

In 2001, he starred in "Yeh Raaste Hain Pyaar Ke" co-starring Madhuri Dixit and Priety Zinta. This film was an average grosser at the box office. His next release "Lajja", alongside Manisha Koirala, Madhuri Dixit, Jackie Shroff and Anil Kapoor, earned him a nomination for the "Filmfare Best Supporting Actor Award". The film did not perform as expected at the box office. He then worked in Mahesh Manjrekar's "Tera Mera Saath Rahen".

In 2002, he featured in Ram Gopal Verma's fictional expose of Mumbai Underworld "Company". He was nominated for Filmfare Best Actor Award and won Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actor. The film fared well at the box office. His next release was "Hum Kisi Se Kum Nahin" alongside Amitabh Bachchan, Sanjay Dutt and Aishwarya Rai.

In the same year, he starred in Rajkumar Santoshi's biopic "The Legend of Bhagat Singh". The film didn't fare well at the box office. However, he won his second National Film Award for Best Actor for his performance. He then starred in Anees Bazmee's "Deewangee". The film was partially inspired by William Diehl's English Language novel "Primal Fear". He won several awards for his negative role including, "Filmfare Best Villain Award", "Star Screen Award Best Villain" and "Zee Cine Award Best Actor in a Negative Role". This film was a success at the box office.

In 2003, he starred in Ram Gopal Verma's "Bhoot" opposite Urmila Matondkar. The film was appreciated critically & performed very well at the box office. He then starred in action thriller "Qayamat: City Under Threat" opposite debutant Neha Dhupia which was huge commercial success. He then worked in Milan Luthria's romantic film "Chori Chori" opposite Rani Mukherji and Sonali Bendre. This film did not succeed at the box office.

In that same year he featured in Prakash Jha's "Gangaajal", for which he was nominated for "Filmfare Best Actor Award". He then worked in Rohit Shetty's directional debut "Zameen", which grossed Rs.16,00,00,000 and J. P. Dutta's war film "LOC Kargil".

In 2004 he was cast along with Amitabh Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai and Akshay Kumar in Rajkumar Santoshi's Khakee which grossed Indian Rs.36,25,00,000.The film had a bumper opening and was declared success in one week. He then appeared in Director Indra Kumar's Masti. The movie was an average hit. Then he starred in critically acclaimed movies such as Yuva (his role was appreciated), and Rituparno Ghosh's Raincoat (film). He then had cameo appearance in Taarzan: The Wonder Car.

2005 was less successful for him as he starred in a series of flop movies like Insan, Blackmail, Main Aisa Hi Hoon, Tango Charlie, and Shikhar whilst Kaal and Apaharan succeeded at the Box Office. For his performance in Apaharan the Superstar was nominated National Film Award for Best Actor and Filmfare Best Actor Award. For his villanous performance in Kaal he was nominated Filmfare Best Villain Award

2006 was a remarkable year in his career as he starred in two of his famous films Golmaal and Omkara. Omkara was a critical and a commercial hit in which he was cast in the title role and Golmaal was a sleeper hit and which was later followed by two super hit sequels Golmaal Returns and Golmaal 3. He is also featured in a short documentary about Mumbai floods of 2005 named The Awakening.

2007 was again disappointing for him as he starred only in 2 movies, one of which was Anubhav Sinha's action thriller Cash in which he was cast along with Sunil Shetty. The movie did a below average collection at the box-office and the other was Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag which was a remake of the 1975 classic Sholay. The film received extremely poor reception from critics, and is currently placed at number 14 on the bottom 100 movies on Imdb. The film is considered as a benchmark for bad movies.

In 2008 he worked with Rajkumar Santoshi and was cast with Pankaj Kapoor and Vidya Balan in Halla Bol. He then starred in director Rohit Shetty's third film Sunday, before directing his first movie with wife Kajol and himself in lead roles. The film, titled U, Me aur Hum, was an average success. He also had a cameo appearance in his brother Anil Devgan's film Haal-e-dil. He starred with long-time friend Sanjay Dutt and actress Manisha Koirala in Afzal Khan's Mehbooba. He then re-teamed with Rohit Shetty for the squeal of his hit film Golmaal, Golmaal Returns which was a blockbuster hit.

In 2009 he produced his third film All the Best also directed by Rohit Shetty. The film did good business and was a semi-hit. Later in the year he starred in Vipul shah's London Dreams with Salman Khan and south star Asin. The film did not succeed and was declared a flop.

In the beginning of 2010 he worked with legendary actors Amitabh Bachchan and Ben Kingsley in Leena Yadav's Teen Patti. He starred in the comedy Atithi Tum Kab Jaoge alongside Paresh Rawal and Konkona Sen Sharma which was a success. He followed this with Prakash Jha's Raajneeti and Milan Luthria's Once Upon a Time in Mumbai. Both movies were among the top grossers of 2010. Then he worked alongside Akshaye Khanna in Priyadarshan's rough adaptation of Mississippi Burning, Aakrosh. He again teamed up with Rohit Shetty for Golmaal 3. The movie was a super hit and the forth highest grossing movie in Bollywood history as it received mixed to good reviews. Then he starred in the animated film Toonpur Ka Super Hero.D In 2011 he again teamed up with Emraan Hashmi in Madhur Bhandarkar's comedy Dil Toh Baccha Hai Ji which also starred Omi Vaidya and the film became a moderate success. He was a narrator in Yamla Pagla Deewana. He also did a cameo role in the 2011 Salman Khan-starrer Ready. Singham was released on 22 july 2011 it became second biggest opener after ready and all time biggest solo opener for Devgn. It has grossed more than 47.50 crores in five days in India. According to wikipedia its net gross in has reached 150 crores.

Awards and nominations

Among other awards and nominations, Devgn has won two National Film Awards and three Filmfare Awards.

Filmography

Actor

''Jigar'' ''Dil Hai Betaab'' ''Dilwale ''Naajayaz'' ''Jung'' ''Itihaas'' ''Major Saab'' ''Dil Kya Kare'' ''Deewane'' ''Yeh Raaste Hain Pyaar Ke'' ''Company (film) ''Bhoot'' ''Khakee'' ''Insan'' ''Dharti Kahe Pukar Ke (2006 film) ''Cash (2007 film) ''Halla Bol (film) ''Atithi Tum Kab Jaoge'' ''Dil Toh Bachcha Hai Ji'' ''Bol Bachchan''

Year
1991	''Phool Aur Kaante''	Ajay
1992	|	Raj "Raju" Verma
rowspan="8">1993	|	Ajay
''Divya Shakti''	Prashant Varma
''Platform (Hindi movie)	Platform''	Rajoo
''Sangram (1993 film)	Sangram''	Raja S. Singh Kanwar
''Shaktiman (1993 film)	Shaktiman''	Amar
''Ek Hi Raasta (1993 film)	Ek Hi Raasta''	Karan Singh
''Bedardi''	Vijay Saxena
''Dhanwaan''	Kashinath
rowspan="4"	1994	|	Arun Saxena
''Kanoon''	Vishal
''Vijaypath''	Karan
''Suhaag (1994 film)	Suhaag''	Ajay R. Sharma/Malhotra
rowspan="4"	1995	|	Jay Bakshi	Nominated, Filmfare Best Actor Award
''Hulchul (1995 film)	Hulchul''	Deva
''Gundaraj''	Ajay Chauvan
''Haqeeqat''	Shiva/Ajay
rowspan="3"	1996	|	Ajay Bahadur Saxena
''Jaan (film)	Jaan''	Karan
''Diljale''	Shyam
rowspan="2"	1997	|	Karan
''Ishq (film)	Ishq''	Ajay Rai
rowspan="4"	1998	|	Virendra Pratap Singh
''Pyar To Hona Hi Tha''	Shekhar
''Sar Utha Ke Jiyo''
''Zakhm''	Ajay R. Desai
rowspan="7"	1999	|	Anand Kishore
''Kachche Dhaage''	Aftab
''Hogi Pyaar Ki Jeet''	Raju
''Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam''	Vanraj
''Hindustan Ki Kasam (1999 film)	Hindustan Ki Kasam''	Ajay/Tauheed
''Gair''	Vijay Kumar/Dev
''Thakshak''	Ishaan Singh
rowspan="2"	2000	|	Vishal/Arun
''Raju Chacha''	Shekhar/Raju Chacha
rowspan="3"	2001	|	Vicky/Rohit Verma
''Lajja (film)	Lajja''	Bulwa
''Tera Mera Saath Rahen''	Raj Dixit
rowspan="4"	2002	Company'' ||	Malik	Nominated, Filmfare Best Actor Award
''Hum Kisi Se Kum Nahin''	Raja
''The Legend of Bhagat Singh''	Sardar Bhagat Singh
''Deewangee''	Tarang Bharadwaj
rowspan="7"	2003	|	Vishal
''Qayamat: City Under Threat''	Rachit
''Chori Chori (2003 film)	Chori Chori''	Ranbir Malhotra
''Gangaajal''	S.P. Amit Kumar
''Parwana (2003 film)	Parwana''	Parwana
''Zameen (2003 film)	Zameen''	Col. Ranveer Ranawat
''LOC Kargil''	Capt. Manoj Pandey
rowspan="5"	2004	|	Yashwant Angre	Nominated, Filmfare Best Villain Award
''Masti (2004 film)	Masti''	Inspector Sikander
''Yuva''	Michael Mukherjee
''Taarzan: The Wonder Car''	Deven Chaudhary (Special Appearance)
''Raincoat (film)	Raincoat''	Manoj
rowspan="8"	2005	|	Ajit Rathod
''Blackmail (2005 film)	Blackmail''	Shekhar Mohan
''Zameer (2005 film)	Zameer''	Suraj Chauhan
''Tango Charlie''	Havaldar Mohammed Ali
''Kaal''	Kali Pratap Singh
''Main Aisa Hi Hoon''	Neel
''Apaharan''	Ajay Shastri
''Shikhar (film)	Shikhar''	Gaurav Gupta
rowspan="4"	2006	Dharti Kahe Pukar Ke'' ||	SP Kunal Singh	Bhojpuri Film
''Golmaal (2006 film)	Golmaal''	Gopal
''Omkara (film)	Omkara''	Omkara "Omi" Shukla
''The Awakening (2006 film)	The Awakening''
rowspan="2"	2007	Cash'' ||	Karan/Doc
''Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag''	Hirendra Chavan (Heero)
rowspan="5"	2008	Halla Bol'' ||	Ashfaq Khan/Sameer Khan
''Sunday (Indian film)	Sunday''	ACP Rajveer Randhawa
''U, Me aur Hum''	Ajay
''Mehbooba (2008 film)	Mehbooba''	Karan
''Golmaal Returns''	Gopal
rowspan="2"	2009	''All The Best: Fun Begins''	Prem Chopra
''London Dreams''	Arjun
rowspan="7"	2010	|	Puneet
''Teen Patti (film)	Teen Patti	Sunny
''Raajneeti''	Sooraj
''Once Upon a Time in Mumbaai''	Sultan Mirza
''Aakrosh''	Pratap Kumar
''Golmaal 3''	Gopal
''Toonpur Ka Superrhero	Toonpur Ka Super Hero''	Aditya
rowspan="7"	2011	|	Naren
''Yamla Pagla Deewana''	Narrator
''Ready (2011 film)	Ready''	Raju
''Singham (2011 film)	Singham''	Bajirao Singham
''Rascals (2011 film)	Rascals''	Bhagat
''Tezz''	Ajay
''Power (2011 film)	Power''
rowspan="3"	2012	|		Filming
''S.O.S.-Son Of Sardar''
''Matru Ki Biwi Ka Mann Dola''

Producer

Year !! Film !! Other notes
2000	''Raju Chacha''
2008	''U, Me aur Hum''
2009	''All The Best: Fun Begins''

Director

Year !! Film !! Other notes
2008	''U, Me aur Hum''

References

External links

Ajay Devgn's Official Site

Category:Indian actors Category:Indian film actors Category:1969 births Category:Living people Category:National Film Award winners Category:Filmfare Awards winners Category:People from Delhi Category:Indian film producers Category:Indian film directors Category:Hindi-language film directors Category:Hindi film actors Category:Punjabi people Category:People from Mumbai Category:Mithibai College alumni

de:Ajay Devgan es:Ajay Devgan fr:Ajay Devgan hi:अजय देवगन it:Ajay Devgn kn:ಅಜಯ್ ದೇವ್ ಗನ್ ml:അജയ് ദേവഗൺ mr:अजय देवगण pl:Ajay Devgan ru:Девган, Аджай fi:Ajay Devgan sv:Ajay Devgan ta:அஜய் தேவ்கான் tg:Аҷай Девган tr:Ajay Devgan

Chhagan Bhujbal () (born October 15, 1947) is a politician from the state of Maharashtra, India. He is the Public Works Minister of Maharashtra.

Bhujbal started his political career with the Shiv Sena party. He left the party in 1991 and joined the Indian National Congress. Later, after the Indian National Congress leader Sharad Pawar decided to split from the Congress and form his own party, the Nationalist Congress Party, Bhujbal went along with him. Chagan Bhujbal is a powerful OBC leader and has mass base in Maharshtra. He belongs to the 'Mali community'. Chhagan Bhujbal started his political career from Shiv Sena in the 1960s. Before entering politics he was a vegetable vendor in Byculla Market. He was amongst initial members of Shiv Sena and worked enthusiastically to spread Shiv Sena in nooks and corners of Maharashtra. He was dually rewarded for hardwork put in party building.He first became a Corporator in BMC & was later elected as Mayor of Mumbai. He was amongst earliest MLA's of Shivsena elected from Mazgaon first in 1985 & again in 1990.

References

Category:1947 births Category:Living people Category:Mayors of Mumbai Category:Maharashtra politicians Category:Members of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Category:Deputy Chief Ministers of Maharashtra Category:People from Nashik Category:Marathi politicians Category:Nationalist Congress Party politicians

mr:छगन भुजबळ