Antonio

Antonio is a Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese first name of Latin origin. In the English language it is translated as Anthony, and has some female derivatives: Antonia, Antónia, Antonieta, Antonietta, and Antonella. It also has some male derivatives, such as Anthonio, Antò, Antonis, Antoñito, Antonino, Antonello, Tonio, Toño, Toñín, Tonino, Nantonio, Totò, Tó, Tony, Toni, Toninho,and Toñito.

The Portuguese equivalent is António (Portuguese orthography) or Antônio (Brazilian Portuguese). In old Portuguese the form Antão was also used, In Galician the form Antón. The Greek versions fxxxx general Marcus Antonius held that the origin of the name was Anthon, son of Hercules. This myth, recorded by Plutarch, was probably created by Marcus Antonius himself, in order to claim divine parentage. The name was in use throughout the Roman world which, at its height, comprised the whole of the Mediterranean and much of Europe as well as the Middle East. When the Roman Empire became Christian, the name continued in popularity because of the many great saints who bore the name. Later, the name was spread all around the world as Christianity was introduced to other places (e.g. the Far East, the Americas, and Sub-Saharan Africa).

Amin Maalouf

Amin Maalouf (Arabic: أمين معلوف‎, born 25 February 1949 in Beirut) is a Lebanese-born French author. Has lived in France since 1976. Although his native language is Arabic, he writes in French, and his works have been translated into many languages. He received the Prix Goncourt in 1993 for his novel Le rocher de Tanios (English: The Rock of Tanios). He was awarded the Prince of Asturias Award for Literature in 2010. He was elected a member of the Académie française on 23 June 2011 to fill seat 29, left vacant by the death of anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss. Maalouf is the first person of Lebanese heritage to receive that honor.

Biography

Maalouf was born in Beirut, Lebanon, the second of four children. His parents had different cultural backgrounds. His mother was born in Egypt, where her father, a Maronite Christian married to a woman born in Turkey, had gone for work. His Lebanese father was from the Melkite Greek Catholic community. Maalouf's mother was a staunch Catholic who insisted on sending him to Collège Notre Dame de Jamhour, a French Jesuit school. He studied sociology at the Francophone Université Saint-Joseph in Beirut.

Muhammad Yunus

Muhammad Yunus (Bengali: মুহাম্মদ ইউনূস; born 28 June 1940) is a Bangladeshi social entrepreneur, banker, economist and civil society leader who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for founding the Grameen Bank and pioneering the concepts of microcredit and microfinance. These loans are given to entrepreneurs too poor to qualify for traditional bank loans. In 2006, Yunus and the Grameen Bank were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize "for their efforts through microcredit to create economic and social development from below". The Norwegian Nobel Committee noted that "lasting peace cannot be achieved unless large population groups find ways in which to break out of poverty" and that "across cultures and civilizations, Yunus and Grameen Bank have shown that even the poorest of the poor can work to bring about their own development". Yunus has received several other national and international honours. He received the United States Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009 and the Congressional Gold Medal in 2010.

Jean Ziegler

Jean Ziegler (French: [ziglɛʁ]; born April 19, 1934 as Hans Ziegler) is a former professor of sociology at the University of Geneva and the Sorbonne, Paris. Currently member of the Advisory Committee to the United Nations Human Rights Council. He was a Member of Parliament for the Social Democrats in the Federal Assembly of Switzerland from 1981 to 1999. He has also held several positions with the United Nations, especially as Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food from 2000 to 2008, and as a member of the Advisory Committee of the UN Human Rights Council from 2008 to 2012. Jean Ziegler has authored numerous works, is a lecturer, and is well known for this sentence: "A child who dies from hunger is a murdered child."

Early life and teaching career

Jean Ziegler was born on April 19, 1934 in Thun, Switzerland. His father was the president of the town’s court and a reserve artillery colonel.

Ziegler married and had one son. He studied at the universities of Bern and Geneva and has doctorates in Law and Sociology. He also earned his barrister brevet at the bar association of Geneva. In 1952, he met Abbé Pierre in Paris, and became the first director of the Emmaus charitable community of Geneva. In 1964, Ziegler admired the Cuban communists, and was Che Guevara's chauffeur in Geneva.

Trilok Gurtu

Trilok Gurtu (Kashmiri: ترلوک گرٹو, Marathi: त्रिलोक गुर्टू) (born in Mumbai, India on 30 October 1951) is an Indian percussionist and composer, whose work has blended the music of his homeland with jazz fusion, world music and other genres.

He has released his own albums and has collaborated with many artists, including Terje Rypdal, Gary Moore, John McLaughlin, Jan Garbarek, Joe Zawinul, Bill Laswell, Maria João & Mário Laginha, and Robert Miles.

Early life

Gurtu was born to Hindu Brahmin parents in Mumbai, and attended Don Bosco High School (Matunga) in Mumbai. His mother, singer Shobha Gurtu, encouraged him to learn playing tabla, and he studied playing the instrument under Shah Abdul Karim.

Career

Gurtu began playing western drum kit in the 1970s, and developed interest in jazz. In a 1995 television special on Jimi Hendrix, Gurtu mentioned having initially learned Western music without awareness of overdubbing, which, he said, forced him to learn multiple parts which most musicians would have never attempted. In the 1970s, he played with Charlie Mariano, John Tchicai, Terje Rypdal, and Don Cherry.