Rara

Rara is a form of festival music that originated in Haïti, that is used for street processions, typically during Easter Week. The music centers on a set of cylindrical bamboo trumpets called vaksen (which may also be made of metal pipes), but also features drums, maracas, güiras or güiros (a percussion instrument), and metal bells, as well as sometimes also cylindrical metal trumpets which are made from recycled metal, often coffee cans. The vaksen-s perform repeating patterns in hocket and often strike their instruments rhythmically with a stick while blowing into them. In the modern day, standard trumpets and saxophones may also be used. The genre though predominantly Afro-based has some Taino Amerindian elements to it such as the use of güiros and maracas.

The songs are always performed in Haitian Kreyòl and typically celebrate the African ancestry of the Afro-Haitian masses. Vodou is often implemented through the procession. The genre was imported to the Dominican Republic and is now an integral part of the Afro-Dominican music scene, where it is known colloquially as gagá. In the Dominican Republic, the music is often played by the Afro-Dominican population as a cultural tribute to their African ancestors in the same manner as their counterparts in Haiti. Rara in Haiti is often used for political purposes, with candidates commissioning songs praising them and their campaigns. Rara lyrics also often address difficult issues, such as political oppression or poverty. Consequently, rara groups and other musicians have been banned from performing and even forced into exile—most notably, folk singer Manno Charlemagne who later returned to Haïti and was elected mayor of Port-au-Prince in the 1990s.

Uva Rara

Uva Rara is a red Italian wine grape variety that is grown in the Piedmont and Lombardy wine regions of northern Italy. The grape is a permitted blending variety along with Nebbiolo in the Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita (DOCG) wines of Ghemme. In the Denominazione di Origine Controllata (DOC) wine region of Oltrepò Pavese the grape is often blended with Barbera and Croatina. While Uva Rara's name means "rare grape" in Italian, the variety is actually widely planted with 608 hectares (1,502 acres) of the vine recorded in Italy in 2000.

History and relationship to other grapes

Uva Rara has a long history of being grown in the Piedmont and Lombardy region, particularly in the provinces of Alessandria, Asti, Biella, Novara, Torino, Vercelli and Pavia. Here the grape has been historically used as a blending grape, with Nebbiolo in Piedmont and with Barbera and Croatina in Lombardy.

Uva Rara is often confused with the Gattinara and Oltrepò Pavese grape Vespolina that is also known as Uva Rara, which means "rare grape" in Italian. Around the communes of Novara, Pavia and Vercelli, Uva Rara is known as Bonarda which has led it to be confused with many of the other grape varieties known as Bonarda, particularly Bonarda Piemontese. However, despite the similarities of synonyms and use in many of the same wines, there is no known relationship between Uva Rara and these other grape varieties.

Rara (disambiguation)

Rara or RARA may refer to:

Note that the Latin word "rara", meaning "rare" is used as the second component in many plant or animal binomial names which are not listed on this page.

Neith

Neith (/neɪθ/ or /niːθ/; also spelled Nit, Net, or Neit) was an early goddess in the Egyptian pantheon. She was the patron deity of Sais, where her cult was centered in the Western Nile Delta of Egypt and attested as early as the First Dynasty. The Ancient Egyptian name of this city was Zau.

Neith also was one of the three tutelary deities of the ancient Egyptian southern city of Ta-senet or Iunyt now known as Esna (Arabic: إسنا), Greek: Λατόπολις (Latopolis), or πόλις Λάτων (polis Laton), or Λάττων (Laton); Latin: Lato), which is located on the west bank of the River Nile, some 55 km south of Luxor, in the modern Qena Governorate.

Symbolism

Neith was a goddess of war and of hunting and had as her symbol, two arrows crossed over a shield. However, she is a far more complex goddess than is generally known, and of whom ancient texts only hint of her true nature. In her usual representations, she is portrayed as a fierce deity, a human female wearing the Red Crown, occasionally holding or using the bow and arrow, in others a harpoon. In fact, the hieroglyphs of her name are usually followed by a determinative containing the archery elements, with the shield symbol of the name being explained as either double bows (facing one another), intersected by two arrows (usually lashed to the bows), or by other imagery associated with her worship. Her symbol also identified the city of Sais. This symbol was displayed on top of her head in Egyptian art. In her form as a goddess of war, she was said to make the weapons of warriors and to guard their bodies when they died.

Neith (disambiguation)

Neith may refer to:

Neith (wife of Pepi II)

Neith was an ancient Egyptian queen consort, one of the principal queens of the Old Kingdom pharaoh Pepi II Neferkare, who ruled (c. 2278 BC–c. 2184 BC). Queen Neith was named after goddess Neith.

Family

Neith is thought to have been a daughter of the pharaoh Pepi I and queen Ankhesenpepi I, making her half-sister and cousin to pharaoh Pepi II. Neith may be the mother of King Nemtyemsaf II. There is a legend about Queen Nitocris who, if she indeed existed at all, may have been a daughter of Neith.

Titles

Her titles as a royal daughter include: King’s Daughter (s3t-niswt), Eldest King’s Daughter of his body (s3t-niswt-smswt-n-kht.f), Eldest King’s Daughter of his body of Mennefer-Meryre (s3t-niswt-smswt-n-kht.f-mn-nfr-mry-r’), and Hereditary Princess (iryt-p`t),

As a wife of the pharaoh she used the titles: King’s Wife (hmt-nisw), Beloved King’s Wife of Men-ankh-Neferkare (hmt-nisw meryt.f-mn-‘nkh-nfr-k3-r’), Great of Praises (wrt-hzwt), Great one of the hetes-sceptre (wrt-hetes), She who sees Horus and Seth (m33t-hrw-stsh), Attendant of Horus (kht-hrw), Consort and beloved of the Two Ladies (sm3yt-mry-nbty), Companion of Horus (tist-hrw), and Companion of Horus (smrt-hrw)