Wikipedia:Main Page history/2015 April 14

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From today's featured article

Taiko drums, a broad range of Japanese percussion instruments, were introduced to Japan through Korean and Chinese cultural influence as early as the 6th century, and a mythological origin is mentioned in the Nihon Shoki, the second oldest book of Japanese classical history. They have seen use in Japan for communication, theatre, religious ceremonies, and festival and concert performances. In feudal warfare, taiko drums were used to summon troops, call out orders and set a marching pace. In modern times, they have played a role in social movements for minorities within and outside Japan. Taiko performances can vary in their rhythms, forms, stick grips, clothing, and instrumentation. Ensembles typically use different types of barrel-shaped nagadō-daiko drums, as well as the smaller shime-daiko. Many groups accompany their drums with vocals, strings, and woodwind instruments. The popular ensemble style called kumi-daiko was developed in 1951 through the work of Daihachi Oguchi, and has continued with groups such as Kodo. Kumi-daiko performance groups are active in Japan, the U.S., Australia, Canada, and Brazil. (Full article...)

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In the news

Günter Grass, Nobel laureate and author of The Tin Drum and Dog Years, dies at the age of 87.
In basketball, USK Praha beat UMMC Ekaterinburg to win the EuroLeague Women title.
In golf, American Jordan Spieth wins the Masters Tournament.
In rowing, Oxford's men's crew (pictured) and women's crew defeat the respective Cambridge crews in the 161st Boat Race and the first Women's Boat Race held on the Tideway.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is found guilty on thirty charges related to the Boston Marathon bombings.

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On this day...

April 14: Bengali New Year; Cambodian New Year, Tamil New Year, and other New Year festivals in Asia (2015); Day of the Georgian language in Georgia (1978)

193 – Septimius Severus seized the throne of the Roman Empire after the death of Pertinax during the Year of the Five Emperors.
966 – After his marriage to the Christian Dobrawa of Bohemia, the pagan ruler of the Polans, Mieszko I, converted to Christianity, an event considered to be the founding of the Polish state.
1865 – Actor and Confederate sympathizer John Wilkes Booth (pictured) fatally shot U.S. President Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C.
1935 – A massive dust storm swept across Oklahoma and northern Texas, removing an estimated 300,000 short tons (270,000 t) of topsoil.
1999 – A storm dropped an estimated 500,000 tonnes of hailstones in Sydney and along the east coast of New South Wales, causing about A$2.3 billion in damages, the costliest natural disaster in Australian insurance history.

More anniversaries: April 13 – April 14 – April 15

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The north face of Jalovec, a mountain in the Julian Alps. It is the sixth-highest peak in Slovenia, rising to 2,645 metres (8,678 ft) above sea level.

Photograph: Christian Mehlführer

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