Ram Narayan (born 1927) is an Indian musician who popularised the bowed
sarangi of Hindustani classical music as a solo concert instrument and
became its first international virtuoso. He was born near Udaipur and
learned to play at an early age. He studied under sarangi players and
singers and, as a teenager, worked as a music teacher and travelling
musician. All India Radio, Lahore, hired him as an accompanist for
vocalists in 1944. He moved to Delhi following the partition of India in
1947 and moved to Mumbai in 1949 to work in Indian cinema. He had his
first success as a concert solo artist in 1956 and has since performed
at major music festivals in India. After sitar player Ravi Shankar
successfully performed in Western countries, Narayan followed his
example. He recorded solo albums and made his first international tour
in 1964 to America and Europe with his older brother Chatur Lal, a tabla
player who had toured with Shankar in the 1950s. Narayan taught Indian
and foreign students and performed into the 2000s. He was awarded
India's second highest civilian honour, the Padma Vibhushan, in 2005.
Read more: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ram_Narayan>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1734:
A black slave known as Marie-Joseph Angélique, having been
convicted of setting the fire that destroyed much of Montreal, was
tortured and then hanged in New France.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie-Joseph_Ang%C3%A9lique>
1826:
Greek War of Independence: A combined Egyptian and Ottoman army
began their invasion of the Mani Peninsula, but they were initially held
off by the Maniots at the fortifications of Vergas.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ottoman%E2%80%93Egyptian_invasion_of_Mani>
1864:
New Zealand Wars: British victory in the Battle of Te Ranga
brought the Tauranga Campaign to an end.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tauranga_Campaign>
1948:
The Manchester Small-Scale Experimental Machine (replica
pictured), the world's first stored-program computer, ran its first
computer program.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manchester_Small-Scale_Experimental_Machine>
1963:
Italian cardinal Giovanni Battista Montini was elected as Pope
Paul VI.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Paul_VI>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
midnight sun:
The phenomenon occurring when the Sun does not set but only approaches
the horizon at midnight; it occurs near the summer solstice in the polar
regions.
<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/midnight_sun>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Calling someone a monster does not make him more guilty; it makes
him less so by classing him with beasts and devils.
--Mary McCarthy
<https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Mary_McCarthy>