Nurses cut stress 40 percent with relaxation steps at work

http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_health/~3/EkTsjN11EkI/150511091557.htm

Australian aboriginal music.

Please click on each of the web-links below with your speakers on :-

Australian aborigines -- Australian aboriginal music -- Australia

https://youtu.be/V1pDPuetPdg

Australian Aboriginal Music: Song with Didgeridoo

https://youtu.be/dFGvNxBqYFI

Australian Aboriginal Music

General

The traditional music of indigenous Australians holds a lot of meaning to their culture. Music is used throughout an aboriginal's life to teach what must be known about their culture, about their place in it, and about its place in the world of nature and supernature. As a very young child, the aboriginal is encouraged to dance and sing about everyday tasks. At puberty, s/he learns the first karma songs - about totemic plants and animals of his/her clan and the history and mythology of the group - which belong to his/her lineage and have specific melodic formulas and modes that distinguish them from other group's songs. Embedded in a purely oral tradition, the music is learnt by imitation and passed on without reference to any written notations. In the bachelor's camp, the young man learns more light-hearted songs which are the basic entertainment media for the band. When he marries and enters further into group responsibilities, however, it is the karma songs that are the central part of his education and his source of strength in times of trouble. His maturity can be measured in the esoteric knowledge he has acquired through song, and as an old man, he knows that his honour is based partly on his mastery of the secret sacred songs of the band.

To the Australian aboriginal, music is understood naturally and is an integral part of life. In the west, by contrast, music tends to be separated from life. For example, a Western music student must learn to "understand" a composed piece of music, like a Beethoven symphony or one of Bach's works. This involves dissecting the music into elements of individual study - form, rhythm, harmony, melody and orchestration. The westerner can come to understand aboriginal music also, if s/he is willing to learn its language and laws ans listen to it in terms of itself. It cannot be compared to a Beethoven symphony because it has nothing to do with it. Both, however, can be enjoyed once one knows what to listen for in each.

Traditional Instruments

In constructing their instruments, Aboriginal Australians use the resources at hand. Most of their instruments fall into the idiophone class, where instruments consist of two separate parts which are stuck together to give a percussive sound. Throughout Australia, this kind of instrument takes many different forms. Of the membraphones, or skinned drum types, there is only one example. There are no chordophones, or string instruments; however in the aerophone, or wind instrument class, one example provides an outstanding exhibition of musical ingenuity.

Category	Instrument	Details
Idiophones	Sticks	Each singer holds a pair of wooden sticks, one in each hand, and provides a percussive rhythm. One, long and slightly flattened stick is generally grasped in the middle and held flat. The other, more rounded and held towards the end, is brought sharply and cleanly on to the first. The paired sticks can vary considerably in shape.
	Boomerang clapsticks	These provide a similar function as the sticks. At times they may be shaken so as to provide a continuous rattle.
	Handclapping	Handclapping and slapping various parts of the body are used by singers of both sexes, sometimes as a substitute for a pair of sticks.
	Set of percussion sticks	Sometimes referred to "gongs", the set of three or four variously-lengthed wooden sticks hit with a stick are used only in Yabaduruwa ceremonies.
	Percussion tube	A percussion tube, the "hollow log drum" is used with the Ubar ceremonies. Other percussie idiophones include a stick beaten on a shield, a stick beaten on another stick lying on the ground, and the women's bark bundle hit on the ground.
	Rasp	The Kimberley Tabi songs are accompanied by a rasp. A notched stick, or the side of a spear thrower is scraped by a second, smaller stick.
	Rattle	Island style songs from Cape York are accompanied by bunches of seed pods held in the hand.
Membranophone	Skin drum	A single-headed hour glass shaped drum, whose head is made from lizard or goanna skin, or on at least one occaision the rubber from a tyre inner tube, is heard from Cape York, with both traditional song types and island dance. The open end is sometimes shaped like the mouth of a crocodile.
Aerophones	Didjeridu	The didjeridu is usually formed when a branch of a tree, naturally hollow, is further hollowed out by nesting termites. Aboriginal Australians cut these branches to a suitable length (approx. 1.5 metres), hollowing out both ends a little more and sometimes smoothing the mouthpiece with gum. Blown with vibrating lips, the didjeridu gives a fundamental note with a rich and complex harmonic series. Constant air pressure is maintained by simultaneously blowing out through the mouth and breathing in through the nose, using the cheeks as a reservoir. Considerable stamina is required for this technique and a good didjeridu player is considered capable of sustaining fast energetic rhythmic patterns throughout a given song. A skilled player is highly respected and may travel with a professional songman to enhance trade meetings or other interband meetings. The function of the didjeridu is to provide a constant drone on a deep note, somewhere between D flat and G below the bass clef. This drone is not a simple held note, but is broken up into a great variety of rythmic patterns and accents by the skilful use of the tongue and cheeks. Nor is it constant in timbre, for many different tone colours are achieved by altering the shape of the mouth cavity and the position of the tongue and by shutting off various parts of the anatomy which act as resonating chambers for the human voice. It is not, however, in the manipulation of the droned fundamental, nor in the slight rise and fall of pitch used to accent a rhythm, that the great skill of a didjeridu player lies, but in his use of two entirely different notes, which are alternated in rapid succession to form complex and fascinating cross-rhythms. These two notes are not haphazardly chosen, but invariably are pitched a major tenth apart, the upper note being the first overtone. The physical explanation for this overtone being a tenth above the fundamental has not, so far, been found; but probably lies in the fact that the tube is slightly and irregularly conical. One would expect either the octave (for a conical pipe) or a twelfth (for a cylindrical pipe) to result, but the actual interval is never less than a tenth nor more than an eleventh.

Researched and written by Hans W. Telford

Bathroom Graffiti

: From phallic doodles and insults to humor, satire and supportive messages

http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_health/~3/6stD-Ohxyas/150512075118.htm

Children exposed to multiple languages may be better natural communicators

http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_health/~3/BegH745Lv7o/150511211745.htm

DR NAGALINGAM RASALINGAM - A breif survey by Dr. Harry Rasiah

My good friend Dr Rasalingam has established himself in three different spheres of activity during his long active life.  From our school days at Royal College he was an outstanding sportsman; he became a doctor and after he established himself and his family in Auckland, New Zealand he became a human rights activist championing the cause of migrants.

Best known possibly as a badminton player he was triple national champion. He also excelled in basketball, which was a new sport at Royal and became the team’s second captain. When hockey was inaugurated in 1955, Ras took to the field with gusto and would have captained after Lionel Almeida, but due to age restrictions that honour fell to Harry Rasiah!  

The photograph shows him seated on the Principal’s left with team mates ‘Bongo’ Rajendra, Godwin Daniel, Wijedoru, T K N Thilakan, Ramanathan, ‘Papa’ Samarasinghe and coaches Hugh Aldons and ‘Budge’ Metzeling and of course Mr Hockey Lennie de Silva the master-in-charge.

One might have thought that was sufficient for anyone to handle but Ras was also Middleweight Boxing Champion and Head Prefect too.  One of his boxing team mates was Rahula Silva who became a national champion while still a schoolboy.

Moving into Medical College in 1957 he continued his sports. On the basketball court he played alongside his former school mates Thurairajah and Sri Skandarajah and they were a formidable trio for the Varsity All Blacks – and all three excelled in badminton too.

Despite being such a good sportsman, Ras was there for any party.  When the results of the 1^st MB were announced and I had won an Exhibition – the princely sum of Rs50.00 – we took to our scooters and hit the town to celebrate!

After passing out as a doctor, he was posted to Badulla for his internship.  At that time for reasons cited by the Health Department as ‘over production’, newly qualified doctors were not guaranteed employment and as a result Rasalingam and many others became part of a mass exodus who sought greener pastures abroad, in his case New Zealand, where he and his batch mate Freddie (Dr U D F Abeysekera) set up a joint practice which thrived until they both decided to retire and sold up.

Rasalingam’s eldest brother Amirthalingam joined the army but along with many other officers left the army.  In 1983 their mother was seriously manhandled by the goon squads and their house ransacked. These events may have led him to take up cudgels on behalf of the many Tamils who fled at that time.  He came to be considered an active member of the Diaspora and could have been arrested had he dared to visit Sri Lanka. 

The RAS Migration Centre in Auckland has helped hundreds of Sri Lankans to settle in New Zealand.  They are taught English and also made familiar with local customs and mannerisms so that they can more easily be accepted by their local communities.  For this work he was recognised by the New Zealand government and given an award.  He and his wife Malar both work for the Refugee Council of New Zealand Inc.  Their son is a Cardiologist in New York where Ras’s brother Sunderalingam has long been a respected Physicist.  Their daughter is a lawyer, also residing in the USA.

Rasalingam lives in retirement in New Zealand.

Malaika - Swahili song made famous by Miriam Makeba.

Please click on each of the web-links below with your speakers on :-

MIRIAM MAKEBA - "Malaika" - Original 1974 single with Swahili and English Lyrics.

https://youtu.be/bCh58peMl98

Malaika - Miriam Makeba

https://youtu.be/0vQgB6wLksY

https://youtu.be/08wPHrnVKA0

Angélique Kidjo - Malaika (2010 FIFA World Cup™ Kick-off Concert)

https://youtu.be/tusu58UnP3Y

Miriam Makeba et Harry Belafonte (1966)

https://youtu.be/qmWDnxrIbKQ

Malaika is a Swahili song. Malaika generally means "angel" in Swahili. As is the case with many Swahili words, it is ultimately derived from Arabic. An alternative Swahili meaning is a "baby" or "small child",^[1] hence at least one particular traditional version of the song is commonly used as a lullaby throughout East Africa.^[2] One of the better known versions is possibly the most famous love song in Kenyan pop music, as well as being one of the most widely known of all Swahili songs.

The lyrics of the song differ slightly from version to version; the title itself is subject to variation, such as "Ewe Malaika

The song is sung by a poor young man who wishes to marry his beloved ″Angel″ or ″Little bird″ but is defeated by the bride price.

The original text and the translation by Rupert Moser originally into German is:

Malaika, nakupenda Malaika
 Angel, I love you angel
Malaika, nakupenda Malaika
 Angel, I love you angel
Nami nifanyeje, kijana mwenzio
 and I, what should I do, your young friend
Nashindwa na mali sina, we,
 I am defeated by the bride price that I don't have
Ningekuoa Malaika
 I would marry you, angel
Nashindwa na mali sina, we,
 I am defeated by the bride price that I don't have
Ningekuoa Malaika
 I would marry you, angel

Kidege, hukuwaza kidege
 Little bird, I think of you little bird
Kidege, hukuwaza kidege
 Little bird, I think of you little bird
Nami nifanyeje, kijana mwenzio
 and I, what should I do, your young friend
Nashindwa na mali sina, we,
 I am defeated by the bride price that I don't have
Ningekuoa Malaika
 I would marry you, angel
Nashindwa na mali sina, we,
 I am defeated by the bride price that I don't have
Ningekuoa, Malaika
 I would marry you, angel

Pesa zasumbua roho yangu
 The money (which I do not have) depresses my soul
Pesa zasumbua roho yangu
 the money (which I do not have) depresses my soul
Nami nifanyeje, kijana mwenzio
 and I, what should I do, your young friend
Ningekuoa Malaika
 I would marry you, angel
Nashindwa na mali sina, we
 I am defeated by the bride price that I don't have
Ningekuoa Malaika
 I would marry you, angel

New painkiller

http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_health/~3/MaPaElMb_28/150507135913.htm