Mama

Mama(s) or Mamma(s) may refer to:

Roles

Places

Anatomy

Art, entertainment, and media

Fictional characters

Mama (Vitas album)

Mama (Мама, sometimes translated Mother or Mom) is a Russian album by Vitas. It was released in 2003, simultaneously with The Songs of My Mother. Both albums were a tribute to his late mother. Songs from these albums featured heavily in the setlist of Vitas' extensive world tour The Songs of My Mother, performed at hundreds of venues in several countries from 2004-2006.

The opening track, The Star won a Russian People's HIT prize in 2003 and is one of Vitas' most popular songs worldwide. Like Opera No. 2, it is still a staple of Vitas' live performances. Vitas sang the song as a duet with Alexander Kireev for his entry into the Star Factory in 2006.

He performed the song Starry River accompanied by its composer Aleksandra Pakhmutova on piano at a concert in honour of the composer.

He covered the song The Unknown Friend Song (Песня о неизвестном друге, also known as Extraterrestrial Friend) composed in 1985 by Aleksandra Pakhmutova and Rasul Gamzatov (the poem is translated by Yunna Morits) for the song cycle The Earth Globe (Шар земной, 1985–1987). The song is about an unknown friend that realizes that there is an unknown circle of "invisible and unknown" friends and enemies, as well as "lovable planets" (as per the lyrics), in addition to interstellar and general awareness, brotherhood to the next and an existence of an extraplanetary cycle. (The song addresses the topic of science fiction: brotherhood for humanity in the 3rd millennium and beyond.) It is also subsequently re-edited on Vitas' 2006 CD Return Home. There's also the music score of the song (available on the composer's website) to download. In concert, Vitas often dons an alien robot costume while performing this song.

Mama (Il Divo)

«Mama («Mum» in English) is a song created for Il Divo, included in the album Il Divo (2004), written by Quiz & Larossi with music of Savan Kotecha.

Mama was the first big success of reference of Quiz & Larossi.

Music video

"The music video "Mama", filmed in Tropea, Italy, in 2005. Directed by Fatima Andrade.

References

Katana

Historically, katana (刀) were one of the traditionally made Japanese swords (日本刀, nihontō) that were used by the samurai of feudal Japan. Modern versions of the katana are sometimes made using non-traditional materials and methods. The katana is characterized by its distinctive appearance: a curved, slender, single-edged blade with a circular or squared guard and long grip to accommodate two hands.

History

The production of swords in Japan is divided into specific time periods:

The first use of "katana" (gatana) as a word to describe a long sword that was different from a tachi occurs as early as the Kamakura Period (1185–1333). These references to "uchigatana" and "tsubagatana" seem to indicate a different style of sword, possibly a less costly sword for lower-ranking warriors. The evolution of the tachi into the katana seems to have started during the early Muromachi period (1337 to 1573). Starting around the year 1400, long swords signed with the "katana" signature were made. This was in response to samurai wearing their tachi in what is now called "katana style" (cutting edge up). Japanese swords are traditionally worn with the signature facing away from the wearer. When a tachi was worn in the style of a katana, with the cutting edge up, the tachi's signature would be facing the wrong way. The fact that swordsmiths started signing swords with a katana signature shows that some samurai of that time period had started wearing their swords in a different manner.

Katana (disambiguation)

Katana is Japanese for backsword and often refers to uchigatana, especially in English. For a list of fictional katana, see Katanas in fiction. Katana may also refer to:

Dreamcast

The Dreamcast (Japanese: ドリームキャスト, Hepburn: Dorīmukyasuto) is a home video game console released by Sega on November 27, 1998 in Japan, September 9, 1999 in North America, and October 14, 1999 in Europe. It was the first in the sixth generation of video game consoles, preceding Sony's PlayStation 2, Nintendo's GameCube and Microsoft's Xbox. The Dreamcast is Sega's final home console, marking the end of the company's 18 years in the console market.

In contrast to the expensive hardware of the unsuccessful Sega Saturn, the Dreamcast was designed to reduce costs with "off-the-shelf" components, including a Hitachi SH-4 CPU and an NEC PowerVR2 GPU. Released in Japan to a subdued reception, the Dreamcast enjoyed a successful U.S. launch backed by a large marketing campaign, but interest in the system steadily declined as Sony built hype for the upcoming PlayStation 2. Sales did not meet Sega's expectations despite several price cuts, and the company continued to incur significant financial losses. After a change in leadership, Sega discontinued the Dreamcast on March 31, 2001, withdrawing from the console business and restructuring itself as a third-party publisher. 9.13 million Dreamcast units were sold worldwide.