Country

A country is a region that is identified as a distinct entity in political geography. A country may be an independent sovereign state or one that is occupied by another state, as a non-sovereign or formerly sovereign political division, or a geographic region associated with sets of previously independent or differently associated people with distinct political characteristics. Regardless of the physical geography, in the modern internationally accepted legal definition as defined by the League of Nations in 1937 and reaffirmed by the United Nations in 1945, a resident of a country is subject to the independent exercise of legal jurisdiction.

Sometimes the word countries is used to refer both to sovereign states and to other political entities, while other times it refers only to states. For example, the CIA World Factbook uses the word in its "Country name" field to refer to "a wide variety of dependencies, areas of special sovereignty, uninhabited islands, and other entities in addition to the traditional countries or independent states".^{[Note 1]}

Countries of the United Kingdom

The United Kingdom (UK) comprises four countries: England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Within the United Kingdom, a unitary sovereign state, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales have gained a degree of autonomy through the process of devolution. The UK Parliament and British Government deal with all reserved matters for Northern Ireland and Scotland and all non-transferred matters for Wales, but not in general matters that have been devolved to the Northern Ireland Assembly, Scottish Parliament and National Assembly for Wales. Additionally, devolution in Northern Ireland is conditional on co-operation between the Northern Ireland Executive and the Government of Ireland (see North/South Ministerial Council) and the British Government consults with the Government of Ireland to reach agreement on some non-devolved matters for Northern Ireland (see British–Irish Intergovernmental Conference). England, comprising the majority of the population and area of the United Kingdom, remains fully the responsibility of the UK Parliament centralised in London.

Country music

Country music is a genre of American popular music that originated in the Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from the southeastern genre of American folk music and Western music. Blues modes have been used extensively throughout its recorded history. Country music often consists of ballads and dance tunes with generally simple forms and harmonies accompanied by mostly string instruments such as banjos, electric and acoustic guitars, dobros and fiddles as well as harmonicas. The term country music gained popularity in the 1940s in preference to the earlier term hillbilly music; it came to encompass Western music, which evolved parallel to hillbilly music from similar roots, in the mid-20th century. The term country music is used today to describe many styles and subgenres. The origins of country music are the folk music of mostly white, working-class Americans, who blended popular songs, Irish and Celtic fiddle tunes, traditional ballads, and cowboy songs, and various musical traditions from European immigrant communities. In 2009 country music was the most listened to rush hour radio genre during the evening commute, and second most popular in the morning commute in the United States.

Fantasy (disambiguation)

Fantasy is a genre of fiction that uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting.

Other uses

Fantasie (Münchener Freiheit album)

Fantasie was the 5th proper studio album by Münchener Freiheit and their highest charting, reaching #4 in the German charts. The album spawned three hit singles, including the #2 hit, Solang' man Träume noch leben kann (held off the #1 spot by Always on my Mind by Pet Shop Boys). Fantasie was also completely re-recorded with English lyrics and later released throughout Europe and the US as Fantasy.

The album contained an alternative version of Solang' man Träume noch leben kann, performed entirely by the band without the orchestra and choir.

Track listing

All music by Stefan Zauner and Aron Strobel except "So heiß" (Stefan Zauner and Michael Kunzi)

All lyrics by Stefan Zauner and Aron Strobel

Fantasie (Nicola Benedetti album)

Fantasie is the fourth studio album by Scottish violinist Nicola Benedetti.

Album information

Benedetti's fourth album, Fantasie, was released on September 7, 2009. It features the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Alexei Grynyuk, Vasily Patrenko and Andrew Litton.

Fantasie is made up from a selection of well-loved violin pieces that form her fourth violin showcase. The repertoire is varied, ultimately all popular pieces and greatly different from the repertoire on her most recent studio albums. The combination of virtuosic, gipsy-influenced pieces with introspective meditations and songs represents the two aspects of violin-playing that particularly interest Benedetti.

For Fantasie, Benedetti has put aside the concerti to explore some of the recital greats, including Vaughan Williams’ "The Lark Ascending", one of the greatest works for violin which was, for several years, voted Classic FM’s favourite piece of classical music in their Hall of Fame.

Track listing