ABBA

ABBA (stylised ᗅᗺᗷᗅ) were a Swedish pop group who formed in Stockholm in 1972. With members Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad, ABBA became one of the most commercially successful acts in the history of popular music, topping the charts worldwide from 1975 to 1982. They won the Eurovision Song Contest 1974 at the Dome in Brighton, UK, giving Sweden its first triumph in the contest, and were the most successful group ever to take part in the competition.

ABBA's record sales figure is uncertain and various estimates range from over 140 to over 500 million sold records. This makes them one of the best-selling music artists, and the second best-selling music group of all time, after the Beatles. ABBA was the first group to come from a non-English-speaking country to enjoy consistent success in the charts of English-speaking countries, including the UK, Ireland, the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. The group also enjoyed significant success in Latin American markets, and recorded a collection of their hit songs in Spanish.

Yeshu

Yeshu (ישו in the Hebrew alphabet) is the name of an individual or individuals mentioned in Rabbinic literature. Modern scholarship generally considers the name Yeshu in the Talmud to be a reference to Jesus in the Talmud. The name Yeshu is also used in other sources before and after the completion of the Babylonian Talmud.

According to the Babylonian Talmud (Sanhedrin 43a) the name is generally believed to be an acronym for י = Yimaḥ ש = Shĕmo ו = Wezikhro = meaning, May his name and memory be stricken out. The oldest works in which references to Yeshu occur are the Tosefta and the Talmud, although some scholars consider the references to Yeshu to be post-Talmudic additions.

During the Middle Ages, Ashkenazic Jewish authorities were forced to interpret these passages in relation to the Christian beliefs about Jesus of Nazareth. As historian David Berger observed,

In 1240 Nicholas Donin, with the support of Pope Gregory IX, referred to Yeshu narratives to support his accusation that the Jewish community had attacked the Virginity of Mary and the divinity of Jesus. In the Disputation of Paris, Yechiel of Paris conceded that one of the Yeshu stories in the Talmud referred to Jesus of Nazareth, but that the other passages referred to other people. In 1372, John of Valladolid, with the support of the Archbishop of Toledo, made a similar accusation against the Jewish community; Moses ha-Kohen de Tordesillas argued that the Yeshu narratives referred to different people and could not have referred to Jesus of Nazareth.Asher ben Jehiel also asserted that the Yeshu of the Talmud is unrelated to the Christian Jesus.

Vijay Benedict

Vijay Benedict is an Indian former Bollywood playback singer who provided playback for over 35 Bollywood films in the 1980s and early 1990s. He made his debut as a singer for the hit 1982 film Disco Dancer singing the popular title song "I Am a Disco Dancer" for actor Mithun Chakraborty. The film's director was Babbar Subhash and music director was Bappi Lahiri. He was frequently used as the playback singer for films starring Mithun Chakraborty which were directed by Babbar Subhash and music by Bappi Lahiri. He also worked with other music directors like Laxmikant Pyarelal, Anand-Milind and Nadeem-Shravan and sang for other actors like Govinda, Jackie Shroff and Aamir Khan. He has sung duets with female singers like Alisha Chinai, Asha Bhosle, Kavita Krishnamurthy, Parvati Khan, and male singers like Amit Kumar and Kumar Sanu.

In 1991 he quit playback singing for Bollywood films after death of his brother in Germany. He then devoted himself to his Christian religion and is now a Gospel Singer.

Brahma Kumaris

The Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University (Prajapita Brahma Kumaris Ishwariya Vishwa Vidyalaya) or BKWSU is a new religious movement that originated in Hyderabad, north-west India (current-day Pakistan) during the 1930s. The Brahma Kumaris (Sanskrit: ब्रह्माकुमारी, "daughters of Brahma") movement was founded by Dada Lekhraj Kripalani, who later took the name Brahma Baba. It is distinctly identified by the prominent role women play in the movement.

The Brahma Kumaris teaches a form of meditation that focuses on identity as souls (as opposed to bodies). They believe that all souls are intrinsically good and that God is the source of all goodness. The university teaches to transcend labels associated with the body, such as race, nationality, religion, and gender, and aspires to establish a global culture based on what they call "soul-consciousness".

In 2008, the movement claimed to have more than 825,000 regular students, with over 8,500 centers in 100 countries.

Early history

Music and Lyrics

Music and Lyrics is a 2007 American romantic comedy film written and directed by Marc Lawrence. It focuses on the relationship that evolves between a former pop music idol (of the fictional band PoP!, which is inspired by Wham! and Duran Duran) and an aspiring writer as they struggle to compose a song for a reigning pop diva.

Plot

Alex Fletcher (Hugh Grant) is a washed-up former pop star who is attempting to revive his dwindling career by hitching his name to the rising star of Cora Corman (Haley Bennett), a young megastar who has asked him to write a song titled "Way Back Into Love." During an unsuccessful attempt to come up with words for the song, he discovers that the woman who is temporarily watering his plants, Sophie Fisher (Drew Barrymore), has a gift for writing lyrics. Sophie, a former creative writing student reeling from a disastrous romance with her former English professor Sloan Cates (Campbell Scott), initially refuses. Alex cajoles her into helping him by using a few quickly-chosen phrases she has given him as the basis for a song. Over the next few days, they grow closer while writing the words and music together, much to the delight of Sophie's older sister Rhonda (Kristen Johnston), a huge fan of Alex.