Shizuka Arakawa Shizuka Arakawa Arakawa retired from competitive skating following her Olympic win and began skating professionally in ice shows and exhibitions. She also works as a skating sportscaster for Japanese television. Arakawa was born in Shinagawa, Tokyo, Japan, and grew up in Sendai and its suburbs. She is the only child of Koichi and Sachi Arakawa and was named Shizuka after Shizuka Gozen. In March 2000, Arakawa enrolled at Waseda University and graduated with a bachelor's degree in social sciences in 2004, while still competing as a skater. She won the 2004 World Figure Skating Championships days after completing her graduation
Aram of the Two Rivers Aram of the Two Rivers Aram of the Two Rivers is an album by bass guitarist Jonas Hellborg that was released in 1999 by Bardo Records. It was recorded live in Syria in 1996 at two venues: the Al Azam Palace in Damascus and one of the oldest caravanserais in Aleppo. Composed of six improvised suites, the album is a fusion of jazz and Arabic music,melding Hellborg's polyrhythms and Middle Eastern modal harmonic structures with authentic sounds of ethnic instruments played by local musicians. Darbukas (Tarek Malas and Mahfouz Al Hosaini) and riqq (Nabil Khaiat) are assisting Hellborg's acoustic bass