Columbia Encyclopedia

Search results

207 results found

Lindsay, Vachel

(Encyclopedia)Lindsay, Vachel (Nicholas Vachel Lindsay) lĭnˈzē [key], 1879–1931, American poet, b. Springfield, Ill., studied at Hiram College, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the New York School of Art. Li...

klezmer

(Encyclopedia)klezmer klĕzˈmər [key], form of instrumental folk music developed in the Eastern European Jewish community. The style had its beginnings in the Middle Ages; its name is a Yiddishized version of the...

Charters, Samuel Barclay

(Encyclopedia)Charters, Samuel Barclay, 1929–2015, American musical historian and author, b. Pittsburgh. In the 1950s he studied jazz and blues in New Orleans and traveled through the South, where he recorded neg...

band

(Encyclopedia)band, in music, a group of musicians playing principally on wind and percussion instruments, usually outdoors. Prior to the 18th cent., the term band was frequently applied in a generic sense to cover...

Scott-Heron, Gil

(Encyclopedia)Scott-Heron, Gil, 1949–2011, American poet, musician, and songwriter, b. Chicago. Often considered “the godfather of rap music,” he rejected that ...

San Sebastián

(Encyclopedia)San Sebastián sän sābästyänˈ [key], Basque Donostia, city (1990 pop. 183,944), capital of Gipuzkoa (Guipúzcoa) prov., N Spain, on the Bay of Biscay at the mouth of the Urumea River, in the Basq...

Béjart, Maurice

(Encyclopedia)Béjart, Maurice môrēsˈ bāzhärˈ [key], 1927–2007, French ballet dancer and opera director, b. Marseilles as Maurice Jean Berger. After studying in Marseilles, Paris, and London, he danced and ...

Queen Latifah

(Encyclopedia) Queen Latifah , 1970- , African-American rapper, songwriter, and actress, b. Newark, N.J., as Dana Elaine Owens. In a musical style known for its m...

Blades, Rubén

(Encyclopedia)Blades, Rubén ro͞obānˈ bläˈᵺās [key], 1948–, Panamanian singer, songwriter, band leader, and actor. He is a graduate (1972) of the Univ. of Panama law school and holds a masters degree (198...

Milhaud, Darius

(Encyclopedia)Milhaud, Darius däryüsˈ mēyōˈ [key], 1892–1974, French composer. Milhaud studied at the Paris Conservatory. In Brazil (1917–19) as an aide to Paul Claudel, poet and French minister to Brazil...

Browse by Subject