Dido
Dido
Singer, songwriter
Famed for writing songs that seemed to have an Everywoman spirit, British pop singer Dido started as a backup singer for her brother's band, Faithless. With her very first solo effort, No Angel, she soared to the top of the charts and into the hearts of millions around the world. To those looking from the outside in, her success seemed to happen overnight, but in reality Dido's road to stardom was a lifelong process.
Dido Armstrong was born and raised in London, England; she was the daughter of book publisher William Armstrong and his wife Claire, a homemaker whose hobby was writing poetry. Her parents named her after a Carthaginian queen. "Dido, she was an African queen, and in Latin literature, she was sort of a warrior queen, who actually ended up killing herself over a guy, which was a bit depressing," Dido explained to iAfrica. com.
The Armstrong household did not have a television during Dido's childhood, so she found other ways to entertain herself. At the age of five, she stole a recorder from her school's lost and found and discovered a passion for music as a result. Without any prompting from her parents, she practiced for six hours a day and sometimes more. The following year, she began attending the Guildhall School of Music in London, where she added the violin and piano to her talents. Dido discussed her early dedication in an interview with Jeff Chu at Time Europe. "I'd do like two hours on each instrument and maybe an hour on harmony and composition. … I have respect for how I was when I was younger, because I'm so not that cool now," she said.
As a teenager, Dido toured the United Kingdom with a classical music ensemble, primarily focused on her chosen instruments. But when she was 16, her focus started to shift. She discovered the music of Ella Fitzgerald and became very interested in singing. Dido's brother Rollo, who had begun pursuing his own musical career, discouraged her from her new direction. "I used to tell Rollo that Dido had a lovely voice," Faithless lead singer Sister Bliss told People, "and he looked at me and said, 'My sister can't sing!'"
Undaunted like her warrior namesake, Dido followed her dream anyway and began performing with a variety of bands in London. At the same time, she worked for a book publishing company and attended law school. She started in publishing as an assistant and eventually moved up to become a literary agent.
In the mid-1990s, Dido finally convinced her brother of her abilities and landed a spot as a backup singer with Rollo's trip-hop group Faithless. The group's 1996 debut album, Reverence, sold more than five million copies, and Dido decided to explore the idea of writing and performing her own music. "The Faithless thing was such a good experience, but I knew that had really nothing to do with me," Dido told Charlie Craine of Hip Online. "I was just singing backup vocals. It's such a different thing when I went on alone. I was like, 'Why is everyone looking at me?'"
Although she had been making good money as a literary agent, she decided to take a year off, with her supervisor's blessing, to work on her music career full time. Her boss assured her that she could have her old job back if things didn't work out. She spent part of her new free time touring with Faithless and part of the time writing and recording her own songs. A year to the day after she left her job, she signed a recording contract with the Arista label. Although she hadn't sent her demo tape to anyone at Arista, the record company invited her to meet with the head of the company, Clive Davis, at the Dorchester Hotel in London. "I think my demo tape just drifted around the music industry through friends and by word-of-mouth, basically," Dido told Chu. It became clear that the meeting was a success when Davis became enthused enough to jump in with backing vocals for her performance.
Dido released her debut, No Angel, in the United States in June of 1999. Accompanying it was the single "Here With Me," which was later chosen as the theme song for the WB television show Roswell. Dido produced the album with the help of her brother Rollo (who had become one of her biggest supporters), Rick Nowels, and former Verve and Crowded House producer Youth. "Dreamy pop, electronica shadings, folk guitars, and soulful vocals bend and blend together on No Angel, " Christopher John Farley wrote in his Time review. That same year, Dido appeared on Faithless's second release, Sunday 8pm, which included her song "My Lover's Gone."
Dido had to wait until October of 2000 to release No Angel in Europe due to contractual disputes with her European label, Cheeky Records. The CD was released after BMG Records purchased the small label.
No Angel 's success in the United States didn't come quickly. Dido toured small venues around the country until one day she received a letter from rapper Eminem in which he explained that he wanted to sample her tune "Thank You" in a song he was working on, "Stan." He included a CD containing the song so she could hear how he would use it. By this time, "Thank You" had already appeared on the soundtrack for the film Sliding Doors, starring Gwyneth Paltrow. Dido gave Eminem permission to use the sample—a decision that launched her career into superstardom.
"I'm blown away that so many people decided to investigate or buy my record on the strength of hearing six lines of it on 'Stan,'" Dido said in her website biography. "I think that's brilliant." The outcome of this brilliance was that No Angel spent 100 weeks on the British album charts and sold more than 12 million copies.
In 2001, Dido wrote the song "I'm Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman" for Britney Spears and witnessed Elton John singing her lines from "Stan" when he performed with Eminem at the Grammy Awards ceremony. "It was too surreal for me, just too surreal to see Elton John singing my song," Dido told Tom Lanham of Teen People. "He's one of the biggest singer-songwriters in the world. And there he was, singing my funny little song."
In June of 2001, Dido launched her first tour as a headliner after nearly two years on the road. Her tour in support of No Angel finally came to an end in May of 2002, and she found herself in a completely different place in her life from where she had been when she started. "When I made No Angel, I was in my early 20s, and now I'm 30," Dido told Corey Moss of VH1.com. "I'm a completely different person. My world has changed."
For the Record . . .
Born Dido Armstrong on December 25, 1971, in London, England; daughter of William and Claire Armstrong. Education: Attended Guildhall School of Music, London, England.
Performed as a backup singer for Faithless, 1996-99; signed with Arista label, 1997; released No Angel, 1999; rapper Eminem sampled "Thank You" in his hit single "Stan," 2000; released Life for Rent, 2003.
Awards: Brit Awards, Best British Female, Best British Album for No Angel, 2002; World Music Awards, Best-Selling British Artist, Top Pop Female, Top Adult Contemporary Artist, 2002; Bambi Award (Germany), Best International Pop Act, 2003; Brit Awards, Best British Single for "White Flag," Best British Female, 2003.
Addresses: Record company— Arista Records, website: http://www.arista.com. Website— Dido Official Web-site: http://www.didomusic.com/.
Before she returned to the studio to record her second album, Dido decided to take some time off for herself and traveled to various places, including New York, Thailand, Canada, and Ireland. Refreshed and ready to start the process again, she released Life for Rent on September 29, 2003. The album included the single "White Flag," and for the video of that song Dido invited David Boreanaz, star of the television show Angel, to appear with her.
On Life for Rent, Dido took a more philosophical approach to her songwriting, particularly on the title track. "It's about not being afraid to take chances or to live life to the full," Dido said in her website biography. "It's so easy to slip into complacency or to disengage from the world. This album works as a reminder to myself not to do that."
Dido's success continued with Life for Rent, which debuted at number one on the European top 100 albums chart. But despite all of her success, Dido still considered herself an underdog. "No matter how successful I am, I'm always going to be trying to be a better singer or songwriter or producer or player or whatever," she explained on her website. "In my own mind, I'm always going to be coming from behind, and that seems to suit me."
Selected discography
Solo
(Contributor) Sliding Doors (soundtrack), MCA, 1998.
No Angel, Arista, 1999.
Life for Rent, Arista, 2003.
With Faithless
Reverence, Arista, 1996.
Sunday 8pm, Arista, 1998.
Outrospective, Arista, 2001.
Sources
Periodicals
Billboard Bulletin, October 10, 2003; October 17, 2003.
Entertainment Weekly, October 20, 2000; December 1, 2000; August 1, 2003.
People, April 30, 2001; October 20, 2003; December 1, 2003.
Teen People, May 15, 2001.
Time, June 7, 1999.
Online
"Dido Biography," RollingStone.com, http://www.rollingstone.com (November 28, 2003).
"Dido Gets Extreme on 'Life,'" RollingStone.com, http://www.rollingstone.com (November 28, 2003).
Dido Official Website, http://www.didomusic.com (November 28, 2003).
"Dido: The Dreamlife of Angels," VH1.com, http://www.vh1.com/artists/interview/1478218/09152003/dido.jhtml (November 12, 2003).
"Dido, Travis Take Vancouver," RollingStone.com, http://www.rollingstone.com (November 28, 2003).
"Dido Won't Let Success Go to Her Head," VH1.com, http://www.vh1.com/artists/news/1459637/01222003/dido.jhtml (November 12, 2003).
"Hip Online: Dido," Hip Online, http://www.hiponline.com/artist/music/d/dido/interview/100201ii.html (November 12, 2003).
"No Angel, Just a Star," Time Europe, http://www.time.com/time/europe/webonly/europe/2001/01/dido.html (November 12, 2003).
"No Angel With an Angelic Voice," iAfrica, http://entertainment.iafrica.com/music/interviews/237875.htm (November 12, 2003).
—Sonya Shelton
Dido
Dido
Singer and songwriter
Born Dido Armstrong, December 25, 1971, in London, England; daughter of William (a book publisher) and Claire Armstrong. Education: Attended Guildhall School of Music, London, England; attended law school.
Addresses:
Record company—Arista Records, 6 W. 57th St., New York, NY 10019; http://www.arista.com. Website—http://www.didomusic.com/.
Career
Performed as a backup singer for Faithless, 1996–99; signed with Arista label, 1997; released No Angel, 1999; rapper Eminem sampled "Thank You" in his hit single "Stan," 2000; released Life for Rent, 2003.
Awards:
Brit Award for best British female, 2002; Brit Award for best British album for No Angel, 2002; World Music Award for best–selling British artist, 2002; World Music Award for top pop female, 2002; World Music Award for top adult contemporary artist, 2002; Bambi Award (Germany) for best international pop act, 2003; Brit Award for best British single for "White Flag," 2004; Brit Award for best British female, 2004.
Sidelights
Famed for writing songs that seemed to have an Everywoman spirit, British pop singer Dido started as a backup singer for her brother's band, Faithless. With her very first solo effort, No Angel, she soared to the top of the charts and into the hearts of millions around the world. To those looking from the outside in, her success seemed to happen overnight, but in reality Dido's road to stardom was a lifelong process.
Dido Armstrong was born and raised in London, England; she was the daughter of book publisher William Armstrong and his wife, Claire, a homemaker whose hobby was writing poetry. Her parents named her after a Carthaginian queen. "Dido, she was an African queen, and in Latin literature, she was sort of a warrior queen, who actually ended up killing herself over a guy, which was a bit depressing," Dido explained to iAfrica.com.
The Armstrong household did not have a television during Dido's childhood, so she found other ways to entertain herself. At the age of five, she stole a recorder from her school's lost and found and discovered a passion for music as a result. Without any prompting from her parents, she practiced for six hours a day and sometimes more. The following year, she began attending the Guildhall School of Music in London, where she added the violin and piano to her talents. Dido discussed her early dedication in an interview with Jeff Chu at Time Europe. "I'd do like two hours on each instrument and maybe an hour on harmony and composition.… I have respect for how I was when I was younger, because I'm so not that cool now," she said.
As a teenager, Dido toured the United Kingdom with a classical music ensemble, primarily focused on her chosen instruments. But when she was 16, her focus started to shift. She discovered the music of Ella Fitzgerald and became very interested in singing. Dido's brother, Rollo, who had begun pursuing his own musical career, discouraged her from her new direction. "I used to tell Rollo that Dido had a lovely voice," Faithless lead singer Sister Bliss told People, "and he looked at me and said, 'My sister can't sing!'"
Undaunted like her warrior namesake, Dido followed her dream anyway and began performing with a variety of bands in London. At the same time, she worked for a book publishing company and attended law school. She started in publishing as an assistant and eventually moved up to become a literary agent.
In the mid–1990s, Dido finally convinced her brother of her abilities and landed a spot as a backup singer with Rollo's trip–hop group Faithless. The group's 1996 debut album, Reverence, sold more than five million copies, and Dido decided to explore the idea of writing and performing her own music. "The Faithless thing was such a good experience, but I knew that had really nothing to do with me," Dido told Charlie Craine of Hip Online. "I was just singing backup vocals. It's such a different thing when I went on alone. I was like, 'Why is everyone looking at me?'"
Although she had been making good money as a literary agent, she decided to take a year off, with her supervisor's blessing, to work on her music career full time. Her boss assured her that she could have her old job back if things did not work out. She spent part of her new free time touring with Faithless and part of the time writing and recording her own songs. A year to the day after she left her job, she signed a recording contract with the Arista label. Although she had not sent her demo tape to anyone at Arista, the record company invited her to meet with the head of the company, Clive Davis, at the Dorchester Hotel in London. "I think my demo tape just drifted around the music industry through friends and by word–of–mouth, basically," Dido told Time Europe's Chu. It became clear that the meeting was a success when Davis became enthused enough to jump in with backing vocals for her performance.
Dido released her debut, No Angel, in the United States in June of 1999. Accompanying it was the single "Here With Me," which was later chosen as the theme song for the WB television show Roswell. Dido produced the album with the help of her brother, Rollo (who had become one of her biggest supporters), Rick Nowels, and former Verve and Crowded House producer Youth. "Dreamy pop, electronica shadings, folk guitars, and soulful vocals bend and blend together on No Angel," Christopher John Farley wrote in his Time review. That same year, Dido appeared on Faithless's second release, Sunday 8pm, which included her song "My Lover's Gone."
Dido had to wait until October of 2000 to release No Angel in Europe due to contractual disputes with her European label, Cheeky Records. The CD was released after BMG Records purchased the small label. No Angel's success in the United States did not come quickly. Dido toured small venues around the country until one day she received a letter from rapper Eminem in which he explained that he wanted to sample her tune "Thank You" in a song he was working on, "Stan." He included a CD containing the song so she could hear how he would use it. By this time, "Thank You" had already appeared on the soundtrack for the film Sliding Doors, starring Gwyneth Paltrow. Dido gave Eminem permission to use the sample—a decision that launched her career into superstardom.
"I'm blown away that so many people decided to investigate or buy my record on the strength of hearing six lines of it on 'Stan,'" Dido said in her website biography. "I think that's brilliant." The outcome of this brilliance was that No Angel spent 100 weeks on the British album charts and sold more than 12 million copies.
In 2001, Dido wrote the song "I'm Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman" for Britney Spears and witnessed Elton John singing her lines from "Stan" when he performed with Eminem at the Grammy Awards ceremony. "It was too surreal for me, just too surreal to see Elton John singing my song," Dido told Tom Lanham of Teen People. "He's one of the biggest singer–songwriters in the world. And there he was, singing my funny little song."
In June of 2001, Dido launched her first tour as a headliner after nearly two years on the road. Her tour in support of No Angel finally came to an end in May of 2002, and she found herself in a completely different place in her life from where she had been when she started. "When I made No Angel,I was in my early 20s, and now I'm 30," Dido told Corey Moss of VH1.com. "I'm a completely different person. My world has changed."
Before she returned to the studio to record her second album, Dido decided to take some time off for herself and traveled to various places, including New York, Thailand, Canada, and Ireland. Refreshed and ready to start the process again, she released Life for Rent on September 29, 2003. The album included the single "White Flag," and for the video of that song Dido invited David Boreanaz, star of the television show Angel, to appear with her.
On Life for Rent, Dido took a more philosophical approach to her songwriting, particularly on the title track. "It's about not being afraid to take chances or to live life to the full," Dido said in her website biography. "It's so easy to slip into complacency or to disengage from the world. This album works as a reminder to myself not to do that." In 2004, Dido headed out on a North American tour in support of the album, before heading to Europe.
Dido's success continued with Life for Rent, which debuted at number one on the European top 100 albums chart. But despite all of her success, Dido still considered herself an underdog. "No matter how successful I am, I'm always going to be trying to be a better singer or songwriter or producer or player or whatever," she explained on her website. "In my own mind, I'm always going to be coming from behind, and that seems to suit me."
Selected discography
Solo
(Contributor) Sliding Doors (soundtrack), MCA, 1998.
No Angel, Arista, 1999.
Roswell (soundtrack), Nettwerk, 2002.
Life for Rent, Arista, 2003.
With Faithless
Reverence, Arista, 1996.
Sunday 8pm, Arista, 1998.
Outrospective, Arista, 2001.
Sources
Periodicals
Billboard Bulletin, October 10, 2003; October 17, 2003.
Entertainment Weekly, October 20, 2000; December 1, 2000; August 1, 2003.
People, April 30, 2001; October 20, 2003; December 1, 2003.
Teen People, May 15, 2001.
Time, June 7, 1999.
Online
"Dido Biography," RollingStone.com, http://www.rollingstone.com/?searchtype=RSArtist&query=dido (July 3, 2004).
"Dido Gets Extreme on 'Life,'" RollingStone.com, http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story?id=5935759&pageid=rs.ArtistArticles&pageregion=mainRegion (July 3, 2004).
Dido Official Website, http://www.didomusic.com (July 3, 2004).
"Dido: The Dreamlife of Angels," VH1.com, http://www.vh1.com/artists/interview/1478218/09152003/dido.jhtml (July 3, 2004).
"Dido, Travis Take Vancouver," RollingStone.com, http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story?id=5931792&pageid=rs.ArtistArticles&pageregion=mainRegion (July 3, 2004).
"Dido Won't Let Success Go to Her Head," VH1.com, http://www.vh1.com/artists/news/1459637/01222003/dido.jhtml (July 3, 2004).
"Hip Online: Dido," Hip Online, http://www.hiponline.com/artist/music/d/dido/interview/100201ii.html (July 3, 2004).
"No Angel, Just a Star," Time Europe,http://www.time.com/time/europe/webonly/europe/2001/01/dido.html (July 3, 2004).
"No Angel With an Angelic Voice," iAfrica, http://entertainment.iafrica.com/music/interviews/237875.htm (July 3, 2004).
—SonyaShelton
Dido
Dido
Nationality/Culture
Greek/Roman
Pronunciation
DYE-doh
Alternate Names
Elissa
Appears In
Virgil's Aeneid, Ovid's Heroides
Lineage
Daughter of King Belus of Tyre
Character Overview
In Greek mythology , Dido was the founder and queen of Carthage, a city on the northern coast of Africa. She was the daughter of Belus (or Mutto), a king of Tyre in Phoenicia (pronounced fuh-NEE-shuh), and the sister of Pygmalion (pronounced pig-MAY-lee-uhn). Dido is best known for her love affair with the Trojan hero Aeneas (pronounced i-NEE-uhs).
King Belus had wanted his son and daughter to share royal power equally after his death, but Pygmalion seized the throne and murdered Dido's husband. Dido and her followers fled from Tyre, landing on the shores of North Africa. There a local ruler named Iarbas (pronounced ee-AR-bus) agreed to sell Dido as much land as the hide of a bull could cover. Dido cut a bull's hide into thin strips and used it to outline a large area of land. On that site, Dido built Carthage and became its queen.
Carthage became a prosperous city. Iarbas pursued Dido, hoping to marry her, but Dido refused. After her husband's death, she had sworn never to marry again. Iarbas continued his advances, and even threatened Carthage with war unless Dido agreed to be his wife. Seeing no other alternative, Dido killed herself by throwing herself into the flames of a funeral pyre, a large pile of burning wood used in some cultures to cremate a dead body. In another version of the story, she mounted the pyre and stabbed herself, surrounded by her people.
The Roman poet Virgil used part of the story of Dido in his epic poem the Aeneid. In Virgil's account, the Trojan leader Aeneas was shipwrecked on the shore near Carthage at the time when Dido was building the new city. After welcoming Aeneas and his men, the queen fell deeply in love with him. In time, the two lived together as wife and husband, and Aeneas began to act as though he were king of Carthage. Then the god Jupiter (the Roman version of the Greek god Zeus) sent a messenger to tell Aeneas that he could not remain in Carthage. Rather, his destiny—or future path in life as determined by the gods—was to found a new city for the Trojans in Italy that would eventually become Rome.
Dido was devastated when she heard that Aeneas planned to leave. She had believed that the two of them would eventually marry. Aeneas insisted that he had no choice but to obey the gods, and shortly afterward, he and his men set sail for Italy. When Dido saw the ships sail out to sea, she ordered a funeral pyre to be built. She climbed onto it, cursed Aeneas, and using a sword he had given her, stabbed herself to death.
Dido in Context
For Romans, the story of Dido and Aeneas is a convenient way of explaining the rift between the people of Carthage and the people of Rome. Before Dido killed herself, she cursed not only Aeneas but all Trojans and their descendants (the Romans). This hatred between the two regions was seen as the cause of the Punic Wars, fought between the Romans and the Carthaginians. Unlike the Trojan War, the mythical battle mentioned in Homer's Iliad and Virgil's Aeneid, the Punic Wars were historical events well documented by people living at the time.
The Punic Wars took place during the second and third centuries bce. As the Roman Empire expanded throughout the region of the Mediterranean Sea, small but prosperous kingdoms such as Carthage were subject to attack by Roman forces. The Carthaginians held off many Roman assaults; during the Second Punic War, the master military commander Hannibal even marched his forces—including a group of elephants—across the Alps into Italy, earning several victories against the Romans. In the end, however, a Roman attack on Carthage resulted in the city's complete surrender and subsequent destruction in 146 bce.
Key Themes and Symbols
Although the story of Dido and Aeneas may seem to represent tragic love, Romans viewed Dido as a symbol of the bad feelings between Carthage and Rome. She was not seen as a sympathetic character, but as a vengeful enemy or a woman scorned. In the myth, Aeneas—who is viewed as the hero and founder of the Roman Empire—chooses his destiny to found Rome over his love for Dido. The themes of abandonment and the importance of duty over love are central to the myth.
Dido in Art, Literature, and Everyday Life
Famed English playwright Christopher Marlowe wrote a play about the legend titled Dido, Queen of Carthage, which was first published in 1594. In 1689, the English composer Henry Purcell wrote an opera, Dido and Aeneas, that was based on the story and characters from the myth. Dido also appears as a character in Dante's Inferno, as one of the damned souls in the second circle of hell .
The popular singer/songwriter Dido Armstrong, better known simply as Dido, was named after the mythical queen of Carthage.
Read, Write, Think, Discuss
Dido commits suicide after Aeneas leaves her behind to continue on his journey to found Rome. In modern societies, suicide is seen as a serious problem, especially among teenagers. In the United States, suicide is the third most common cause of death for people between the ages of fifteen and twenty-four. Why do you think teen suicide occurs at such an alarming rate? Do failed relationships, such as the one between Dido and Aeneas, often play a role in teen suicide? Using your library, the Internet, or other available resources, find a list of risk factors for teen suicide and compare these to the reasons you listed.
SEE ALSO Aeneas; Aeneid, The; Iliad, The; Pygmalion and Galatea
Dido
DIDO
Born: Dido Armstrong; London, England, 25 December 1971
Genre: Rock
Best-selling album since 1990: No Angel (1999)
Hit songs since 1990: "Here with Me," "Thank You"
Arriving at the end of the female singer/songwriter commercial explosion in the late 1990s, Dido brought an electronic flavor and sound to the movement.
Dido was born in London, England, on Christmas Day 1971, into a literary family: Her father was a publisher, her mother a poet. Dido entered London's Guildhall School of Music at the age of six. By the time she was a teenager, Dido had command of the piano, recorder, and violin and was touring the United Kingdom as part of a classical ensemble. She took up singing at the age of sixteen after hearing the records of jazz legend Ella Fitzgerald.
Dido's brother Rollo recruited his sister to join his band Faithless in 1995. Faithless, a trip-hop outfit, combined live instrumentation with electronic beats. Faithless's debut album Reverence (1996) was a hit, selling 5 million records worldwide.
Dido's work with Faithless caught the eye of the Arista Records magnate Clive Davis, who signed the young performer to a recording contract in 1997. Two years later, Arista released Dido's debut solo album, No Angel. The brooding lead single "Here with Me" achieved some popularity as the theme song to the hit television series Roswell. "Here with Me" typifies Dido's unique sound: juxtaposing a simple acoustic guitar with swirling electronic strings and crisp drum machine beats while the singer delivers the lyrics in a ghostly, otherworldly voice.
It was not until controversial rapper Eminem sampled Dido's "Thank You" for his song "Stan" that the English diva won global recognition. In "Thank You" Dido reflects on the solace that a picture of a lover provides during their time apart: "My tea's gone cold, I'm wondering why I got out of bed at all / The morning rain clouds up my window and I can't see at all / And even if I could it'd all be grey, but your picture on my wall / It reminds me that it's not so bad, it's not so bad." In "Stan," Eminem sampled Dido's vocals on the aforementioned lyrics, recasting them in his song about an obsessed fan. The success of "Stan" sparked interest in Dido, who also appeared in the video for "Stan" as the narrator's pregnant wife. "Thank You," which had previously been a minor hit for Dido after appearing in the hit movie Sliding Doors, recharted and climbed all the way to number five. No Angel went on to sell 3 million copies.
Part of the late-1990s female singer/songwriter movement, Dido expanded the genre's sound and, by means of her affiliation with Eminem, also extended its reach.
SELECTIVE DISCOGRAPHY:
No Angel (Arista, 1999).
scott tribble
Dido
Dido
In Greek mythology, Dido was the founder and queen of Carthage, a city on the northern coast of Africa. She was the daughter of Belus (or Mutto), a king of Tyre in Phoenicia *, and the sister of Pygmalion. Dido is best known for her love affair with the Trojan hero Aeneas *.
King Belus had wanted his son and daughter to share royal power equally after his death, but Pygmalion seized the throne and murdered Dido's husband. Dido and her followers fled from Tyre, landing on the shores of North Africa. There a local ruler named Iarbas agreed to sell Dido as much land as the hide of a bull could cover. Dido cut a bull's hide into thin strips and used it to outline a large area of land. On that site, Dido built Carthage and became its queen.
Carthage became a prosperous city. Iarbas pursued Dido, hoping to marry her, but Dido refused. After her husband's death, she had sworn never to marry again. Iarbas would not take no for an answer and even threatened Carthage with war unless Dido agreed to be his wife. Seeing no other alternative, Dido killed herself by throwing herself into the flames of a funeral pyre. In another version of the story, she mounted the pyre and stabbed herself, surrounded by her people.
The Roman poet Virgil used part of the story of Dido in his epic the Aeneid. In Virgil's account, the Trojan leader Aeneas was shipwrecked on the shore near Carthage at the time when Dido was building the new city. After welcoming Aeneas and his men, the queen fell deeply in love with him. In time, the two lived together as wife and husband, and Aeneas began to act as though he were king of Carthage. Then Jupiter * sent a messenger to tell Aeneas that he could not remain in Carthage. Rather, his destiny was to found a new city for the Trojans in Italy.
pyre pile of wood on which a dead body is burned in a funeral ceremony
epic long poem about legendary or historical heroes, written in a grand style
destiny future or fate of an individual or thing
Dido was devastated when she heard that Aeneas planned to leave. She had believed that the two of them would eventually marry. Aeneas insisted that he had no choice but to obey the gods, and shortly afterward, he and his men set sail for Italy. When Dido saw the ships sail out to sea, she ordered a funeral pyre to be built. She climbed onto to it, cursed Aeneas, and using a sword he had given her, stabbed herself to death. In 1689, the English composer Henry Purcell wrote an opera, Dido and Aeneas, that was based on the story and characters from Greek mythology.
See also Ae Neas; Aeneid, the; Pygmalion.
Dido
dido
di·do / ˈdīˌdō/ • n. (pl. -does or -dos) (in phrase cut/cut up didoes) inf. perform mischievous tricks or deeds.