title: Opel Ascona

text: Originally it was available with either a 1.6 or a 1.8 engine with . These were changed to more powerful 1.8 and 2.0s in 1986.


title: Opel Ascona

text: The Monza received a number of facelifts, the last one bringing its looks in line with those of current European GM products, with new fenders front and rear to accommodate new head and taillights. Diesel versions were available for export markets, most notably Uruguay and Argentina, powered by Isuzu's 4EC1 engine.


title: Opel Ascona

text: The Monza first went on sale in Colombia in 1985 in a 4-door sedan body style, assembled locally by GM Colmotores. In Colombia, a top of the line sedan version was sold from 1987 to 1992 as the Monza Classic with a three-speed automatic transmission. In Venezuela it was assembled and sold from 1985 to 1990. Originally it was equipped with a carbureted 1.8-litre engine, but this was later replaced with a fuel-injected 2-litre unit.


title: Organizational theory

text: Organizational theory refers to the set of interrelated concepts that involve the sociological study of the structures and operations of formal social organizations. Organizational theory also attempts to explain how interrelated units of organization do or do not connect with each other. Organizational theory also concerns understanding how groups of individuals behave, which may differ from the behavior of an individual. The behavior organizational theory often focuses on is goal-directed. Organizational theory can cover intra-organizational as well as inter-organizational fields of study.


title: Organizational theory

text: In the early 20th century, theories of organizations initially took a rational perspective but have since become more diverse. In a rational organization system, there are two significant parts: Specificity of Goals and Formalization. The "division of labor" is the specialization of individual labor roles, associated with increasing output and trade. Modernization theorist Frank Dobbin wrote that "modern institutions are transparently purposive and that we are in the midst of an extraordinary progression towards more efficiency." Max Weber's conception of bureaucracy is characterized by the presence of impersonal positions that are earned and not inherited, rule-governed decision-making, professionalism, chain of command, defined responsibility, and bounded authority. Contingency theory holds that an organization must try to maximize performance by minimizing the effects of varying environmental and internal constraints.


title: Organizational theory

text: Dwight Waldo in 1978 wrote that "[o]rganization theory is characterized by vogues, heterogeneity, claims and counterclaims." Organization theory cannot be described as an orderly progression of ideas or a unified body of knowledge in which each development builds carefully on and extends the one before it. Rather, developments in theory and descriptions for practice show disagreement about the purposes and uses of a theory of organization, the issues to which it should address itself (such as supervisory style and organizational culture), and the concepts and variables that should enter into such a theory.


title: Organizational theory

text: In 1820, about 20% of the United States population depended on a wage income. That percentage increased to 90% by 1950. Generally, by 1950, farmers and craftsmen were the only people not dependent on working for someone else. Prior to that time, most people were able to survive by hunting and farming their own food, making their own supplies, and remaining almost fully self-sufficient. As transportation became more efficient and technologies developed, self-sufficiency became an economically poor choice. As in the Lowell textile mills, various machines and processes were developed for each step of the production process, thus making mass production a cheaper and faster alternative to individual production. In addition, as the population grew and transportation improved, the pre-organizational system struggled to support the needs of the market. These conditions made for a wage-dependent population that sought out jobs in growing organizations, leading to a shift away from individual and family production.


title: Organizational theory

text: In addition to a shift to wage dependence, externalities from industrialization also created a perfect opportunity for the rise of organizations. Various negative effects such as pollution, workplace accidents, crowded cities, and unemployment became rising concerns. Rather than small groups such as families and churches being able to control these problems as they had in the past, new organizations and systems were required. These organizations were less personal, more distant, and more centralized, but what they lacked in locality they made up for in efficiency.


title: Organizational theory

text: Along with wage dependency and externalities, the growth of industry also played a large role in the development of organizations. Markets that were quickly growing needed workers urgently, so a need developed for organizational structures to guide and support those new workers. Some of the first New England factories initially relied on the daughters of farmers; later, as the economy changed, they began to gain workers from the former farming classes, and finally, from European immigrants. Many Europeans left their homes for the promises of US industry, and about 60% of those immigrants stayed in the country. They became a permanent class of workers in the economy, which allowed factories to increase production and produce more than they had before. With this large growth came the need for organizations and for leadership that was not previously needed in small businesses and firms.


title: Organizational theory

text: Overall, the historical and social context in which organizations arose in the United States allowed not only for the development of organizations, but also for their spread and growth. Wage dependency, externalities, and growth of industries all played into the change from individual, family, and small-group production and regulation to large organizations and structure.


title: Organizational theory

text: Although the decline in small business might not seem to explain the way in which the development of organizations leads to increased aggregate economic return, it exemplifies the competitive nature of capitalism. As organizations develop, they devour smaller organizations that cannot keep up and allow for the evolution of innovative management and production techniques, which can then be used by other larger companies. The development of organizations demands more highly skilled workers as they continue to grow. It also builds precautionary measures on cutting-edge technology. It increases the need for specialization and accounts of functionalism in various organizations and their respective societies. Through much advancement in the interaction of capitalistic bureaucracies, the development of organizations has driven contemporary firms to thrive in modern society.


title: Organizational theory

text: As people implemented organizations over time, many researchers have experimented as to which organizational theory fits them best. The theories of organizations include bureaucracy, rationalization (scientific management), and the division of labor. Each theory provides distinct advantages and disadvantages when implemented.


title: Organizational theory

text: The classical perspective emerges from the Industrial Revolution in the private sector and the need for improved Public Administration in the public sector. Both efforts center on theories of efficiency. Classical works have seasoned and have been elaborated upon in depth. There are at least two subtopics under the classical perspective: the scientific management and bureaucracy theory.


title: Organizational theory

text: A number of sociologists and psychologists made major contributions to the study of the neoclassical perspective, which is also known as the human relations school of thought. The human relations movement was a movement which had the primary concerns of concentrating on topics such as morale, leadership. This perspective began in the 1920s with the Hawthorne studies, which gave emphasis to "affective and socio-psychological aspects of human behavior in organizations." The study, taking place at the "Hawthorne plant of the Western Electric Company between 1927 and 1932," would make Elton Mayo and his colleagues the most important contributors to the neoclassical perspective.


title: Organizational theory

text: There was a wave of scholarly attention to organizational theory in the 1950s, which from some viewpoints held the field to still be in its infancy. A 1959 symposium held by the Foundation for Research on Human Behavior in Ann Arbor, Michigan, was published as "Modern Organization Theory". Among a group of eminent organizational theorists active during this decade were E. Wight Bakke, Chris Argyris, James G. March, Rensis Likert, Jacob Marschak, Anatol Rapoport, and William Foote Whyte.


title: Organizational theory

text: The scholar most closely associated with a theory of bureaucracy is Max Weber. In "Economy and Society", his seminal book published in 1922, Weber describes its features. Bureaucracy, as characterized in Weber's terminology of ideal types, is marked by the presence of positions that are earned and not inherited. Rules govern decision-making. Those in positions of authority demonstrate professionalism. There is a chain of command and position-defined responsibility. Authority is bounded.


title: Organizational theory

text: Weber begins his discussion of bureaucracy by introducing the concept of "jurisdictional areas": institutions governed by a specific set of rules or laws. In a jurisdictional area, regular activities are assigned as official duties. The authority to assign duties is governed by a set of rules. Duties are fulfilled continuously by qualified individuals. These elements make up a bureaucratic agency in the case of the state and bureaucratic enterprises in the private sector.


title: Organizational theory

text: Weber argued that in a bureaucracy, taking on a position or office signifies an assumption of specific duties necessary for the smooth running of the organization. This conception is distinct from historical working relationships in which a worker served a specific ruler, not an institution.


title: Organizational theory

text: The hierarchical nature of bureaucracies allows employees to demonstrate achieved social status. When an officeholder is elected instead of appointed, that person is no longer a purely bureaucratic figure. He derives his power "from below" instead of "from above." When a high-ranking officer selects officials, they are more likely to be chosen for reasons related to the benefit of the superior than the competency of the new hire. When high-skilled employees are necessary for the bureaucracy and public opinion shapes decision-making, competent officers are more likely to be selected.


title: Organizational theory

text: According to Weber, if 'tenure for life' is legally guaranteed, an office becomes perceived as less prestigious than a position that can be replaced at any time. If 'tenure for life' or a 'right to the office' develops, there is a decrease in career opportunities for ambitious new hires and overall technical efficiency becomes less guaranteed. In a bureaucracy, salaries are provided to officials. The amount is determined on the basis of rank and helps to signify the desirability of a position. Bureaucratic positions also exist as part of stable career tracks that reward office-holders for seniority.


title: Organizational theory

text: Weber argues that the development of a "money economy" is the "normal precondition for the unchanged survival, if not the establishment, of pure bureaucratic administrations." Since bureaucracy requires sustained revenues from taxation or private profits in order to be maintained, a money economy is the most rational way to ensure its continued existence.


title: Organizational theory

text: Weber posits that officials in a bureaucracy have a property right to their office and attempt at exploitation by a superior means the abandonment of bureaucratic principles. He articulates that providing a status incentive to inferior officers helps them to maintain self-respect and fully participate in hierarchical frameworks. Michel Crozier reexamined Weber's theory in 1964 and determined that bureaucracy is flawed because hierarchy causes officers to engage in selfish power struggles that damage the efficiency of the organization.


title: Organizational theory

text: When a bureaucracy is implemented, it can provide accountability, responsibility, control, and consistency. The hiring of employees will be an impersonal and equal system. Although the classical perspective encourages efficiency, it is often criticized as ignoring human needs. Also, it rarely takes into consideration human error or the variability of work performances (since each worker is different).


title: Organizational theory

text: In the case of the Space Shuttle "Challenger" disaster, NASA managers overlooked the possibility of human error. (See also: Three Mile Island accident.)


title: Organizational theory

text: Weber believed that a bureaucracy consists of six specific characteristics: hierarchy of command, impersonality, written rules of conduct, advancement based on achievement, specialized division of labor, and efficiency. This ultimate characteristic of Weberian bureaucracy, which states that bureaucracies are very efficient, is controversial and by no means accepted by all sociologists. There are certainly both positive and negative consequences to bureaucracy and strong arguments for both the efficiency and inefficiency of bureaucracies.


title: Organizational theory

text: While Max Weber's work was published in the late 1800s and early 1900s, before his death in 1920, his work is still referenced today in the field of sociology. Weber's theory of bureaucracy claims that it is extremely efficient, and even goes as far as to claim that bureaucracy is the most efficient form of organization. Weber claimed that bureaucracies are necessary to ensure the continued functioning of society, which has become drastically more modern and complex in the past century. Furthermore, he claimed that without the structured organization of bureaucracy, our complex society would be much worse off, because society would act in an inefficient and wasteful way. He saw bureaucracies as organizations driven towards certain goals, which they could carry out efficiently. In addition, within an organization that operates under bureaucratic standards, the members will be better off due to the heavy regulation and detailed structure. Not only does bureaucracy make it much more difficult for arbitrary and unfair personal favors to be carried out, it also means that promotions and hiring will generally be done completely by merit.


title: Organizational theory

text: Weber regarded bureaucracies as goal-driven, efficient organizations. But he also acknowledged their limitations. Weber recognized that there are constraints within the bureaucratic system. First of all, he noted that bureaucracies are ruled by very few people with considerable unregulated power. A consequence is oligarchy, whereby a limited number of officials gain political and economic power. Furthermore, Weber considered further bureaucratization to be an "inescapable fate" because it is thought to be superior to and more efficient than other forms of organization. Weber's analysis led him to believe that bureaucracies are too inherently limiting of individual human freedom. He feared that people would begin to be too controlled by bureaucracies. In his view, the strict methods of administration and legitimate forms of authority associated with bureaucracy act to eliminate human freedom.


title: Organizational theory

text: Weber tended to offer a teleological argument with regard to bureaucracy. Weber's idea of bureaucracy is considered teleological to the extent that he posits that bureaucracies aim to achieve specific goals. Weber claimed that bureaucracies are goal-oriented organizations that use their efficiency and rational principles to reach their goals. A teleological analysis of businesses leads to the inclusion of all involved stakeholders in decision-making. The teleological view of Weberian bureaucracy postulates that all actors in an organization have various ends or goals, and attempt to find the most efficient way to achieve these goals.


title: Organizational theory

text: "There is dangerous risk of oversimplification in making Weber seem cold and heartless to such a degree that an efficiently-run Nazi death camp might appear admirable." In reality, Weber believed that by using human logic in his system, organizations could achieve improvement of human condition in various workplaces.


title: Organizational theory

text: Another critique of Weber's theory is the argument of efficiency. Highest efficiency, in theory, can be attained through pure work with no regard for the workers (for example, long hours with little pay), which is why oversimplification can be dangerous. If we were to take one characteristic focusing on efficiency, it would seem like Weber is promoting unhealthy work conditions, when in fact, he wanted the complete opposite. Taking all of the characteristics that to Weber are hallmarks of bureaucracy, he recognized that a pure bureaucracy is nearly impossible to attain. Though his theories include characteristics of a highly efficient organization, these characteristics are only meant to serve as a model of how a bureaucratic organization works, recognizing that the manifestation of that model in life differs from the pure model.


title: Organizational theory

text: With this said, the characteristics of Weber's theory have to all be perfect for a bureaucracy to function at its highest potential. "Think of the concept as a bureau or desk with drawers in it, which seems to call out to you, demanding that everything must fit in its place." If one object in the drawer does not fit properly, the entire drawer becomes untidy, which is exactly the case in Weber's theory; if one characteristic is not fulfilled the rest of them are unable to work in unison, leaving the organization performing below its full potential.


title: Organizational theory

text: One characteristic that was meant to improve working conditions was his rule that "Organization follows hierarchical principle – subordinates follow orders or superiors, but have right of appeal (in contrast to more diffuse structure in traditional authority)." In other words, everyone in a company or any sort of work environment has the opportunity and right to disagree or to speak up if they are unhappy with something rather than not voice their opinion in fear of losing their job. Open communication is a very important part of Weber's bureaucracy, and is practiced today. Because of the communication it may not be the most efficient, but Weber would argue that improved human conditions are more important than efficiency.


title: Organizational theory

text: Weber's theory is not perfectly instantiated in real life. The elements of his theory are understood as "ideal types" and are not perfect reflections of individuals in their organizational roles and their interactions within organizations. Some individuals may regard Weber's model as good way to run an organization.


title: Organizational theory

text: A rational organization system has two significant parts: (1) specificity of goals and (2) formalization. Goal specification provides guidelines for specific tasks to be completed along with a regulated way for resources to be allocated. Formalization is a way to standardize organizational behavior. As a result, there will be stable expectations, which create the rational organizational system.


title: Organizational theory

text: Scientific management: Frederick Winslow Taylor analyzed how to maximize the amount of output with the least amount of input. This was Taylor's attempt to rationalize the individual worker by:


title: Organizational theory

text: Problems arose out of scientific management. One is that the standardization leads workers to rebel against mundanes. Another may see workers rejecting the incentive system because they are required to constantly work at their optimum level, an expectation that may be unrealistic.


title: Organizational theory

text: The concept of formal organization has been touched upon by a number of authors in the subject of organizational theory, such as Max Weber, whose bureaucratic models could be said to be an extension of the concept.


title: Organizational theory

text: In Chester Barnard's book The Functions of the Executive, formal organization is defined as "a system of contributors’ activities that are consciously coordinated by the organization’s purpose." This differs from informal organization, such as a human group, that consists of individuals and their interactions, but do not require these to be coordinated toward some common purpose, although formal organizations also consist of informal organizations, as sub-parts of their system.


title: Organizational theory

text: The scientific management theory was introduced by Frederick Winslow Taylor to encourage production efficiency and productivity. Taylor argues that inefficiencies could be controlled through managing production as a science. Taylor defines scientific management as "concerned with knowing exactly what you want men to do and then see in that they do it in the best and cheapest way." According to Taylor, scientific management affects both workers and employers, and stresses control of the labor force by management.


title: Organizational theory

text: Division of labor is the separation of tasks so that individuals may specialize, leading to cost efficiency. Adam Smith linked the division of labor to increased efficiency and output. According to Smith, the division of labor is efficient for three reasons: (a) occupational specialization, (b) savings from not changing tasks, and (c) machines augmenting human labor. Occupational specialization leads to increased productivity and distinct skill. Furthermore, Smith argued that the skill of workers should be matched with the technology they employ.


title: Organizational theory

text: Although division of labor is often viewed as inevitable in a capitalism, several problems emerge. These problems include alienation, lack of creativity, monotony, and lack of mobility. Adam Smith himself foresaw these problems and described the mental torpor the division of labor could create in workers. Creativity will naturally suffer due to the monotonous atmosphere that division of labor creates; repeatedly performing routines may not suit everyone. Furthermore, division of labor gives rise to employees that are not familiar with other parts of the job. They cannot assist employees of different parts of the system.


title: Organizational theory

text: Modernization "began when a nation's rural population started moving from the countryside to cities." It deals with the cessation of traditional methods in order to pursue more contemporary effective methods of organization. Urbanization is an inevitable characteristic of society because the formation of industries and factories induces profit maximization. It is fair to assume that along with the increase in population, as a result of the subsequent urbanization, is the demand for an intelligent and educated labor force. After the 1950s, Western culture utilized mass-media to communicate their good fortune—attributed to modernization. The coverage promoted "economic mobility" among the social class and increased the aspirations of many hopefuls in developing economic countries. Under this theory, any country could modernize by using Western civilization as a template.


title: Organizational theory

text: Although this theory of modernization seemed to pride itself on only the benefits, countries in the Middle East saw this movement in a different light. Middle Eastern countries believed that the media coverage of modernization implied that the more "traditional" societies have not "risen to a higher level of technological development." Consequently, they believed a movement that benefits those who have the monetary resources to modernize technological development would discriminate against the minorities and poor masses. Thus, they were reluctant to modernize because of the economic gap it would create between the rich and the poor.


title: Organizational theory

text: The growth of modernization took place beginning in the 1950s. For the ensuing decade, people analyzed the diffusion of technological innovations within Western society and the communication that helped it disperse globally. This first "wave," as it became known, had some significant ramifications. First, economic development was enhanced from the spread of new technological techniques. Second, modernization supported a more educated society (as mentioned above), and thus a more qualified labor-force. The second wave, taking place between the years 1960 and 1970, was labeled as anti-modernization, because it saw the push of innovations of Western society onto developing countries as an exertion of dominance. It refuted the concept of relying heavily on mass media for the betterment of society. The last wave of modernization theory, which took place in the 1990s, depicts impersonality. As the use of newspapers, television, and radio becomes more prevalent, the need for direct contact, a concept traditional organizations took pride in, diminishes. Thus, organizational interactions become more distant.


title: Organizational theory

text: According to Frank Dobbin, the "modern worldview" is the idea that "modern institutions are transparently purposive and that we are in the midst an extraordinary progression towards more efficiency." This concept epitomizes the goal of modern firms, bureaucracies, and organizations to maximize efficiency. The key to achieving this goal is through scientific discoveries and innovations. Dobbin discusses the outdated role of culture in organizations. "New Institutionalists" explored the significance of culture in the modern organization. However, the rationalist worldview counters the use of cultural values in organizations, stating, "transcendental economic laws exist, that existing organizational structures must be functional under the parameters of those laws, [and] that the environment will eliminate organizations that adopt non-efficient solutions." These laws govern the modern organizations and lead them in the direction that will maximize profits efficiently. Thus, the modernity of organizations is to generate maximum profit, through the use of mass media, technological innovations, and social innovations in order to effectively allocate resources for the betterment of the global economy.


title: Organizational theory

text: The Neoclassical perspective began with the Hawthorne studies in the 1920s. This approach gave emphasis to "affective and socio-psychological aspects of human behavior in organizations."


title: Organizational theory

text: The Hawthorne study suggested that employees have social and psychological needs along with economic needs in order to be motivated to complete their assigned tasks. This theory of management was a product of the strong opposition against "the Scientific and universal management process theory of Taylor and Fayol." This theory was a response to the way employees were treated in companies and how they were deprived of their needs and ambitions.


title: Organizational theory

text: In November 1924, a team of researcher – professors from the renowned Harvard Business School began investigating into the human aspects of work and working conditions at the Hawthorne plant of Western Electric Company, Chicago. The company was producing bells and other electric equipments for the telephone industry. Prominent professors in the research team included psychologist Elton Mayo, sociologists Roethlisberger and Whilehead, and company representative William Dickson. The team conducted four separate experimental and behavioral studies over a seven-year period. These were:


title: Organizational theory

text: The Hawthorne studies helped conclude that "a human/social element operated in the workplace and that productivity increases were as much an outgrowth of group dynamics as of managerial demands and physical factors." The Hawthorne studies also concluded that although financial motives were important, social factors are just as important in defining the worker-productivity.


title: Organizational theory

text: Critics believed that Mayo gave a lot of importance to the social side of the study rather than addressing the needs of an organization. Also, they believed that the study takes advantage of employees because it influences their emotions by making it seem as if they are satisfied and content, however it is merely a tool that is being used to further advance the productivity of the organization.


title: Organizational theory

text: The scholar most closely associated with the research about polyphonic organizations is . Niels Andersen believes that modern organizations have exploded beyond their original organizational boundaries. For many years, private companies have automatically been understood as part of the economy in the same way that political parties are considered a part of politics and museums are considered a part of art. Today, concepts are linked together, according to Niels Andersen, is this called the polyphonic organizational-movement. This claim was first made back in 1963 by Richard M. Cyert and James G. March in the book "A behavioral theory of the firm". They said that organizations rarely operate with only one value. According to Cyert and March, organizations actually often operate with more values in their everyday behavior. Niels Andersen elaborates on this assertion in many of his publications.


title: Organizational theory

text: Niels Andersen's research about polyphonic organization arise out of his understanding of the society as functionally differentiated. The society is divided into a number of countless social systems; communication systems with their own values and commutative code. Niels Andersen is inspired by the German sociologist Niklas Luhmann and his theory about social systems. The core element of Luhmann's theory pivots around the problem of the contingency of the meaning. In other words, the system theory becomes a theory of communication and how meaning is created within different social systems.


title: Organizational theory

text: Niels Anders uses the elements of Luhmann's system theory to describe the differentiation of society and connect that to the evolution of the modern organization. According to Andersen, society is functionally differentiated into a wide range of systems with their own binary code. The binary codes set some distinctions between a positive and negative value and divide the world in two halves. Understandings of the world are made throughout one side of the binary code. Andersen says that an organizational system always communicates and creates meaning through a function system (binary code). In other words, an organization can only communicate through one side of one binary code at once.


title: Organizational theory

text: Throughout history organizations have always used several codes in their communication, but they have always had a primary codification. Andersen calls this type of organization a homophonic organization. The homophonic organization is no longer exercised in today's society. According to Andersen, today we have polyphonic organizations.


title: Organizational theory

text: Polyphonic organizations have emerged as a result of the way that the function systems have exploded beyond their organizational forms.


title: Organizational theory

text: A polyphonic organization is an organization that is connected to several function systems without a predefined primary function system (multiple binary codifications). In other words, the polyphonic organization is an organization that describes itself through many codes.


title: Organizational theory

text: Andersen addresses how it can be difficult for companies to plan their communication and action because they have to mediate between many codes at the same time. There is no longer a predicted hierarchy of codes and therefore no connection between organizations and specific communication. This can also create management challenges for companies because they have to take more factors into account compared to earlier. Andersen's view on polyphonic organizations provides a newer way to critically examine modern organization and their communication decisions.


title: Organizational theory

text: The contingency theory views organization design as "a constrained optimization problem," meaning that an organization must try to maximize performance by minimizing the effects of varying environmental and internal constraints. Contingency theory claims there is no best way to organize a corporation, to lead a company, or to make decisions. An organizational, leadership, or decision making style that is effective in some situations, may not be successful in other situations. The optimal organization, leadership, or decision making style depends upon various internal and external constraints (factors).


title: Organizational theory

text: In the contingency theory on the organization, it states that there is no universal or one best way to manage an organization. Secondly, the organizational design and its subsystems must "fit" with the environment and lastly, effective organizations must not only have a proper "fit" with the environment, but also between its subsystems.


title: Organizational theory

text: In the contingency theory of leadership, the success of the leader is a function of various factors in the form of subordinate, task, and/ or group variables. The following theories stress using different styles of leadership appropriate to the needs created by different organizational situations. Some of these theories are:


title: Organizational theory

text: It has been argued that the contingency theory implies that a leader switch is the only method to correct any problems facing leadership styles in certain organizational structures. In addition, the contingency model itself has been questioned in its credibility.


title: The Return of the Condor Heroes

text: The Return of the Condor Heroes, also called The Giant Eagle and Its Companion, is a wuxia novel by Jin Yong (Louis Cha). It is the second part of the "Condor Trilogy" and was preceded by "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" and followed by "The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber". It was first serialised between 20 May 1959 and 5 July 1961 in the Hong Kong newspaper "Ming Pao".


title: The Return of the Condor Heroes

text: The story revolves around the protagonist, Yang Guo, and his lover and martial arts master, Xiaolongnü, in their adventures in the "jianghu" (also called the "wulin", the community of martial artists), where love between master and apprentice is seen as taboo. Jin Yong revised the novel in 1970 and again in 2004. There are 40 chapters in the second and third revisions. Each chapter has a title composed of four Chinese characters. Most of the revisions are either clarifications or minor alterations of character motivations or names. The Chinese title of the novel approximately translates to "The Heroic Couple of the Godly Condor".


title: The Return of the Condor Heroes

text: The protagonist, Yang Guo, is the orphaned son of Yang Kang, the antagonist in the previous novel. The couple Guo Jing and Huang Rong take care of Yang Guo for a short period of time before sending him to the Quanzhen Sect on Mount Zhongnan for better guidance in moral values and "orthodox" martial arts. In Quanzhen, Yang Guo is often picked on and bullied by his fellow students, and discriminated against by his master, Zhao Zhijing. Yang Guo flees from Quanzhen and ventures unknowingly into the nearby Tomb of the Living Dead, where the Ancient Tomb Sect is based. There, he meets Xiaolongnü, a mysterious maiden of unknown origin, and becomes her apprentice. They live together in the tomb for many years until Yang Guo grows up.


title: The Return of the Condor Heroes

text: Yang Guo and Xiaolongnü develop romantic feelings for each other, but their romance is forbidden by the prevailing norms of the "wulin" (martial artists' community). Throughout the story, their love meets with several tests, such as the misunderstandings that threaten to tear them apart, and their encounter with Gongsun Zhi, whom Xiaolongnü almost marries at one point. Finally, after their reunion and marriage, Xiaolongnü leaves Yang Guo again, owing to her belief she cannot recover from a fatal poison and promises to meet him again 16 years later, to prevent him from committing suicide. While Yang Guo is wandering the "wulin" alone, he meets several formidable martial artists and a giant eagle, and improves his skills tremendously after learning from them. His adventures gradually mould him into a courageous hero and perhaps the most powerful martial artist of his time. Yang Guo serves his native land by helping the ethnic Han people of the Song Empire resist invaders from the Mongol Empire. At the end of the novel, he is reunited with Xiaolongnü and they leave to lead the rest of their lives in seclusion after receiving praises and blessings from the "wulin".


title: The Return of the Condor Heroes

text: Asiapac Books acquired the rights to produce an illustrated version of the novel in 1995. The 18 volume comic series was illustrated by Wee Tian Beng and translated by Jean Lim with Jin Yong's approval. The lavishly illustrated series won the Prestigious Award in 1997 during the Asian Comics Conference held in South Korea. Notable deviations from the main story include funny strips that poke gentle fun at some of the story's events, in line with conventions of the comic book medium. The series was repackaged in 2021 and Asiapac produced a new limited collector's edition of the comic in both English and Chinese.


title: The Return of the Condor Heroes

text: In 2002 ComicsOne published the first official English translation of "Legendary Couple", a retelling of the novel. The comic series was illustrated by Wong Yuk-long while Jin Yong was credited as the writer.


title: The Return of the Condor Heroes

text: Softworld released a RPG based on the novel for DOS. The game is only available in Chinese and covers the first half of the novel to the point where Yang Guo meets the Condor.


title: The Return of the Condor Heroes

text: Fu Tong Wong composed an 8-movement symphony "Symphony: The Hero with Great Eagle" based on the novel.


title: Tom Udall

text: Thomas Stewart Udall ( ; born May 18, 1948) is an American diplomat, lawyer and politician serving as the United States Ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa since 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as a United States senator from New Mexico from 2009 to 2021. Udall also served as the U.S. representative for from 1999 to 2009 and New Mexico Attorney General from 1991 to 1999. Born in Tucson, Arizona, he is the son of former U.S. Representative Stewart Udall and the nephew of former U.S. Representative Mo Udall. A member of the Udall family, a western American political family, his relatives include Colorado's Mark Udall and Utah's Mike Lee. He was the dean of New Mexico's congressional delegation. Udall was first elected in the 2008 Senate race. He did not seek a third term in 2020, making him the only Democratic senator to retire that cycle. On July 16, 2021, President Joe Biden nominated Udall to serve as United States Ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa.


title: Tom Udall

text: Udall was born in Tucson, Arizona, to Ermalee Lenora (née Webb) and Stewart Udall, the Secretary of the Interior from 1961 to 1969. Two of his maternal great-grandparents were Swiss.


title: Tom Udall

text: In 1982, Udall ran for Congress in the newly created 3rd district, based in the state capital, Santa Fe, and including most of the north of the state. He lost the Democratic primary to Bill Richardson. In 1988, he ran for Congress again, this time in an election for the Albuquerque-based 1st district seat left open by retiring twenty-year incumbent Manuel Lujan, Jr., but narrowly lost to Bernalillo County District Attorney Steven Schiff. From 1991 to 1999 he served as Attorney General of New Mexico.


title: Tom Udall

text: Udall ran for Congress again in 1998 in the 3rd district against incumbent Bill Redmond, who had been elected in a 1997 special election to replace Richardson. Redmond was a conservative Republican representing a heavily Democratic district, and Udall defeated Redmond with 53 percent of the vote. He was reelected four more times with no substantive opposition, including an unopposed run in 2002.


title: Tom Udall

text: As a U.S. Representative, Tom Udall was a member of both the centrist New Democrat Coalition and the more liberal Congressional Progressive Caucus. He was a member of the United States House Peak oil Caucus, which he co-founded with Representative Roscoe Bartlett of Maryland.


title: Tom Udall

text: Udall sat on the United States House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations in the Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies, the Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies


title: Tom Udall

text: He was the Co-Vice Chair of the House Native American Caucus and Co-Chair of the International Conservation Caucus.


title: Tom Udall

text: In November 2007, Udall announced his run for the Senate seat held by retiring six-term incumbent Republican Pete Domenici. Potential Democratic rival Albuquerque Mayor Martin Chavez dropped out, handing Udall the nomination. New Mexico's other two members of the House, 1st and 2nd district's Heather Wilson and Steve Pearce, ran in the Republican primary. Pearce won the Republican nomination, and lost to Udall, who won 61 percent of the vote.


title: Tom Udall

text: While Udall ran for Senate in New Mexico, his younger first cousin, Congressman Mark Udall, ran for the Senate in Colorado. Their double second cousin, incumbent Gordon Smith of Oregon, also ran for reelection. Both Udalls won but Smith lost.


title: Tom Udall

text: He voted in favor of the Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010, FDA Food Safety Modernization Act, DREAM Act, American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act, and the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009.


title: Tom Udall

text: Udall was one of the first members of Congress to publicly express concern about the possibility of NSA overreach, a year before Edward Snowden's 2013 disclosure of the PRISM program.


title: Tom Udall

text: In November 2020, it was reported that Udall was being considered for Secretary of the Interior in the Biden Administration.


title: Tom Udall

text: On March 19, 2013, Udall introduced into the Senate the Sandia Pueblo Settlement Technical Amendment Act (S. 611; 113th Congress), a bill that would transfer some land to the Sandia Pueblo tribe.


title: Tom Udall

text: Also during the 113th Congress, Udall introduced a proposed amendment to the Constitution that would reverse "Citizens United" and allow limits on outside spending in support of political candidates. The Amendment won the approval of the Senate Judiciary Committee on a 10-8 vote in July 2014.


title: Tom Udall

text: In March 2015 Udall sponsored Senate bill 697, the Frank R. Lautenberg Chemical Safety for the 21st Century Act, a bill to amend and reauthorize the Toxic Substances Control Act. The legislation, as amended, was signed into law by President Barack Obama on June 22, 2016. It updated the nation's safety system for thousands of chemicals in products like cleaners, paints, carpets and furniture. The bill initially faced criticism over the balance between federal and state authority to regulate chemicals, but after changes to the legislation, it earned broader support, including from liberal members of the Senate and the President. It passed by a vote of 403-12 in the House and voice vote in the Senate.


title: Tom Udall

text: In March 2019, he and Rand Paul co-sponsored the bipartisan AFGHAN Service Act to compensate members of the armed forces and repeal the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Terrorists at the end of the Afghanistan withdrawal.


title: Tom Udall

text: In 2013, Udall voted for state-by-state reciprocity of concealed carry and for the names of gun owners to be protected and released only in select situations. In 2016, within weeks of the Orlando nightclub shooting, he participated in a sit-in at the House to demand votes on gun control legislation, saying, "We owe it to the LGBT community & all families harmed by gun violence to keep terror suspects fr[om] obtaining guns." In 2017, Udall had a "C−" rating from the National Rifle Association and a "F" rating from the Gun Owners of America for his support of gun control.


title: Tom Udall

text: Udall has a lifetime score of 96% from the League of Conservation Voters. In 2018 he received the Sierra Club's top award for public officials, the Edgar Wayburn Award.


title: Tom Udall

text: In September 2019, Udall was one of eight senators to sign a bipartisan letter to congressional leadership requesting full and lasting funding of the Land and Water Conservation Act to aid national parks and public lands, benefit the $887 billion American outdoor recreation economy, and "ensure much-needed investment in our public lands and continuity for the state, tribal, and non-federal partners who depend on them."


title: Tom Udall

text: In late 2019, Udall co-sponsored the Green New Deal, a policy introduced in the U.S. Senate that would establish net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.


title: Tom Udall

text: On July 16, 2021, President Joe Biden nominated Udall to serve as United States Ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa. On September 22, a hearing on his nomination was held before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. On October 19, his nomination was reported favorably out of committee. The Senate confirmed Udall by voice vote on October 26.


title: Tom Udall

text: Udall presented his credentials to the New Zealand governor-general, Dame Cindy Kiro, in Wellington on December 2, 2021. On February 17, 2022, he virtually presented his credentials to the Head of State of Samoa, Afioga Tuimalealiʻifano Vaʻaletoʻa Sualauvi II.


title: Tom Udall

text: Udall is married to Jill Cooper Udall. They live in Santa Fe with their daughter, Amanda Cooper. Tom Udall is the son of former Arizona Congressman and Interior Secretary Stewart Lee Udall, nephew of Arizona Congressman Morris Udall, and first cousin of former Colorado U.S. Senator Mark Udall, double second cousin of former Oregon U.S. Senator Gordon Smith, and second cousin of Utah U.S. Senator Mike Lee.


title: Danvers, Massachusetts

text: Danvers is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States, located on the Danvers River near the northeastern coast of Massachusetts. The suburb is a fairly short ride from Boston and is also in close proximity to the renowned beaches of Gloucester and Revere. Originally known as Salem Village, the town is most widely known for its association with the 1692 Salem witch trials. It was also the site of Danvers State Hospital, one of the state's 19th-century psychiatric hospitals. Danvers is a local center of commerce, hosting many car dealerships and the Liberty Tree Mall. As of the 2020 United States Census, the town's population was 28,087.


title: Danvers, Massachusetts

text: The area was long settled by indigenous cultures of Native Americans. In the historic period, the Massachusett, a tribe of the Pequot language family, dominated the area.


title: Danvers, Massachusetts

text: Around 1630, English colonists improved an existing Naumkeag trail as the Old Spanish Road, creating a connection to the main cities of Salem and Boston. Danvers was permanently settled in 1636 as Salem Village, and eventually petitioned the Crown for a charter as a town. According to legend, the King, rather than signing the charter, returned it with the message "The King Unwilling." On June 9, 1757, the town was incorporated regardless, and the King's rebuff was included on the town's seal. In 1752, the town was named for settler Danvers Osborn.


title: Danvers, Massachusetts

text: The historical event for which Danvers is best-known is the Salem witch trials of 1692. Resident Rebecca Nurse was convicted in a trial for witchcraft. The Rebecca Nurse Homestead is still standing in Danvers, and can be visited as a historical landmark.


title: Danvers, Massachusetts

text: From the Battle of Lexington onward, Danvers residents have participated in the armed forces. Noteworthy Revolutionary figures who stayed in Danvers include Royal Governor General Thomas Gage and Benedict Arnold. Arnold Plaque is found at 1 Conant Street.


title: Danvers, Massachusetts

text: Danvers was the birthplace of Israel Putnam, one of the most colorful figures of the colonial period and American Revolution. He built a successful farm, with fruit trees and flocks of sheep, and at one point crawled into a wolf's den on his hands and knees to kill a wolf that had been eating his sheep. He went into the den's narrow passage with a torch in one hand, a musket in the other, and a rope tied to his feet leading to his friends outside so they could pull him out if things went wrong. His one shot from the musket got the wolf. He fought with Roger's Rangers in the French & Indian War. At one point the Indians captured him, had tied him to a tree, and were going to burn him alive. A French officer rescued him in the nick of time.


title: Danvers, Massachusetts

text: When the first shots of the American Revolution were fired at the Battle of Lexington and Concord, word reached Putnam on his farm. He literally "came off the plow" to ride off to war again. Without bothering to change his clothes, he mounted his horse and rode the 25 miles to the scene in 18 hours. He was known for his courage, and demonstrated it at the Battle of Bunker Hill, where he is credited with giving the command "Don't fire until you can see the whites of their eyes." He became a major general in the Revolutionary War. His birthplace in Danvers, known as the General Israel Putnam House, still stands.


title: Danvers, Massachusetts

text: In 1847, the railroad came to Danvers. A street railway was installed in 1884, originally consisting of 69 horse-drawn trolleys. This system was later converted to electricity.


title: Danvers, Massachusetts

text: The Town Hall was built in 1855. It has been modified and renovated and is still in use. Also in 1855, the southern portion of Danvers broke away to become the town of South Danvers, later renamed Peabody.


title: Danvers, Massachusetts

text: In 1878, the Danvers State Hospital opened its doors. This was an institution to provide asylum and treatment for the mentally ill.


title: Danvers, Massachusetts

text: Originally an agricultural town, Danvers farmers developed two breeds of vegetables: the Danvers Onion (origin of the "Oniontown" nickname) and the Danvers Half-Long Carrot. This carrot was introduced by "market gardeners" in 1871.


title: Danvers, Massachusetts

text: Shoe manufacturing was a prominent industry in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Successful manufacturing companies included Ideal Baby Shoe. Local shoe companies were undercut in price by factories in other areas, and shoe manufacturing moved out.


title: Danvers, Massachusetts

text: On November 22, 2006, around 2:46 a.m., a major chemical explosion occurred at a facility housing Arnel Company (a manufacturer of industrial-use paint products) and CAI Inc. (a manufacturer of solvents and inks). The blast shook several North Shore towns, knocking homes off foundations and damaging buildings up to half a mile away. Glass windows shattered at least away, in neighboring Peabody and even in downtown Salem. The explosion was heard and felt up to away; the concussion was intense.


title: Danvers, Massachusetts

text: No one was killed, and none of the injuries were life-threatening, according to Fire Chief Jim Tutko. Approximately 90 homes were damaged. Residents whose homes were damaged or destroyed in the blast were taken to Danvers High School, where the Red Cross established a relief shelter. The blast occurred next to a marina, a bakery/pizza shop, and a gas station, and across the street from Eastern Propane Gas.


title: Danvers, Massachusetts

text: A May 13, 2008 report from the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board attributed the explosion to unintentional overnight heating of an ink-mixing tank containing flammable solvents.


title: Danvers, Massachusetts

text: According to the United States Census Bureau, Danvers has a total area of , of which is land and , or 5.75%, is water. The tidal Danvers River begins near the southeast corner of town, and is formed by the confluence of the Porter River, Crane River and Waters River. These rivers, in turn, are fed by several brooks. The Ipswich River also flows along the town's western border. The Putnamville Reservoir lies in the north end of the town, which supplies drinking water to the towns of Salem and Beverly.


title: Danvers, Massachusetts

text: Though being at sea level in the Danversport area, the town has numerous hills reaching around 130 to 180 feet in elevation, including Dales Hill (located at St. John's Preparatory School), Ferncroft Hill, Folly Hill, Hathorne Hill, Lindall Hill, Nichols Hill, Putnam Hill, Rocky Hill and Whipple Hill (part of Endicott Park).


title: Danvers, Massachusetts

text: Danvers has numerous villages dating back the late 1800s when the town had a bustling railroad. These include Burley's Corner, Danvers Center, Danversport, Downtown, Ferncroft, Hathorne (which still has its own post office and ZIP code), Putnamville and Tapleyville.


title: Danvers, Massachusetts

text: In a typical year, Danvers, Massachusetts temperatures fall below 50F° for 184 days per year. Annual precipitation is typically 44.1 inches per year (high in the US) and snow covers the ground 0 days per year or 0% of the year (the lowest in the US). It may be helpful to understand the yearly precipitation by imagining 9 straight days of moderate rain per year. The humidity is below 60% for approximately 34.4 days or 9.4% of the year.


title: Danvers, Massachusetts

text: Danvers is located approximately north of Downtown Boston, nearly halfway between Boston and the New Hampshire state border. It is bordered by Topsfield to the north, Wenham to the northeast, Beverly to the east, a small portion of Salem to the southeast, Peabody to the south and southwest, and Middleton to the northwest. The town center lies north of Salem, west of Gloucester, northeast of Boston, and southeast of Salem, New Hampshire. Interstate 95 and Massachusetts Route 128 both pass through the town, just east of their junction in Peabody. U.S. Route 1 also passes through town, with a large junction with Interstate 95 in the northwest end of town. The main highways are also crossed by Route 35, Route 62 and Route 114, with Routes 35 and 62 intersecting just north of the town center. The northern terminus of Route 35 is just over the Topsfield town line, where it meets Route 97.


title: Danvers, Massachusetts

text: Several MBTA bus routes pass through the town, between Peabody and Beverly. There is no commuter rail service within town; the Newburyport/Rockport Line of the MBTA Commuter Rail passes through neighboring Salem and Beverly. Two lines of the Springfield Terminal railroad, running through Springfield, Massachusetts, also cross through town, merging near the town center to head north. Two runways of the Beverly Municipal Airport cross through the town; the nearest regularly scheduled commercial flights are located at Boston's Logan International Airport.


title: Danvers, Massachusetts

text: As of the census of 2000, there were 25,212 people, 9,555 households, and 6,564 families residing in the town. The population density was . There were 9,762 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the town was 97.72% White, 0.35% Black or African American, 0.10% Native American, 1.11% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.22% from other races, and 0.48% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.83% of the population.


title: Danvers, Massachusetts

text: There were 9,555 households, out of which 30.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 56.2% were married couples living together, 9.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 31.3% were non-families. 26.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.53 and the average family size was 3.11.


title: Danvers, Massachusetts

text: In the town, the population was spread out, with 23.2% under the age of 18, 6.4% from 18 to 24, 28.7% from 25 to 44, 24.5% from 45 to 64, and 17.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females, there were 86.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 84.2 males.


title: Danvers, Massachusetts

text: The median income for a household in the town was $58,779, and the median income for a family was $70,565. Males had a median income of $48,058 versus $33,825 for females. The per capita income for the town was $26,852. About 1.7% of families and 2.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 3.0% of those under age 18 and 4.4% of those age 65 or over.


title: Danvers, Massachusetts

text: Danvers has a Plan E form of government, which is a combination of a representative town meeting and town manager. It also has an elected board of selectmen.


title: Danvers, Massachusetts

text: According to the town's 2018 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, the top ten employers in the town are:


title: Danvers, Massachusetts

text: Danvers has seen major growth in the Food truck revolution: and this had led to some of the food truck owners moving toward more permanent cafes


title: Danvers, Massachusetts

text: Danvers has full-time police and fire departments. Emergency medical services are provided by Atlantic Ambulance (a Division of Cataldo Ambulance), a large private ambulance company based in Somerville. The Town was previously served by Lyons Ambulance Service, a small private ambulance company which had served the town since 1904 before being bought by Cataldo Ambulance in 2017. The Danvers Police Department was accredited in 1986. Danvers was the first municipal agency within the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to become nationally accredited.


title: Danvers, Massachusetts

text: On April 2, 1990, the natural gas lines serving homes were accidentally over-pressurized by a Boston Gas worker, resulting in fires and explosions along Lafayette St., Maple St., Venice St. and Beaver Park Av. which injured six people.


title: Danvers, Massachusetts

text: The town of Danvers comprises its own school district, Danvers Public Schools. The district has five elementary schools (Highlands Elementary, Riverside Elementary, Great Oak Elementary, Thorpe Elementary, and Smith Elementary), each serving kindergarten through fifth grade (Riverside, Thorpe, and Great Oak also includes pre-kindergarten.) Grades six through eight attend the Holten-Richmond Middle School. Grades nine through twelve attend Danvers High School.


title: Danvers, Massachusetts

text: Danvers competes in Little League Baseball as part of two local leagues; the Danvers National Little League (DNLL) on the south and west side of town, and the Danvers American Little League (DALL) on the north and east side of town. Kids in the DNLL primarily go to Highlands and Great Oak Elementary Schools, while kids in DALL primarily go to Smith and Thorpe Elementary Schools. Riverside Elementary is split between the two.


title: Danvers, Massachusetts

text: Danvers is home to three private schools. St. Mary of the Annunciation School serves pre-kindergarten through eighth grade. Plumfield Academy is a small school for grades one through eight, with a philosophy of education based on that of Charlotte Mason. St. John's Preparatory School is a school for young men, serving grades six through twelve. St. Mary's and St. John's are religiously affiliated. St. Mary's is part of the Archdiocese of Boston and Saint John's or commonly known as "the Prep" is a Xaverian Brothers-sponsored school.


title: Danvers, Massachusetts

text: In addition to the public and private schools, Danvers once hosted Essex Agricultural High School, an independent, state-funded day school serving grades 9 through 12. Essex Agricultural High School has merged with North Shore Tech, which was located in Middleton, which has resulted in a larger, unified campus located in Danvers.


title: Danvers, Massachusetts

text: Essex North Shore Agricultural and Technical School opened in September 2014. The school offers 24 technical and agricultural programs to students from in-district towns, and offers the seven agricultural programs to out-of-district students.


title: Chess piece relative value

text: In chess, a relative value (or point value) is a standard value conventionally assigned to each piece. Piece valuations have no role in the rules of chess but are useful as an aid to assessing a position.


title: Chess piece relative value

text: Valuation systems almost always assign a value of 1 point to the pawn, typically as its average value in the starting position. The best known system assigns 1 point to a pawn, 3 points to a knight or bishop, 5 points to a rook and 9 points to a queen. Valuation systems provide only a rough idea of the state of play. The actual value of a piece depends on the game situation and can differ considerably from the standard valuation. A well posted bishop may be more valuable than a passive rook, while a badly placed piece may be completely trapped and thus almost worthless. Chess engines conventionally output their assessment of a position in terms of 'centipawns' (cp), where 100 cp = 1 pawn. In addition to the balance, this assessment incorporates strategic features of the position .


title: Chess piece relative value

text: The oldest derivation of the standard values is due to the Modenese School (Ercole del Rio, Giambattista Lolli, and Domenico Lorenzo Ponziani) in the 18th century and is partially based on the earlier work of Pietro Carrera. The value of the king is undefined as it cannot be captured, let alone traded, during the course of the game. Chess engines usually assign the king an arbitrary large value such as 200 points or more to indicate that the inevitable loss of the king due to checkmate trumps all other considerations. In the endgame, where there is usually little danger of checkmate, the fighting value of the king is about four points. In the endgame, a king is more powerful than a minor piece but less powerful than a rook. Julian Hodgson also puts its value at four points. The king is good at attacking and defending nearby pieces and pawns. It is better at defending such pieces than the knight is, and it is better at attacking them than the bishop is.


title: Chess piece relative value

text: This system has some shortcomings. Combinations of pieces do not always equal the sum of their parts; for instance, two bishops are usually worth slightly more than a bishop plus a knight, and three (nine points) are often slightly stronger than two rooks (ten points) or a queen (nine points). Chess-variant theorist Betza identified the 'leveling effect', which causes reduction of the value of stronger pieces in the presence of opponent weaker pieces, due to the latter interdicting access to part of the board for the former in order to prevent the value difference from evaporating by 1-for-1 trading. This explains why trading rooks in the presence of a queen-vs-3-minors imbalance favors the queen player, as the rooks hinder the queen, but not so much the minors.


title: Chess piece relative value

text: The evaluation of the pieces depends on many parameters. Edward Lasker said, "It is difficult to compare the relative value of different pieces, as so much depends on the peculiarities of the position...". Nevertheless, he said that the bishop and knight () are equal, the rook is worth a minor piece plus one or two pawns, and the queen is worth three minor pieces or two rooks. Larry Kaufman suggests the following values in the middlegame:


title: Chess piece relative value

text: The is worth —half a pawn more than the individual values of its constituent bishops combined. The position of the pieces also makes a significant difference, e.g. pawns near the edges are worth less than those near the centre, pawns close to promotion are worth far more, pieces controlling the centre are worth more than average, trapped pieces (such as ) are worth less, etc.


title: Chess piece relative value

text: Although the 1-3-3-5-9 system of point totals is the most commonly given, many other systems of valuing pieces have been proposed. Several systems give the bishop as usually being slightly more powerful than a knight.


title: Chess piece relative value

text: "Note:" Where a value for the king is given, this is used when considering piece development, its power in the endgame, etc.


title: Chess piece relative value

text: World Correspondence Chess Champion Hans Berliner gives the following valuations, based on experience and computer experiments:


title: Chess piece relative value

text: There are adjustments for the and of a pawn and adjustments for the pieces depending on how or the position is. Bishops, rooks, and queens gain up to 10 percent more value in open positions and lose up to 20 percent in closed positions. Knights gain up to 50 percent in closed positions and lose up to 30 percent in the corners and edges of the board. The value of a may be at least 10 percent higher than that of a .


title: Chess piece relative value

text: There are different types of doubled pawns; see the diagram. White's doubled pawns on the b-file are the best situation in the diagram, since advancing the pawns and exchanging can get them un-doubled and mobile. The doubled b-pawn is worth 0.75 points. If the black pawn on a6 were on c6, it would not be possible to dissolve the doubled pawn, and it would be worth only 0.5 points. The doubled pawn on f2 is worth about 0.5 points. The second white pawn on the h-file is worth only 0.33 points, and additional pawns on the file would be worth only 0.2 points.


title: Chess piece relative value

text: As already noted when the standard values were first formulated, the relative strength of the pieces changes as a game progresses to the endgame. The values of pawns, rooks, and (to a lesser extent) bishops may increase. The knight tends to lose some power, and the strength of the queen may be slightly lessened, as well. Some examples follow.


title: Chess piece relative value

text: Two minor pieces plus two pawns are sometimes as good as a queen. Two rooks are sometimes better than a queen and pawn.


title: Chess piece relative value

text: Many of the systems have a 2-point difference between the rook and a , but most theorists put that difference at about points (see ).


title: Chess piece relative value

text: Positions in which a bishop and knight can be exchanged for a rook and pawn are fairly common (see diagram). In this position, White should not do that, e.g.:


title: Chess piece relative value

text: This seems like an even exchange (6 points for 6 points), but it is not, as two minor pieces are better than a rook and pawn in the middlegame.


title: Chess piece relative value

text: In most openings, two minor pieces are better than a rook and pawn and are usually at least as good as a rook and two pawns until the position is greatly simplified (i.e. late middlegame or endgame). Minor pieces get into play earlier than rooks, and they coordinate better, especially when there are many pieces and pawns on the board. On the other hand, rooks are usually blocked by pawns until later in the game. Pachman also notes that the is almost always better than a rook and pawn.


title: Chess piece relative value

text: In this position, White has exchanged a queen and a pawn (10 points) for three minor pieces (9 points). White is better because three minor pieces are usually better than a queen because of their greater mobility, and Black's extra pawn is not important enough to change the situation. Three minor pieces are almost as strong as two rooks.


title: Chess piece relative value

text: In this position, Black is ahead in material, but White is better. White's queenside is completely defended, and Black's additional queen has no target; additionally, White is much more active than Black and can gradually build up pressure on Black's weak kingside.


title: Calvatia gigantea

text: Calvatia gigantea, commonly known as the giant puffball, is a puffball mushroom commonly found in meadows, fields, and deciduous forests usually in late summer and autumn. It is found in temperate areas throughout the world.


title: Calvatia gigantea

text: Most giant puffballs grow to be , sometimes to be in diameter; although occasionally some can reach diameters up to and weights of . The inside of mature giant puffballs is greenish brown, whereas the interior of immature puffballs is white. The large white mushrooms are edible when young.


title: Calvatia gigantea

text: The fruiting body of a puffball mushroom will develop within the period of a few weeks and soon begin to decompose and rot, at which point it is dangerous to eat. Unlike most mushrooms, all the spores of the giant puffball are created inside the fruiting body; large specimens can easily contain several trillion spores. Spores are yellowish, smooth, and 3–5 μm in size.


title: Calvatia gigantea

text: The classification of this species has been revised in recent years, as the formerly recognized class Gasteromycetes, which included all puffballs, has been found to be polyphyletic. Some authors place the giant puffball and other members of genus "Calvatia" in order Agaricales. Also, the species has in the past been placed in two other genera, "Lycoperdon" and "Langermannia". However, the current view is that the giant puffball is "Calvatia".


title: Calvatia gigantea

text: The giant puffball is widespread and common in the UK. It is protected in parts of Poland and is of conservation concern in Norway.


title: Calvatia gigantea

text: All true puffballs are considered edible when immature, but can cause digestive upset if the spores have begun to form, as indicated by the color of the flesh being not pure white (first yellow, then brown). Immature gilled species still contained within their universal veil can be look alikes for puffballs. To distinguish puffballs from poisonous fungi, they must be cut open; edible puffballs will have a solid white interior. Some similar mushrooms have the white interior (or yellowish) but also have the silhouette of a cap-type mushroom on the interior when cut open. These are young cap-type mushrooms and may be poisonous.


title: Calvatia gigantea

text: Puffballs are a known styptic and have long been used as wound dressing, either in powdered form or as slices 3 cm thick. The fungus was often harvested prior to battles for this purpose.


title: Calvatia gigantea

text: It is the main source of the anti-tumor mucoprotein calvacin, which is present only in tiny quantities.


title: Calvatia gigantea

text: Giant puffballs resemble the earthball ("Scleroderma citrinum"). The latter are distinguished by a much firmer, elastic fruiting body, and having an interior that becomes dark purplish-black with white reticulation early in development. "Scleroderma citrinum" is poisonous and may cause mild intoxication.


title: Singer-songwriter

text: A singer-songwriter is a musician who writes, composes, and performs their own musical material, including lyrics and melodies. In the United States, the category is built on the folk-acoustic tradition, although this role has transmuted through different eras of popular music. Singer-songwriters often provide the sole accompaniment to an entire composition or song, typically using a guitar or piano. In the early 21st century, digital production tools such as GarageBand began to be used by singer-songwriters to compose their music.


title: Singer-songwriter

text: The label "singer-songwriter" (or "song-writer/singer") is used by record labels and critics to define popular-music artists who write and perform their own material, which is often self-accompanied - generally on acoustic guitar or piano.


title: Singer-songwriter

text: Such an artist performs the roles of composer, lyricist, vocalist, sometimes instrumentalist, and often self-manager. According to AllMusic, singer-songwriters' lyrics are often personal but veiled by elaborate metaphors and vague imagery, and their creative concern is to place emphasis on the song rather than on their performance of it. Most records by such artists have a similarly straightforward and spare sound that places emphasis on the song itself.


title: Singer-songwriter

text: The term may also characterise songwriters in the rock, folk, country, and pop-music genres - including Henry Russell (1812–1900), Aristide Bruant (1851–1925), Hank Williams (1923–1953), and Buddy Holly (1936–1959). The phrase "singer-songwriter", recorded from 1949,


title: Singer-songwriter

text: to describe songwriters who followed particular stylistic and thematic conventions, particularly lyrical introspection, confessional songwriting, mild musical arrangements, and an understated performing style. According to writer Larry David Smith, because it merged the roles of composer, writer, and singer, the popularity of the singer-songwriter phenomenon reintroduced the Medieval troubadour tradition of "songs with public personalities" after the Tin Pan Alley era in American popular music. Song topics of singer-songwriters from the American folk music revival include political protest, as in the case of Woody Guthrie (1912–1967) and Pete Seeger (1919–2014). According to the "Journal of Popular Music Studies", from the folk revival and onward into its permanence in pop music, the role of a singer-songwriter has involved several dimensions of creative identity:


title: Singer-songwriter

text: The concept of a singer-songwriter can be traced to ancient bardic oral tradition, which has existed in various forms throughout the world. Poems would be performed as chant or song, sometimes accompanied by a harp or other similar instrument. After the invention of printing, songs would be written and performed by ballad sellers. Usually these would be versions of existing tunes and lyrics, which were constantly evolving. This developed into the singer-songwriting traditions of folk culture.


title: Singer-songwriter

text: Traveling performers existed throughout Europe. Thus, the folklorist Anatole Le Braz gives a detailed account of one ballad singer, Yann Ar Minouz, who wrote and performed songs traveling through Brittany in the late nineteenth century and selling printed versions.


title: Singer-songwriter

text: In large towns it was possible to make a living performing in public venues, and with the invention of phonographic recording, early singer-songwriters like Théodore Botrel, George M. Cohan and Hank Williams became celebrities; radio further added to their public recognition and appeal.


title: Singer-songwriter

text: During the period from the 1940s through the 1960s, sparked by the American folk music revival, young performers inspired by traditional folk music and groups like the Almanac Singers and the Weavers began writing and performing their own original material and creating their own musical arrangements.


title: Singer-songwriter

text: In the early 21st century, the digital audio workstation GarageBand has been utilized by many aspiring singer-songwriters to compose and record music. Singer-songwriters who have composed music professionally with GarageBand include Erykah Badu (for her 2008 album "New Amerykah Part One") and Bilal (for his 2010 album "Airtight's Revenge").


title: Singer-songwriter

text: The term "singer-songwriter" in North America can be traced back to singers who developed works in the blues and folk music style. Early to mid-20th century American singer-songwriters include Lead Belly, Jimmie Rodgers, Blind Lemon Jefferson, T-Bone Walker, Blind Willie McTell, Lightnin' Hopkins, Son House, and Robert Johnson. In the 1940s and 1950s country singer-songwriters like Hank Williams became well known, as well as Woody Guthrie, and Pete Seeger, along with Ronnie Gilbert and Lee Hays and other members of the Weavers who performed their mostly topical works to an ever-growing wider audience. These proto-singer-songwriters were less concerned than today's singer-songwriters with the unadulterated originality of their music and lyrics, and would lift parts from other songs and play covers without hesitation. The tradition of writing topical songs (songs regarding specific issues of the day, such as Lead Belly's "Jim Crow Blues" or Guthrie's "Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos)") was established by this group of musicians. Singers like Seeger and Guthrie would attend rallies for labor unions, and so wrote many songs concerning the life of the working classes, and social protest; as did other folksingers like Josh White, Cisco Houston, Malvina Reynolds, Earl Robinson, Ewan MacColl, John Jacob Niles, and Doc Watson, while blues singers like Johnson and Hopkins wrote songs about their personal life experiences. This focus on social issues has greatly influenced the singer-songwriter genre. Additionally in the 1930s through the 1950s several jazz and blues singer-songwriters emerged like Hoagy Carmichael, Billie Holiday, Ray Charles, Harry Gibson, Peggy Lee and Nina Simone, as well as in the rock n' roll genre from which emerged influential singer-songwriters Jerry Lee Lewis, Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry, Roy Orbison, Sam Cooke, Ritchie Valens, and Paul Anka. In the country music field, singer-songwriters like Hank Williams, Patsy Cline, Tammy Wynette, Loretta Lynn, George Jones, Merle Haggard, Roger Miller, Billy Edd Wheeler, and others emerged from the 1940s through the 1960s, often writing compelling songs about love relationships and other subjects.


title: Singer-songwriter

text: The first popular recognition of the singer-songwriter in English-speaking North America and the United Kingdom occurred in the 1960s and early 1970s when a series of blues, folk and country-influenced musicians rose to prominence and popularity. These singer-songwriters included Bob Dylan, Neil Young, John Lennon, Van Morrison, Willie Nelson, Paul Simon, Leonard Cohen, and Joni Mitchell. Artists who had been primarily songwriters, notably Carole King, Townes Van Zandt, and Neil Diamond, also began releasing work as performers. In contrast to the storytelling approach of most prior country and folk music, these performers typically wrote songs from a highly personal (often first-person), introspective point of view. The adjectives "confessional" and "sensitive" were often used (sometimes derisively) to describe singer-songwriter style.


title: Singer-songwriter

text: In the rock band era, members were not technically singer-songwriters as solo acts. However, many were singer-songwriters who created songs with other band members. Examples include Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, Brian Wilson, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Jerry Garcia and Bob Weir, Elton John (with Bernie Taupin), Justin Hayward, John Lodge, Robbie Robertson, Ian Anderson, Phil Collins, Peter Gabriel, and Peter Frampton; Don Henley, Glenn Frey, Country Joe McDonald, Barry Melton. Many others like Eric Clapton found success as singer-songwriters in their later careers.


title: Singer-songwriter

text: The scene that had developed out of the American folk music revival, pioneered by Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger had grown to a major movement in the early 1960s, popularized by Joan Baez and her protégée, Bob Dylan, who had started reaching a mainstream audience with his hit, Blowin' in the Wind" (1963) bringing "protest songs" to a wider audience. There were hints of cross-pollination, but rock and folk music had remained largely separate genres, often with different audiences. An early attempt at fusing elements of folk and rock was highlighted in the Animals "House of the Rising Sun" (1964), a folk song, recorded with rock and roll instrumentation.


title: Singer-songwriter

text: By the mid-1960s Bob Dylan took the lead in merging folk and rock, and in July 1965, released "Like a Rolling Stone", with a revolutionary rock sound, steeped in tawdry urban imagery, followed by an electric performance later that month at the Newport Folk Festival. Dylan plugged an entire generation into the milieu of the singer-songwriter. Often writing from an urban point of view, with poetry punctuated by rock rhythms and electric power, Dylan's fusing of folk and rock freed up emerging singer-songwriters to use elements of both traditions to tell their stories. In the mid- to late 1960s, bands and singer-songwriters began to proliferate the underground New York art/music scene. The release of "The Velvet Underground & Nico" in 1967, featuring singer-songwriter Lou Reed and German singer and collaborator Nico was described as the "most prophetic rock album ever made" by "Rolling Stone" in 2003.


title: Singer-songwriter

text: In the late '60s a new wave of female singer-songwriters broke from the confines of pop, using the urban landscape as their canvas for lyrics in the confessional style of poets like Anne Sexton and Sylvia Plath. These pioneering women, appeared in a feature in "Newsweek", July 1969, "The Girls: Letting Go: 'What is common to them – to Joni Mitchell and Lotti Golden, to Laura Nyro, Melanie, and to Elyse Weinberg, are the personalised songs they write, like voyages of self-discovery, brimming with keen observation and startling in the impact of their poetry." In "The Guardian", author Laura Barton describes the radical shift in subject matter—they sang about politics, love affairs, the urban landscape, drugs, disappointment, and the life and loneliness of the itinerant performer. Lotti Golden, in her Atlantic debut album "Motor-Cycle", chronicled her life in NYC's East Village in the late 1960s counterculture, visiting subjects such as gender identity (The Space Queens-Silky is Sad) and excessive drug use (Gonna Fay's). The women in the 1969 Newsweek article ushered in a new age of the contemporary female singer-songwriter that has informed generations of women singer-songwriters into the 21st century, with poet Warsan Shire as the muse for Beyoncé's 2016 album "Lemonade".


title: Singer-songwriter

text: By the mid-1970s and early 1980s, the original wave of singer-songwriters had largely been absorbed into a more general pop or soft rock format, but some new artists in the singer-songwriter tradition (including Billy Joel, Stevie Wonder, Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty, Jackson Browne, Chris Isaak, Victoria Williams, John Mellencamp and Warren Zevon) continued to emerge, and in other cases rock and even punk rock artists such as Peter Case, Paul Collins and Paul Westerberg transitioned to careers as solo singer-songwriters. Kate Bush remained distinctive throughout with her idiosyncratic style.


title: Singer-songwriter

text: In the late 1980s, the term was applied to a group of predominantly female U.S. artists, beginning with Suzanne Vega whose first album sold unexpectedly well, followed by the likes of Tracy Chapman, Melissa Etheridge, Nanci Griffith, k.d. lang, Shania Twain, Sarah McLachlan, Shawn Colvin, Sheryl Crow, Lisa Loeb, Joan Osborne, Indigo Girls, and Tori Amos, who found success first in the United Kingdom, then in her home market. In the early 1990s, female artists also began to emerge in new styles, including Courtney Love and PJ Harvey. Later in the mid-1990s, the term was revived again with the success of Canada's Alanis Morissette and her breakthrough album "Jagged Little Pill."


title: Singer-songwriter

text: Also in the 1980s and 1990s, artists such as Bono, the Edge, Dave Matthews, Jeff Buckley, Richard Barone, Duncan Sheik and Elliott Smith borrowed from the singer-songwriter tradition to create new acoustic-based rock styles. In the 2000s, a quieter style emerged, with largely impressionistic lyrics, from artists such as Norah Jones, Conor Oberst, Sufjan Stevens, David Bazan, South San Gabriel, Iron & Wine, David Gray, Ray LaMontagne, Meg Hutchinson, Darden Smith, Josh Rouse, Steve Millar, Jolie Holland, Patrick Duff, Richard Buckner, Jewel, Jack Savoretti, Richard Shindell, John Gorka, and Antje Duvekot. Some started to branch out in new genres such as Kurt Cobain, Noel Gallagher, T Bone Burnett, Eddie Vedder, and Pete Yorn. Others used drugs as a mind-altering way to boost creativity; for example, Emil Amos of Holy Sons took drugs daily from age sixteen on, wrote over 1,000 songs, and landed a record contract with an indie label.


title: Singer-songwriter

text: Recording on the professional-grade systems became affordable for individuals in the late 1990s. This created opportunities for people to independently record and sell their music. Such artists are known as "indies" because they release their records on independent, often self-owned record labels, or no label at all. Additionally the Internet has provided a means for indies to get their music heard by a wider audience.


title: Singer-songwriter

text: French "chanson" comes from an old tradition, since the Middle Ages. It is driven by the rhythms of the French language and has a generally higher standard of lyrics than in the English-speaking world. It can be distinguished from the rest of French "pop" music or soft rock format that began to spread in France during the 1960s until today, under the cultural influence of Anglo-American rock music and the rock band era.


title: Singer-songwriter

text: The first modern French singer-songwriter was Charles Trenet, who began his solo career in 1938. He was the first to use jazz rhythms in chanson. He would remain an isolated act until the creative blooming of a new generation during the post-World War II era (mid-1940s and 1950s), where such artists as Léo Ferré, Georges Brassens, Félix Leclerc (from Quebec), Serge Gainsbourg, Jacques Brel (from Belgium), Henri Salvador (from French Guiana), Charles Aznavour, and Barbara appeared, with contrasted and rich imagination. Most of them are recognized as great masters by younger generations of French artists, especially Ferré (for the richness of his lyrics, his melodic genius, his critical density on social issues and his body of work's profoundness) and Gainsbourg (for the bright and tasteful adaptation of pop or rock music with French language-driven rhythms).


title: Singer-songwriter

text: During the 1960s and 1970s, the most prominent singer-songwriters included Claude Nougaro, Jean Ferrat, Boby Lapointe, Françoise Hardy, Michel Polnareff, Nino Ferrer, Christophe, Bernard Lavilliers, Véronique Sanson and Jacques Higelin, amongst others.


title: Singer-songwriter

text: "Cantautori" (Italian plural; the singular is "cantautore") is the Italian expression corresponding to singer-songwriters in English. The word is a portmanteau of "cantante" (singer) and "autore" (writer).


title: Singer-songwriter

text: The first internationally renowned "cantautore" was Domenico Modugno with his song "Volare (Nel blu dipinto di blu)", a huge best seller in 1958;


title: Singer-songwriter

text: other early "cantautori", who begun their career in the late 50s, are Gino Paoli, Luigi Tenco, Umberto Bindi, Giorgio Gaber and Enzo Jannacci.


title: Singer-songwriter

text: Fabrizio De André, Lucio Battisti and Francesco Guccini began their career in the 60s, while Edoardo Bennato, Lucio Dalla, Francesco De Gregori, Franco Battiato, Rino Gaetano, Ivano Fossati, Antonello Venditti, Claudio Baglioni, Pino Daniele, Roberto Vecchioni, Angelo Branduardi and Eugenio Finardi all appeared in the 70s.


title: Singer-songwriter

text: Their songs are still popular today, often telling stories of marginalized (De André, Guccini, Dalla) and rebellious people (Finardi, De Gregori, Venditti), or having a political background (Venditti, Guccini).


title: Singer-songwriter

text: Branduardi was instead much more influenced by Medieval and Baroque musical styles, while his lyrics are usually inspired by ancient fables. Battiato started as a progressive rock and cultivated music artist in the 1970s, shifting to an original blend of pop, electronic, new wave, and world music in the 1980s.


title: Singer-songwriter

text: Those "canutautori" linked to the city of Genoa (De André, Paoli, Bindi, Tenco, Baccini, etc.) are also referred as members of the Genoese School.


title: Singer-songwriter

text: The Neapolitan "cantautore" Pino Daniele has often fused genres as diverse as R&B, fusion, blues, pop, jazz, and tarantella to produce a sound uniquely his own, with lyrics variously in Italian, Neapolitan, or English. Similarly Paolo Conte was often tagged as a "cantautore", but was more into the jazz tradition.


title: Singer-songwriter

text: In the 1980s Vasco Rossi was renowned for his blend of blues-tinged rock music mixed with Italian melodies.


title: Singer-songwriter

text: With a mixture between international sounds and Italian lyrics, in the 2000s Bugo become the "fantautore", a neologism coined for him. Despite not having achieved great fame, he is considered the pioneer of the renewal of Italian songwriting, far from the politicized of the 70s.


title: Singer-songwriter

text: In the last 25 years the genre has been mainly represented by Samuele Bersani, Caparezza, and the so-called "2nd Roman school of cantautori" (Max Gazzè, Niccolò Fabi, Daniele Silvestri, Simone Cristicchi).


title: Singer-songwriter

text: The word has been borrowed into other languages, including Spanish, Portuguese, and Catalan "cantautor", French "chantauteur", Maltese "kantawtur", Romanian "cantautor", and Slovenian "kantavtor".


title: Singer-songwriter

text: Beginning in the 1960s and following the Italian "cantautori" style of the 1950s (like the one of Domenico Modugno), many Latin American countries developed singer-songwriter traditions that adopted elements from various popular styles. The first such tradition was the mid-1960s invention of nueva canción, which took hold in Andean countries like Chile, Peru, Argentina and Bolivia.


title: Singer-songwriter

text: At around the same time, the Brazilian popular style bossa nova was evolving into a politically charged singer-songwriter tradition called Tropicalismo. Two performers, Gilberto Gil and Caetano Veloso became two of the most famous people in all of Brazil through their work in Tropicalismo.


title: Singer-songwriter

text: After World War II it was developed in Italy a very prolific singer-songwriter (in Italian "cantautore") tradition, initially connected with the French school of the "chansonniers", and lately developed very heterogeneously. Although the term "cantautore" normally implies consistent sociopolitical content in lyrics, noteworthy performers in a more inclusive singer-songwriter categorization are: Domenico Modugno, Luigi Tenco, Gino Paoli, Sergio Endrigo, Fabrizio De André, Francesco De Gregori, Antonello Venditti, Roberto Vecchioni, Ivano Fossati, Lucio Dalla, Francesco Guccini and Franco Battiato.


title: Singer-songwriter

text: In neighbouring Malta, the main singer-songwriters are Walter Micallef, Manwel Mifsud and Vince Fabri. They all perform in Maltese.


title: Singer-songwriter

text: Spain and Portugal have also had singer-songwriter traditions, which are sometimes said to have drawn on Latin elements. Catalonia is known for the Nova Cançó tradition – exemplified by Joan Manuel Serrat and Lluís Llach; the Portuguese folk/protest singer and songwriter José Afonso helped lead a revival of Portuguese folk culture, including a modernized, more socially aware form of fado called nova canção. Following Portugal's Carnation Revolution of 1974, nova canção became more politicized and was known as canto livre. Another important Spain singer-songwriters are Joaquín Sabina, José Luis Perales and Luis Eduardo Aute.


title: Singer-songwriter

text: In the latter part of the 1960s and into the 1970s, socially and politically aware singer-songwriters like Silvio Rodríguez and Pablo Milanés emerged in Cuba, birthing a genre known as nueva trova. Trova as a genre has had broad influence across Latin America. In Mexico, for example, canción yucateca on the Yucatán Peninsula and trova serrana in the Sierra Juárez, Oaxaca are both regional adaptations of trova. Today, Guatemalan Ricardo Arjona qualifies as Latin America's most commercially successful singer-songwriter. Although sociopolitical engagement is uneven in his oeuvre, some see Arjona's more engaged works as placing him in the tradition of the Italian "cantautori".


title: Singer-songwriter

text: With the influence of Tropicalismo, Traditional Samba and Bossa Nova, MPB (Música popular brasileira), or Brazilian Popular Music, became highly singer-songwriter based. For years solo artists would dominate Brazilian popular music with romantic cynicism alla Jobim or subliminal anti-government messages alla Chico Buarque. After the end of the military dictatorship in Brazil, Brazilian music became less politically and socially conscious. The censored Raul Seixas or the humorous spiritualist Jorge Ben were slowly obscured by funk carioca, axé music and Brazilian disco. In recent years, however, a new stock of socially conscious Brazilian singer-songwriters is beginning to break the almost strictly dance-music momentum that has reigned since the 1980s (see the 'Brazilian folk/folk-rock sub-article in Brazilian Music).


title: Singer-songwriter

text: Since the 1960s, those singers who wrote songs outside the Soviet establishment have been known as "bards". The first songs traditionally referred to as bard songs are thought to be written in the late 1930s and early 1940s, and the very existence of the genre is traditionally originated from the amateur activities of the Soviet intelligentsia, namely mass backpacking movement and the students' song movement of the 1950s and 1960s. Many bards performed their songs in small groups of people using a Russian guitar, rarely if ever would they be accompanied by other musicians or singers. Though, bards using piano or accordion are also known. Those who became popular held modest concerts. The first nationwide-famous bards (starting their career in the 1950s) are traditionally referred to as the First Five: Mikhail Ancharov, Alexander Gorodnitsky, Novella Matveyeva, Bulat Okudzhava, Yuri Vizbor. In the 1960s, they were joined by Vladimir Vysotsky, Victor Berkovsky, Yuliy Kim, and many others.


title: Singer-songwriter

text: In the course of the 1970s, the shift to the classical 6-string guitar took place, and now, a Russian guitar is a rare bird with the bards. In the same period, the movement of KSP (Kluby Samodeyatelnoy Pesni – amateur song fan clubs) emerged, providing the bards with highly educated audience, and up to the end of the 1980s being their key promotion engine. Bards were rarely permitted to record their music, partly given the political nature of many songs, partly due to their vague status in the strictly organised state-supported show business establishment of the USSR. As a result, bard tunes usually made their way around as folk lore, from mouth to mouth, or via the copying of amateur recordings (sometimes referred as magnitizdat) made at concerts, particularly those songs that were of political nature. Bard poetry differs from other poetry mainly in the fact that it is sung along with a simple guitar melody as opposed to being spoken. Another difference is that this form of poetry focuses less on style and more on meaning. This means that fewer stylistic devices are used, and the poetry often takes the form of narrative. What separates bard poetry from other songs is the fact that the music is far less important than the lyrics; chord progressions are often very simple and tend to repeat from one bard song to another. On the other hand, in the USSR the chief bard supporter was the state Union of Composers, and the main bard hater was the state Union of Writers. A far more obvious difference was the commerce-free nature of the genre: songs were written to be sung and not to be sold. The similar genre dominated by singers-songwriters is known as sung poetry in other Post-Soviet countries.


title: Singer-songwriter

text: Singer-songwriters are popular in Bulgaria under the name "bards", or "poets with guitars". Their tradition is a mixture of traditional folk motifs, city folklore from the early 20th century, and modern influences. In the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, the Communist regime in the country started to tolerate the Bulgarian "bards", promoting the so-called "political songs", performed usually by one-man bands. A national festival tradition was established, under the title "Alen Mak" (Red Poppy), a symbol with strong Communist meaning in Bulgaria. At the same time, there were some prominent underground figures which were against the official Communist Party line, such as Angel "Jendema" Angelov, Yavor "Yavkata" Rilov, and Velizar "Valdes" Vankov.


title: Singer-songwriter

text: After the collapse of Communism in 1989, the singer-songwriters' tradition was re-established. Currently, the Bulgarian "bards" enjoy several festivals (local and international) per year, namely the PoKi Festival (Poets with Guitars, Poetic Strings) in the town of Harmanli, the Bardfest in Lovech, the Sofia Evenings of Singer-Songwriters, and others. Major figures in the Bulgarian tradition are Dimitar Taralezhkov, Angel "Jendema" Angelov, Yavor "Yavkata" Rilov, Velizar "Valdes" Vankov, Dimitar Dobrev, Andro Stubel, Branimir "Bunny" Stoykov, Dorothea Tabakova, Mihail Belchev, Assen Maslarski, Grisha Trifonov, Plamen Stavrev, Vladimir Levkov, Margarita Drumeva, Maria Batchvarova, Plamen Sivov, and Krasimir Parvanov.