Daphne

Daphne (/ˈdæfniː/; Greek: Δάφνη, meaning "laurel") is a minor figure in Greek mythology known as a naiad—a type of female nymph associated with fountains, wells, springs, streams, brooks and other bodies of freshwater. There are several versions of the myth, but the general narrative is that because of her beauty, Daphne attracted the attention and ardor of the god Apollo (Phoebus). Apollo pursued her and just before being overtaken, Daphne pleaded to her father, the rivergod Ladon, and Ge (Gaia) for help. So Ladon then transformed Daphne into a laurel tree. In Metamorphoses by Roman poet Ovid, she is identified as the daughter of the rivergod Pineios in Thessaly. At the Pythian Games which were held every four years in Delphi in honour of Apollo, a wreath of laurel gathered from the Vale of Tempe in Thessaly was given as a prize. According to Pausanias the reason for this "simply and solely because the prevailing tradition has it that Apollo fell in love with the daughter of Ladon (Daphne)".

Daphne (brig)

Daphne was a brig constructed in Java and arrived in Australia 1814. She was wrecked without loss of life on 26 October 1818 in the Kent Group in Bass Strait.

Daphne departed Sydney bound for India on 10 October 1818 under the command of John Howard. As she passed through Bass Strait he stopped at several islands to purchase sealskins from sealers in the area. On 26 October a gale rose and Howard sheltered in the lee of East Island. Howard went ashore, probably to find sealers. On arriving on shore he noticed that Daphne was being driven towards the rocks. He returned on board but could do little to save the brig. He therefore ordered the passengers and crew to abandon ship. The passengers made it to shore safely but Daphne was totally destroyed.

The longboat was badly damaged and it took Howard and his crew some eight days to repair it. He then took his chief mate and three seamen and headed to Launceston on 4 August. Although he was blown off course, he eventually made Hobart on the 14 November 1818. There he chartered the sloop Governor Sorrell to rescue the eight passengers and crew remaining on East Island. Meanwhile, the John Palmer arrived and took on board some of the wreck survivors and attempted to head back to Hobart. However she wrecked too. One passenger lost her life. The survivors had to await the arrival of Governor Sorrel for their rescue.

Daphné (singer)

Daphné (born 1974) is a French singer. Her first album, L'émeraude (The Emerald), was released in 2005.

Biography

Daphné was born in Clermont-Ferrand, Puy-de-Dôme, France but never actually lived in the prefecture of Auvergne. She has stayed in Paris, Poitiers in the Poitou region, the Alps and even abroad.

Daphné has always been a huge fan of Henry Purcell, Mozart and Maurice Ravel. Her modern musical tastes include Stevie Wonder and Sting but she says the latter did not influence her own work. Technically speaking, the most important thing for her in writing a song is finding the right tune because "tunes carry emotions". Sometimes referred to as the French Björk, Daphné's entrancing voice often has her compared to a fairy. She confesses that she "would love to touch the hearts of people who stopped believing in their dreams, in their lives, who only think of running away..."

Her first album, which could be defined as trip hop with a touch of pop and chanson, just illustrates this frame of mind. Le réveil (The Awakening) is about being happy in love and confident in the future. Anna is about the end of innocence. Un homme sous influence (A Man Under Influence) is about rejection while Ton cœur (Your Heart) is an ode to trust. Trafalgar Square tells how the sun always shines again after the rain. L'insoumise (The Rebel) and Il viaggio (The Journey), a song in Italian, are both about the essential need to stand for oneself, to resist, to fight against oneself and society to uncover one's true personality and eventually see love as it is: a liberation.