This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (December 2009)

Francisco de Sá de Miranda (28 August 1481? – 17 May 1558; Portuguese pronunciation: [fɾɐ̃ˈsiʃku dɨ ˈsa dɨ miˈɾɐ̃ðɐ]) was a Portuguese poet of the Renaissance.

Life[link]

Sá de Miranda was the son of a canon of Coimbra belonging to the ancient and noble family of Sá. His brother, Mem de Sá, was the third governor of colonial Brazil.

Sá de Miranda passed his early years by the banks of the river Mondego, considered a source of inspiration to many other poets. He made his first studies of Greek, Latin and philosophy in the college of the Santa Cruz Monastery, and in 1505 went to University of Lisbon (the University of Coimbra had moved to Lisbon in 1380) to study law, beginning at the same time to attend the Portuguese court and write poems in the mediaeval style still dominant in Portugal.

He travelled to Italy in 1521, were he was able to make contact with many writers and artists of the Renaissance, including Vittoria Colonna (who was his relative), Pietro Bembo, Sannazzaro and Ariosto. On his way home, in 1526, he visited Spain, meeting classical writers Juan Boscan and Garcilaso de la Vega.

Back in Portugal in 1526 or 1527, he was again received in the court, where he became a friend to King John III and other nobles. Four years after his return he decided to move to the Minho province, in the North of the country, were he purchased land. Around 1530 he married Briolanja de Azevedo, a lady of noble birth.

In 1552 he moved to the Quinta da Tapada, near Amares, where he died around 1558.

Escola Secundária Sá de Miranda is a public Secondary school in Braga

Work[link]

Like many Portuguese writers of his time, Sá de Miranda often wrote in Spanish apart from Portuguese. His early work is all in the form of the typical 15th century Portuguese poetry (the vilancete, the cantiga, the esparsa and the trova). Influenced by his travels in Italy and Spain, Sá de Miranda introduced a new aesthetics in Portugal. He introduced the sonnet, the elegy, the eclogue and other classical poetic forms, adapting the Portuguese language to the decasyllable verse.

Apart from poems, Sá de Miranda wrote two theatrical comedies following classical forms: Estrangeiros (staged in Coimbra in 1528 and published in 1559) and Vilhalpandos (written around 1530 and published in 1560). His tragedy Cleópatra has only survived in fragments.

He also left several letters in verse, addressed to people like King John III and his brother Mem de Sá.

Anneke van Giersbergen
Background information
Birth name	Anneke van Giersbergen
Born	(1973-03-08) 8 March 1973 (age 39) Sint-Michielsgestel, Netherlands
Occupations	Vocalist, Singer-Songwriter, vocal coach[1][2]
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, keyboard
Years active	1994 to present
Associated acts	The Gathering Lawn Agua de Annique Devin Townsend Project Anathema

Anneke van Giersbergen (born 8 March 1973) is a Dutch singer and musician. She is the former lead singer of the Dutch progressive/alternative rock band The Gathering which she departed in August 2007. Since then, she has been involved in a solo project called Agua de Annique which also included her husband & drummer of the band, Rob Snijders. She now performs under her own name with her husband & other members. She has also worked with Lawn, Farmer Boys, Ayreon, Napalm Death, Novembers Doom, Moonspell, Globus, Arjen Anthony Lucassen, Giant Squid, Devin Townsend, Anathema and Within Temptation.

Biography[link]

This section requires expansion.

Van Giersbergen was born in Sint-Michielsgestel, Netherlands. By the age of 7, she participated in soundmix contests, and, at the age of 12, joined her school choir, and later joined her first rock band.

She has played with several bands before becoming part of the duo Bad Breath, who played a mix of blues, jazz, folk and funk.^[3] She joined The Gathering in 1994, and she is most notable for her work with them.

In 1998, she sang on the Ayreon album Into the Electric Castle, a concept album telling the tale of an alien entity 'kidnapping' 8 human souls from different times. Anneke portrayed an Egyptian woman from the time of the pharaohs.

In 2006, she appears on the album 2006 Rubicon from Asia band members' John Wetton and Geoffrey Downes on the tracks "To Catch a Thief" and "Tears of Joy". And, also appears on the Smear Campaign by the grindcore-death metal band Napalm Death, on the tracks "Weltschmerz" and "In Deference", contributing spoken rather than sung vocals "for good effect and relevance to the track."^[4] In June of that same year, the epic rock band Globus released the album Epicon, which included Anneke's vocal and writing contributions. Anneke co-wrote the lyrics for "Mighty Rivers Run", and sang lead vocal on the track as well as dueting with Christine Navarro on the seminal "Diem Ex Dei".

On 5 June 2007 it was announced that Anneke would be leaving The Gathering in August 2007 to focus on a new project, Agua de Annique,^[5] and spend more time with her family. On 24 November 2007 she performed the song "Somewhere" with Within Temptation in Eindhoven.^[6] On 7 February 2008 she performed the song "Somewhere" again with Within Temptation at the Ahoy Arena in Rotterdam, and it was featured in the Within Temptation live DVD Black Symphony.

Anneke also sings on the Ayreon album 01011001, released in early 2008. The character she portrays is one of the Forever, an alien being of the same race who kidnapped her character from Into the Electric Castle. She sings on "Scorpion Flower" from the album Night Eternal (2008) from Moonspell. On 3 December 2008, she performed this song live with Moonspell in the 013, Tilburg.

Anneke collaborated with Devin Townsend on his album Addicted in 2009 and sang on most songs in it.^[7] She appears as a guest vocalist on the debut album of The Human Experimente, a project which also features Robert Fripp of King Crimson, John Wetton of Asia and King Crimson, Maynard James Keenan of Tool, A Perfect Circle and Puscifer, Adrian Belew of Frank Zappa, David Bowie, Talking Heads and King Crimson, U-G-O with Sean Kingston, and Dann Pursey of Globus and Vantan.^[8]

In 2011, Anneke collaborated with Yoav Goren on the song "The Promise", the lead track on Globus second album Break from This World. She co-wrote lyrics as well as being a featured vocalist along with Lisbeth Scott on the track. She performs the track "What Could Have Been" for Death/doom metal band Novembers Doom.^[9] Anneke also features on a track in the orchestral re-interpretations album from English progressive rock band Anathema, Falling Deeper, released on 5 September 2011. She has been touring with the band in South America singing the song "Everwake".

She has released a new album, Everything Is Changing, in January 2012 through the Dutch division of PIAS Recordings and under her own name.^[10]

Musical roots and influences[link]

Anneke's musical roots are in classical and jazz music, but she enjoys rock and pop the most. Her main influences are Prince, Ella Fitzgerald and Thom Yorke (Radiohead).

Personal[link]

On 20 February 2005 she gave birth to a son named Finn, whom she had with her husband Rob Snijders.

Discography[link]

Anneke Van Giersbergen and Danny Cavanagh, 2010

With The Gathering[link]

• Mandylion (1995)
• Adrenaline / Leaves - EP (1996)
• Nighttime Birds (1997)
• How to measure a planet? (1998)
• if then else (2000)
• Superheat - Live (2000)
• Amity - EP (2001)
• Black Light District - EP (2002)
• In Motion - DVD (2002)
• Souvenirs (2003)
• Sleepy Buildings - A Semi Acoustic Evening - Live (2004)
• Accessories - Rarities and B-Sides - Compilation (2005)
• A Sound Relief - DVD (2005)
• Home (2006)
• A Noise Severe - DVD (2007)

With Agua de Annique/Solo[link]

• Air (2007)
• Day After Yesterday - Single (2007)
• Come Wander With Me - Single (2008)
• Pure Air (2009)
• The Blower's Daughter - Single (2009)
• In Parallel with Danny Cavanagh (2009)
• Hey Okay! - Single (2009)
• In Your Room (2009)
• Sunny Side Up - Single (2010)
• Live In Europe (2010)
• Feel Alive - Single (2011)
• Circles - Singles (2011)
• Everything Is Changing (2012)

As guest vocalist[link]

• Farmer Boys - Countrified (1996) - track #9 "Never Let Me Down Again" (Depeche Mode cover song)
• Ayreon - Into the Electric Castle (1998)
• Lawn - Backspace - Fix (2004)
• Wetton/Downes: ICON II: Rubicon (2006) tracks #4 and #5
• Globus - Epicon (2006) - Track #2 "Mighty Rivers Run", Track #7 "Diem Ex Dei"
• Napalm Death - Smear Campaign (2006) - Tracks 1 & 7, "Weltschmerz", "In Deference"
• Ayreon - 01011001 (2008)
• Moonspell - Night Eternal (2008) - Track #4 "Scorpion Flower"
• Within Temptation - Black Symphony (2008) - Track #10 "Somewhere" (Live Only)
• Giant Squid - The Ichthyologist (2009) - Track #6 "Sevengill"
• The Devin Townsend Project - Addicted (2009)
• Within Temptation - An Acoustic Night at the Theatre (2009) - Track #6 "Somewhere" (Live Only)
• Shane Shu - "Push Me to the Ground" Single (2010) - "Push Me To The Ground" (Acoustic Only) (She also performed an acoustic version of "Push Me to the Ground", live with Shane Shu at the Giel Beelen show)
• Maiden uniteD - Mind the Acoustic Pieces (2010) - Track #9 "To Tame a Land" (duet with Damian Wilson) and "Sun and Steel" (B-side on the single "The Trooper")
• Novembers Doom - Aphotic (2011) - Track #4 "What Could Have Been"
• Anathema - Falling Deeper (2011) - Track #5 "Everwake"
• Globus - Break From This Wold (2011) - Track #1 "The Promise"
• Lorrainville - you may never know what happiness is (2011) - various tracks^[11]
• Devin Townsend - Epicloud (2012)

References[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Anneke van Giersbergen

External links[link]

• Agua de Annique Official Website