Da Vinci's Symphony | MELA Quiz | DeQryptic 2019 | Guwahati

DA VINCI’S SYMPHONY
RESEARCHED, COMPILED AND (NOT) CONDUCTED BY AMLAN SARKAR

Heartfelt Gratitude to the following
people for their valuable inputs and help
Muhammed Munavvir
Basab Ranjan Dahal
Adil and Rabin Jacob
Ashish Singh

Prelims
20 Questions for 24 points, questions 17-20 are two-pointers. Part-points apply
on other questions, as and when necessary.
Questions 11-15 are star-marked and shall be used to resolve ties. In case tie
persists, sudden death to be applied.
Please refrain from using unfair means.

1.
The origins of which modern English word lie in the amalgamation of the Greek
roots for harmony and sound?

2.
Directed by Aashiq Abu, Virus opened to great critical acclaim.
What recent crisis is it based on? (trailer follows)

3.
The last three words in every stanza of Alfred Lord Tennyson’s poem,
Recollection of Arabian Nights, are “good ______ _________”, referring to one
of the most recurrent characters of the collection of stories.
FITB with the name of the only Abbasid to be referred to by his first name.

4.
Shirley: Visions of Reality is a 2013 indie movie made in the documentary style
by Gustav Deutsch. Through the biography of a fictional actress named Shirley,
Deutsch documents 30 years of US History, between the 1930s and the 1960s.
To tell his story, Deutsch recreated 13 masterpieces of an American painter who
worked during the same period, as set pieces. Although it doesn’t reference his
most famous creation from 1942, the style and colors employed through the
different paintings make the artist easily identifiable.
Whose works did Deutsch use as his set pieces? (images follow)

5.
On January 7, 1970, dairy farmer Max B. Yasgur of Bethel, New York, was sued
by his neighbors for property damage caused by the people who had visited his
land some 5 months back. His own property too, was extensively damaged.
Many people at his town had turned against him and he was no longer welcome
at the local convenient store. Yasgur, though, maintained that he did not have
even an ounce of regret for what he had done. Despite this, however, Yasgur
refused to let people enter his farm again in 1970, expressing a concern to go
back to dairy farming as a source of revenue.
What had Yasgur done the previous year?

6.
Jahnu Barua made his feature film debut in 1982 with the movie Aparoopa. The
titular character is a woman from tea plantations being married off to a rich
planter in exchange of writing off her father’s debts, Aparoopa was also the first
Assamese movie to be produced by the National Film Development Corporation.
The movie cast a lot of non-Assamese actors, including Farooq Sheikh,
Kulbhushan Kharbanda, and a gentleman who served as the director of FTII
(1974-75) as well as the chairman of Sangeet Natak Akademi (1988-93).
Who was this gentleman?

7.
This is the cover of the first volume of which publication by Dark-Horse comics?
(image in next slide)

8.
Lubina Himid is a British artist and curator whose work primarily focusses on
themes of cultural history and reclaiming identities. A member of the UK’s Black
Art Movement in the 1980s, Himid continues to create activist art, and has won
the Turner Prize in 2017.
Ten years earlier from that, Himid presented an installation of painted ceramic
pieces – jugs, plates, dishes and tureens – called Swallow Hard: The Lancaster
Dinner Service. On display currently in London V&A’s FOOD: Bigger than the
plate, Himid’s work called out the city of Lancaster for its involvement in the
trade of a certain kind in the eighteenth century, its abolition in 1807, and the
reactions registered by white people on abolition.
What trade was this? (images follow)

9.
In a recent post, Facebook Music-Information page The Recorder drew parallels
between Jagjit Singh and a popular Indian liquor brand. It goes on to discuss
how Jagjit Singh brought ghazals to the middle-class Indian household, with his
simplicity of style, at a time when it was clearly an elitist mode of leisure, a form
of high-art. Different from his traditionalist contemporaries like Ghulam Ail or
Mehdi Hasan, he developed a style of reciting ghazals which appealed to the
masses. The post ends with an anecdote where Singh was followed around by
an ardent fan who expressed his admiration by gifting him a bottle of the same
alcoholic brand.
Which very popular, of-the-masses liquor brand did the article draw parallels of
Jagjit Singh with?

10.
After shooting to cinematic fame with his portrayal of Natha in Peepli Live,
Omkar Das Manikpuri went back to his home in Bhilai, Chhattisgarh, and didn’t
appear in any feature film for the next several years. This changed a couple of
years back when he appeared in a movie telling the story of his native region, as
one of the local policemen assigned to protect the protagonist. In 2019,
Manikpuri is slated to appear in Mammootty’s Unda. He also appeared in a
relatively obscure Hindi movie called Chaturnath in May this year.
Which 2017 movie brought Manikpuri back to Bollywood?

11.
Which mid-nineteenth century work, alternately titled as The Parish Boy’s
Progress, was written as a protest of The Poor Law Ammednment Act of 1834?

12.
Bhupen Khakhar became India’s first openly gay artist when his work, Two Men
in Benares, was unveiled in Mumbai in 1986. That work was recently sold by
Sotheby’s for a personal record of ₹22cr.
In the 1990s, after being portrayed as “the accountant” in a 1995 piece of
literature that looked at various events of Indian and world history, Khakhar
decided to return the favour by painting a portrait of the author of the work,
and aptly titled his creation after the titular character of the 1995 book.
What two-word title does the painting go by? (image follows)

13.
Released under the label of InkInc Records, the music video of Zeher by rapper
Kaam Bhari is a commentary on the exploitation of corporates in the
independent music scene in the country, and is a veiled message indicating that
InkInc will change things for the better.
Who, after an earlier successful association with Kaam Bhari and other
underground artists, founded IncInk records?

14.
Minimalist poster for which movie?

15.
Guinness World Records lists X as the best-selling novelist of all time. Her novels
have sold roughly 2 billion copies, and her estate claims that her works come
third in the rankings of the world's most-widely published books, behind only Y’s
works and the Bible. According to Index Translational, she remains the most-
translated individual author – having been translated into at least 103
languages.
Give both X and Y.

16.
According to some experts , His decision to paint a ____ to emphasise this point
– an image was as capable of expressing thought as poetry – may well have been
down to the fact that shortly before he began work on this , André Breton and
Paul Éluard, two leading figures of the movement this individual was aligned
with , published Notes on Poetry in their journal , in which they declared “poetry
is a ____”. His declaration on the work could then be seen as a claim that it is
something different, but equally valid.
The original title of the work was L’usage de la parole I (The Use of Speech I),
which implies that we should question the veracity of the words, not the image.
Which 1929 work am I talking about?

17.
In 2015, this director and composer decided to reuse an Hindustani Classical
track from one of his earlier movies, but in a different raga. In the earlier movie
which released almost two decades ago from now, the song was a bandish in
Ahir Bhairav, and sung by three singers including the one who initially
popularized it. In the newer movie, it was in Bhoopali and referenced a version
sung by Kishori Amonkar.
Which bandish? In which two movies was it used?

18.
Shortly after the release of the movie, X met with Y to talk about making the
“proverbial good science fiction movie”. During a discussion of ideas , the two
men saw what they at first thought was a satellite moving in a polar orbit, but it
abruptly changed direction. When Clarke suggested calling in a UFO report,
Kubrick said, “ After ‘__ __________’ the Air Force does not want to hear from
me.” FITB.
The discussion of ideas that they were having went on to become one of the
greatest science-fiction movies, releasing four years after the one mentioned
above. Name this film.

19.
Deadpool Killustrated was a comic series by Marvel where after killing all the
versions of all Marvel characters within the Marvel Multiverse, Deadpool
realises that all of these characters still continue to exist as various works of
fiction. Deadpool thus decides to enter famous books to kill their characters to
remove Marvel characters from existence. Hulk is Moby-dick, Namor is The Little
Mermaid, and so on and so forth.
What character that had first appeared in 1894 does Ka-Zar, a jungle-dwelling
human superhero who was raised by wild animals, become in this series?
As the story develops, a famous British duo enters the series to investigate the
anomalies that are occurring and get inadvertently tangled with fighting a battle
of wits with Deadpool. Which duo is this?

20.
Painted in 1892, Despair is often thought to be a precursor to a more famous
painting that first came out two years later. It was a more immediate response to
what the artist felt, and represents the isolation and despair he felt “just before
a ______ ripped through the nature”. In his own words, “I paused feeling
exhausted and leaned on the fence […] My friends walked on and I stood there
trembling with anxiety”.
Which artist? What more famous work followed a couple of years after Despair?

Nipah Virus outbreak in Kerala

Leased his land to Woodstock Music Festival

10.
After shooting to cinematic fame with his portrayal of Natha in Peepli Live,
Omkar Das Manikpuri went back to his home in Bhilai, Chhattisgarh, and didn’t
appear in any feature film for the next several years. This changed a couple of
years back when he appeared in a movie telling the story of his native region, as
one of the local policemen assigned to protect the protagonist. In 2019,
Manikpuri is slated to appear in Mammoothy’s Unda. He also appeared in a
relatively obscure Hindi movie called Chaturnath in May this year.
Which 2017 movie brought Manikpuri back to Bollywood?

Agatha Christie; William Shakespeare

16.
According to some experts, his decision to paint a ____ to emphasise this point –
an image was as capable of expressing thought as poetry – may well have been
down to the fact that shortly before he began work on this , André Breton and
Paul Éluard, two leading figures of the movement this individual was aligned
with , published Notes on Poetry in their journal , in which they declared “poetry
is a ____”. His declaration on the work could then be seen as a claim that it is
something different, but equally valid.
The original title of the work was L’usage de la parole I (The Use of Speech I),
which implies that we should question the veracity of the words, not the image.
Which 1929 work am I talking about?

Albela Sajan Aayo Re (1); Hum Dil De Chuke
Sanam (0.5) & Bajirao Mastani (0.5)

Dr. Strangelove; 2001: A Space Odyssey

FINALS
28 Questions in the finals, all on infinite bounce and pounce.
First 14 questions go clockwise, the next 14 go anti-clockwise.
+10/-5 on Pounce, +10/0 on Bounce
If a question goes unanswered, the next question will be a direct for the next
team

1.
In 1981, Maurice Fleuret became Director of Music and Dance in France’s
Ministry of Culture. As part of his job, Fleuret discovered that one young person
out of two played a musical instrument, and began a project to bring people out
on the streets. It culminated in the organization of a Fair on World Music in
1982.
On what date was it held?

21st June; This was the first ever World
Music Day

2.
Joan Rivers was an American comedian in the sixties who rose to prominence
after appearing on The Tonight Show in 1965. Over two decades later, she began
her own rival show, The Late Show with Joan Rivers. Rivers performed in
numerous comedy clubs in the Greenwich Village area of New York City in the
early 1960s. Rivers became friends with her fellow Greenwich Village
comedians Woody Allen and George Carlin and often ate with them.
Part of Rivers’ initial years were a big inspiration behind the creation of which
Emmy-award winning show?

3.
Edgar Cuthwellis and Edgar U C Westhill were two of the four names that were
submitted, but eventually rejected. The third rejected name, _____ _______,
had the same last name as the one that had made it, and a French-sounding
version of the selected first name. It was arrived at by translating an existing
name to Latin and then back, and reversing the order of the first and last names.
The final decision was made by a gentleman called Edmund Yates.
What was the name that made the cut?

4.
Ernest Binfield Havell was the principal of the Government School of Art,
Calcutta from 1896-1905. During his tenure, he discouraged his Indian from
trying to imitate European styles and instead look for inspiration from India’s
own rich history and cultural heritage. He discussed the idea of using a rich
medieval style of painting that had flourished between the 16th and 17th
centuries, but was met with criticism from orthodox Hindus, and he faced
boycott by his students. What style did he suggest a detailed studying of?
Despite facing initial backlash, however, Binfield’s idea received validation from
a young student of his who came from an illustrious family background. This
student would go on to spearhead a massive nationalist movement in modern
art from the very idea of Binfield that had initially been declared antinational.
Who was this student?

Mughal Miniatures; Abanindranath
Tagore

5.
Born as Yoongi Min, his stage name is a colloquial writing of a common English
word. The name points towards his pale skin and sweet nature and he chose it
to promote his music sweetly. An alternate meaning behind his name is with
respect to the defensive and offensive positions of a his favourite sport, forming
a portmanteau of the 2 terms.
Who?

6.
In 2002, college student and Minnesota resident Luke Helder went around
planting pipe bombs in mail-boxes with an intention to create a giant smiley face
of bombed mail boxes across the map of the United States.
In another instance, in 2009, the New York Police City department charged a 17-
year-old from Manhattan with detonating a homemade bomb outside
a Starbucks Coffee shop in the Upper East Side.
What 20-year-old-from-now source inspired these people to take such actions?

Fight Club; They were trying to carry out
their own Project Mayhem

7.
In his Pulitzer-winning novel the author describes an infamous 20th century
event through the recollection of his father’s experience of that time. The book
is notable for its unique depiction of the events and the different communities
involved in it.
There is one demographic however that criticize the book for its unsympathetic
portrayal of them. They’re shown as being bad tampered, cowardly; helpful only
when it benefits them and almost as bad as the primary antagonists. Their
“dirty” nature is also illustrated in the way they are portrayed.
Which demographic is this and how have they been portrayed which they claim
to be really unfit.

The Poles in Maus are Pigs, which are
non-Kosher hence dirty

8.
The song was originally written by Herman Hupfield for the Broadway musical
Everybody’s Welcome, where it was sung by Frank Williams. It was only a
modest hit in the musical.
When reintroduced in its 1942 context which would eventually make it world
famous, the makers decided to omit the verse – which had lyrics referring to
scientific developments and Albert Einstein – and directly begin the song from
the chorus.
Which song is this, which has also been played as the default theme for the
Warner Brother’s Studio Opening Logo since 1999?

9.
Hazir is a 1992 collaborative studio album of Ghazals, with equal credits being
shared by the singer and instrumentalist for the songs. The album attained
nationwide popularity not only because of the vocals but also the credible work
done by the instrumentalist, and was named Hazir since it cointained the initials
of the first name of both the artists. Twenty-two years after the original album,
the artists came together again to release Hazir 2.
Who were the artists behind this album?

10.
“There were many people killed, but everyone worries about the _____. When
the head arrived, it upset many members: who were animal lovers, who liked
little doggies. What they don’t know is that we got the head from a pet food
manufacturer who slaughters two hundred _____s a day just to feed those little
doggies.”
Which animal is being talked about here, whose death seems to be more
important than that of even human beings?

Horse-head scene, The Godfather

11.
One of the local tourist sites in the erstwhile Dutch colony of Chinsurah, West
Bengal, is the tomb of S. Anna Maria, who according to official records was a
woman who had married twice, but according to urban legend had had a few
more husbands. Her story would later inspire a now nonagenarian author to
weave around an entire body of work with a lady of her name as the
protagonist, evolving from a six-page short story to a sixty-page novella and
eventually a movie script.
Who was thus inspired? What was Anna Maria’s first name?

Ruskin Bond; Susanna(‘s Seven
Husbands)

12.
The strong impact of Minimalism, Abstraction, Cubism and especially Picasso on
X can be seen by comparing Picasso’s Guernica and X’s Y.
Although the symbolism of the bull and horse in Guernica remain ambiguous,
the bull in Y can be seen to symbolize the artist’s attempt to shed light on the
culture and predicaments faced by the Indian subcontinent and its people,
becoming in essence a symbol of the pain and struggle, yet simultaneously of
survival. An oft seen image here Y’s embace symbolize his eventual mergence
with his Vanquisher.
Id X and Y. Which 2001 Jnanpith winning work - that was first published in 1983
– carried a version of Y in the cover of its English translation? (image follows)

X – Tyeb Mehta, Y – Mahishasura; The Man
From Chhinnamasta (accept the Assamese
answer as well)

13.
In the 1971 TV Series Longstreet, Bruce Lee appeared as martial arts expert Li
Tsung who trains the titular character in his quest to investigate the death of his
wife. For the majority of his four-episode-long appearance, Bruce Lee dons a
maroon tracksuit and blue shoes in the series.
Where, closer home, would you have seen a similar costume a couple of months
ago? (image follows)

Surya’s costume in Mard ko Dard Nahin
Hota

14.
In the Gospel of Mark, Jesus encounters a blind man who reaches out to him to
be healed and he heals him. The blind man's name, which implied that he was
the son of Timaeus, is seen to have taken on by a literary father-son pair who
too in their own ways display a form of 'blindness'. The father, a zealous law
enforcer, was quite oblivious to his family's affairs. Absorbed by his work, he was
unaware of the criminal path his son had taken upon discovering which he
himself sentenced him to life imprisonment . The symbolism was more
prominent with the son, who had feigned a visual impairment(?) during a brief
stint as a teacher. Hitting the nail on the head, their surnames is a common
derivation of Cross.
Identify the two chaps.

Scores
And a reversal of the order

15.
Named for its previous owner, the Quinta Del Sordo (Deaf Man’s Villa) stood on
the banks of the River Manzanares and was acquired by its most famous
resident in the early 19th century. Seeking to escape public attention, he used
the villa as his studio where in his later years developed a series of painting in
the different rooms of the villa. The dining room, disturbingly, hosted the most
famous work from this series.
Who was this artist? What work was present in his dining room?

Goya; Saturn Devouring his Son

16.
RAS(Redundant Acronym Syndrome) Syndrome is the use of one or more words
that make up the acronym in conjunction with the acronym. RAS syndrome is
itself and RAS syndrome, alongside ATM machine or PIN number. Keeping that in
mind tell me how is Boys Entering Anarchistic States Towards Inner Excellence(
which describes them pretty well) an RAS syndrome?

17.
In 1995, Jean-Claude Van Damme was offered a role in the movie adaptation of
a popular game franchise which had begun its run just three years ago. However,
Van Damme turned it down owing to his prior commitments with shooting
another game-to-movie adaptation, Street Fighter. Eventually, thus, the role
meant for him was done by Linden Ashby.
Which movie was this? For which role was Jean-Claude Van Damme first
approached?

Mortal Kombat; Johnny Cage (whose
character design was inspired by Van Damme)

18.
While this language was largely regarded as a variant of Hindi, George Grierson
in 1908 first deemed it a distinct language with different dialects spread over a
principal geographical area. Today, the language is recognized by the Sahitya
Akademi and National Academy of Letters, as well as the UGC for the awarding
of degrees at certain universities.
With around 50 million speakers (of whom around 60% speak the most common
dialect), it is recognized as a state language. There have been demands since
2010 (most recently in the monsoon session of Parliament in 2013) to include
the language as one of the official languages of India.
Which language? And what is the most widely spoken dialect?

19.
Studying the early life of this artist reveals some fascinating light on his study
and experiments with portraiture – which is something people do not associate
with him at the very get go. Particularly influenced by Rembrandt, the artist
painted his own-self portrait in a very similar manner to that of the Dutch
legend in 1936. A comparative study of the two paintings show the use of similar
postures, angles and color-schemes. Which famous American artist is this?
Another early work of his, Portrait of Mary, seems to be a detailed
interpretation of one of the subjects of another Dutch legend’s very famous
work. The original work seems to break the fourth wall, with the depiction of the
act of making a sketch within the artwork. Which painting is this, that got a
reinterpretation in the 20th century as Portrait of Mary? (images follow)

Mark Rothko; The Art of Painting

20.
Following a motorcycle accident in July 1966, Bob Dylan spent the next 18
months recuperating at his home in Woodstock and writing songs. It is believed
that the original version of this song was thus recorded in late 1967.
Later on, the band ‘The Jimmy Hendrix Experience’ began to record their version
of this song, which would later go on to become a member of Top 1000 of the
Millenium.
The song also featured in the movie Forrest Gump.
Which song?

21.
Netflix romantic comedy Always Be My Maybe stars and is co-written by Randall
Park. About four and a half years ago, Randall’s portrayal of a famous character
embroiled him and his film in controversy, and the movie was almost taken off,
subsequently only opening to a very limited and sparse release. Which movie
was this? What role did he portray?
The movie also stars Karan Soni as Tony Gill, whom we would mainly know for
playing a small but pivotal role in one of the sub-franchises of a now-shelved
superhero cinematic universe. Where do we know him from?

Kim Jong-un in The Interview; Dopinder
in Deadpool and Deadpool 2

22.
In 2015, Marathi writer Balachandra Nemade, who professes ‘Deshivaad’, a
somewhat controversial literary theory that asserts that writers should look
inward and resist globalisation, got into a spat with X after he criticised X’s
works. X then wrote: ‘ Grumpy old man. Just take your prize and say thank you
nicely. I doubt you’ve even read the work you attack’.
What prize was X referring to? ID X.

Jnanpith Award (2015); Salman Rushdie

23.
Habba Khatun was a Kashmiri poet who lived in the 16th and early 17th centuries.
Considered to be one of the greatest poets of her time and in her language,
Khatun’s poem Chol Hama Roshay was adapted on both the big and small
screens this year.
In March, a version sung by Vibha Saraf was used in the small screen in an
episode centering around an IAS Officer and his fiancée. Which show was it used
in?
A month later, a version recorded by local artist Ali Saifuddin and arranged by a
couple of French musicians was picked as the official song for the latest work of
Ashvin Kumar, which also starred Kulbhushan Kharbanda. Which movie is this?

Made in Heaven; No Fathers in Kashmir

24.
Amy’s Baking Company is a now defunct bistro, in Scottsdale, Arizona. The
reason the restaurant had to closed down was due to massive hate and outrage
from the internet community after they had hired someone to fix their faltering
restaurant but their behavior resulted in the person leaving it, never to come
back again in the kitchen.
Whom did they hire?

Gordon Ramsay (the only incomplete
episode of Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares)

25.
Set in Varanasi, The Last Color is a book dealing with an age-old taboo
surrounding the widows and their lives in the city. Only the second work in
fiction by the writer, after a children’s book called A Tree Named Ganga, The
Last Color was published by Bloomsburry in 2018. It’s the 31st book by the
author, who has since written two more books, and has covered a vast range of
topics from Ayurveda to Vegetarianism and from Rivers to Pilgrims, and has also
authored a collection of poems surrounding his profession.
Who is the author of The Last Color?

26.
Hamra Abbas was born in Kuwait into a Pakistani family, educated in Berlin and
Lahore, and now lives between Pakistan and the United States.
In her 2014 work, _____ as a misprint, Abbas created a digital print which
examined the geometrical properties of the building instead of its religious
significance. To draw attention to the essence of the cubical form, Abbas broke it
down into two unadorned rectangles, one placed atop of the other. Despite this
reduction to the basic minimum, the final shape was still immediately
recognizable as the _____.
What was the subject of her work? (image follows)

27.
The original names that were thought of while writing this composition were
Daisy Hawkins for the lady, and the name of the priest was the same as that of
the writer. However, not wanting to go with people imagining his father knitting
socks, the writer decided on X after going through a phonebook.
Daisy Hawkins was changed to Y by combining the name of E. Bron, a lady who
had starred with the writer and his friends in one of their movies, and a store in
Bristol.
What names were eventually chosen thus?

Eleanor Rigby and Father McKenzie

28.
According to Lisa Hanawalt, the reason she created her new Netflix show
derived from this need to tell the world that women could be gross. And this
idea is reflected throughout her show – with having characters in a relationship
masturbate after a very close encounter with their much hotter crush, boobs
thrown around everywhere, including buildings and lamp-posts, and two
diametrically opposite female characters in the lead are the highlights of this
light-hearted, nonsensical show. Which show?
This show was the second Netflix collaboration between Hanawalt and her
executive producer Raphael. What was the first, more famous collaboration
between the two?

Tuca and Bertie; BoJack Horseman

Da Vinci's Symphony | MELA Quiz | DeQryptic 2019 | Guwahati

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