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Lançarote de Freitas, better known as Lançarote de Lagos or Lançarote da Ilha, was a 15th-century Portuguese explorer and slave trader from Lagos, Portugal. He was the leader of two large Portuguese slaving raids on the West African coast in 1444–46.

Background

Lançarote de Freitas, better known as Lançarote da Ilha or simply Lançarote de Lagos, was trained as a squire and chamberlain in the household of the Portuguese prince Henry the Navigator.  Lançarote was appointed as almoxarife (customs-collector) of Lagos, Portugal in April 1443, succeeding his father-in-law Soeiro da Costa, who resigned the position in his favor.

Prince Henry the Navigator had been sending maritime expeditions down the West African coast since at least the early 1430s  (see Portuguese discoveries).  But they had yielded very little profit.  The expeditions had sailed mostly along the stark Sahara desert coast, with no human settlements in sight nor encounters worth reporting.  But in 1443, one of Henry's captains, Nuno Tristão, returned from an expedition with some 14 captive African natives, Sanhaja Berbers seized from small native fishing village he found in the Bay of Arguin (in modern Mauritania). The elevated banks of Arguin bay were replete with fish, attracting poor desert-dwelling Sanhaja Berbers to set up numerous little fishing settlements on islands and promontories all around the bay.  It was the first human habitations that Henry's captains had come across after a decade of exploring, and they seemed weak and vulnerable. The prospect of easy and profitable slave-raiding grounds around the Arguin banks aroused the interest of many Portuguese merchants and fortune-seeking adventurers.

To immediately secure his title, in October 1443, Henry the Navigator received from his brother, the regent prince Peter of Coimbra, letters patent granting him an exclusive monopoly over all navigation south of Cape Bojador, whether for the purpose of war or trade.  Any ship sailing south of it without Henry's license could be confiscated. Peter's letters also granted Henry the royal fifth and customs duties (tenth on imports) normally due to the Portuguese crown, on any African goods or slaves brought back to metropolitan Portugal.

A consortium of merchants of Lagos, sometimes referred to as the Companhia de Lagos ('Lagos Company', although it was probably little more than a temporary association of merchants, rather than an incorporated company in the proper sense), applied to Henry for a license.  Probably on account of his intimate relationship with Henry, the Lagos merchants elected Lançarote as their head.

First slave raid (1444)

Having acquired their license, the Lagos company equipped a fleet of six slave ships and about thirty men that set out for the Arguin banks in the spring of 1444.  The six captains are usually recorded as:
 1. Lançarote de Freitas
 2. Gil Eanes
 3. Estêvão Afonso
 4. Rodrigo  Álvares
 5. João Dias
 6. Uncertain (variously given as Martim Vicente, Gil Vasques, João Bernaldez or even Gonçalo de Sintra).

In his own later memoir, Diogo Gomes identifies himself as having participating in this expedition.

Lançarote's fleet headed straight to the southern end of the Arguin Bay, where they had been told by Nuno Tristão's captives that populous fishing settlements could be found. They arrived in Arguin in June, 1444.  A pre-dawn raid on Nar (Nair island) yielded the first set of victims.  This was followed up by raids on the larger neighboring island of Tider (Tidra island) and Cerina (Serenni peninsula). In just a few days, the Lagos fleet had kidnapped some 235 hapless Berber people. The remaining population having fled the coastal settlements and hidden in the hinterlands, there was little point remaining in the area.  By early August, 1444, the fleet had arrived back in Lagos with their human cargo.

The spectacle of the disembarkation, partition and sale of the Arguin slaves in Lagos, in the presence of Prince Henry, mounted on his horse, is described in heart-breaking detail in Zurara's Crónica. For this lucrative enterprise, Lançarote was knighted by Henry on the spot (August 8, 1444) (even though, according to Zurara, Henry gave away his own allotment - some 46 enslaved people, to which he was entitled as licenser of the expedition - among his captains and household servants).

Second slave raid (1445/1446)

Lançarote organized a second Lagos fleet for another large slave raid in 1445 (or 1446).  The Lagos fleet was composed of 14 ships, the captains normally given as:

 1. Lançarote de Freitas
 2. Soeiro da Costa (alcaide of Lagos and Lançarote's father-in-law)
 3. Álvaro de Freitas (probably a relative of Lançarote)
 4. Gomes Pires (captain of the king's caravel)
 5. Rodrigo Eanes Travassos (of the household of the regent Peter of Coimbra),
 6. a knight known as Palançano (aboard a fusta)
 7. Vicente Dias of Lagos
 8. Martim Vicente
 9. a captain nicknamed Picanço (speculated to be Diogo Gomes)
 10. Lourenço Dias

and, more speculatively:

 11. Diogo Gonçalves,
 12. Pedro Alemão,
 13. Gil Gonçalves,
 14. Leonel Gil (son of Gil Eanes).

This fleet is said to have carried Gil Eanes and Estêvão Afonso as passengers.

Setting out in August, 1445 (or 1446), Lançarote's Lagos fleet was just one of several fleets that set out from Portugal for the Arguin banks that year. Caught by bad weather, Lançarote arrived at Cape Blanc with only nine ships still together, the remaining having strayed off.  He proceeded to the northern end of the Arguin banks, anchoring in at ilha das Graças (uncertain, possibly Madeleine island or Pelicans island).  There, Lançarote was met by one of his missing ships, Vicente Dias, that had gone on ahead to Arguin island and stumbled across a small fleet of three Lisbon ships, headed by Dinis Eanes de Grã, who had preceded them and devastated the remaining settlements on the northern end of the bay, kidnapping some 100 people.  At Grã's suggestion, Lançarote's fleet, now thirteen strong (only Palançano's fusta remained unaccounted for) attacked Arguin island again, taking four captives. They then headed to the southern end of Arguin Bay, kidnapping 57 Tider people and an additional five people somewhere further down (possibly around Cape Timris).  The element of surprise being gone and the bulk of the population having already evacuated the coast, Lançarote's captives were principally Sanhaja Berber tribesmen who had decided to stay and put up a fight.

Dissatisfied with the "meager" number of human beings they had taken, and realizing that Arguin Bay was too thoroughly deserted to yield up any more, Lançarote decided to take his fleet south to raid the Wolof lands of Senegal, which had been discovered (but not yet raided) by Nuno Tristão and Dinis Dias the previous year.  However, not all his ships were up for the journey, several of them running short on supplies.  As a result, Lançarote partitioned his fleet, taking only six or seven caravels with him, sending the remaining ships back to Lagos under the command of Soeiro da Costa (a few of which would conduct an unauthorized slave raid on the Canary islands of La Palma and Gomera on their way home).

Lançarote's squadron soon arrived at Barbary Point, the mouth of the Senegal River, which had not yet been explored by Europeans.  Lançarote dispatched Estêvão Afonso and Vicente Dias on a launch to search upriver for settlements. The exploration didn't get very far.  Venturing ashore at one point along the river bank, Afonso abducted two Wolof children from a local woodsman's hut, only to be chased down and furiously beaten by their father.  Having barely escaped with their lives, the launch immediately returned (with the two kidnapped children) to the waiting caravels.

After sending back yet another caravel to Lagos, Lançarote proceeded with his five remaining ships to sail around Cape Vert and enter Dakar Bay. While rounding the Cape, the squadron made a brief stop on an island (probably Madeleine islands), where they found a bunch of wild goats and some fresh water. They then proceed into the bay and landed on a second island - Gorée island (marked on Portuguese maps as Bezeguiche). The island was uninhabited, and they marveled at the large wide trees there (probably baobab trees).. But they also found signs of prior human presence - some goat skins and a carved marker with Henry the Navigator's motto (Talent de bien faire).  These had been left behind on the Gorée island by Álvaro Fernandes, a Portuguese explorer from Madeira who had preceded them there only a few weeks earlier. During his stay, Alvaro Fernandes had attempted to seize a couple of native canoes in Dakar Bay, with the result that the Wolof (or more probably Lebou) tribesmen of the mainland were already alert and in arms against the arriving ships of Lançarote's fleet. With the Wolof warriors mustered on the beach, the Portuguese did not dare land for another day and night. Finally, to break the impasse, Lançarote sent out Gomes Pires on a launch to the mainland, hoping to open negotiations with the local chieftains.  Pires managed to lay out some gift goods (mirror, cake, paper, etc.) on the beach and withdraw. But rather than curiosity or delight, the Wolof warriors came out and angrily destroyed the gift goods with their spears. Gomes Pires ordered the Portuguese on the launch to ready their crossbows. They approached the beach again, but they were greeted with a hail of thrown assegais and poisoned arrows and forced to retreat.

Their first strategy foiled, Lançarote and the Portuguese captains held a conference on Gorée.  According to Barros, the captains agreed to launch a raid on the mainland Wolof villages 'in the style' of Arguin. But this came to naught. Before being able to organize the attack, a sudden storm enveloped the area (a Cape Verde hurricane?), and forced the Portuguese caravels out of Dakar bay, scattering them in various directions.  (Zurara makes no report of the planned attack or storm; he says merely the Portuguese captains decided they ought to depart and sail back north and try their luck at the Senegal River again).

Bad weather overtook them upon leaving Dakar bay and split the fleet. Lançarote managed to hold two caravels (Álvaro de Freitas and Vicente Dias) together with his own, but lost sight of the remaining two ships.  Perhaps realizing they were now too few to launch an attack on the Wolof mainland, Lançarote's trio skipped past the Senegal River, and set sail back to the Arguin banks.  The trio anchored in again at Tider and took an additional 59 captives, before returning to Lagos.  The remaining two ships (Gomes Pires and Lourenço Dias) had to make their way back to Portugal by themselves. On his way, Gomes Pires made a brief stop in Cape Blanc, and bought some seal pelts and a Black slave from some Berber traders. Before proceeding back to Portugal, Pires promised to return to the same spot next year, and the Berber traders promised to bring him enough slaves, gold and other goods to fill his ship. Only Lourenço Dias actually made it inside the Senegal River, but realizing he was alone, decided to turn around and sailed back home by himself.

Aftermath

In number of captives, the second 1445/6 slaving expedition had been somewhat of a "disappointment" (at least relative to the first 1444 attack). The prospect for future slave raids seemed dim. The Arguin banks were devastated and it was unlikely the Berber populations would return to the coasts in significant numbers, or allow themselves to be taken by surprise.  The Wolof-dominated coasts of Senegal were too strong and alert for small groups of venturing Portuguese slave-raiders.  If slave raids were to have any prospect of kidnapping people, the element of surprise was necessary, which now meant sailing well below Senegal to new "hunting grounds" - lengthier expeditions which required probably more supplies and capital than what Lagos merchants were willing to front or captains willing to sail.  The killing of Nuno Tristão and his crew the next year (1446 or 1447) probably dampened any remaining enthusiasm among Lagos merchants for renewing the slave raids.

Portuguese slave-raiding expeditions seem to have been suspended after 1447 (Zurara's chronicle ends here). Given the growing expenses and casualties, it seems the Portuguese switched from slave-raiding to slave-trading after this. Prince Henry ordered the erection of a permanent factory on Arguin island by 1450, to tap into the Trans-Saharan trade traffic in slaves and gold coming up overland from Guinea. The slave-trader and explorer Alvise Cadamosto, who travelled to West Africa in 1455 with Henry's license, provides some details of trade at Arguin. He noted that to keep the peace around Arguin, Prince Henry had instituted a prohibition on any further kidnapping of Berber Sanhaja people, and only allowed the acquisition of pagan Black African slaves by trade.

In his memoir, Cadamosto claims that the Portuguese had also negotiated the establishment of trading posts with the Wolof kingdoms of Waalo and Kayor along the Grande Côte of Senegal. It has been suggested that Lourenço Dias, one of the captains of Lançarote's slave raid of 1445/46, returned to the Senegal region (sometime between 1448 and 1455), and negotiated peace and trade agreements with the Wolof statelets.  Regular trade subsequently opened in the area, the Portuguese exchanging Mediterranean goods (notably, horses) for slaves and gold.  This can be said to be the beginning of the Atlantic slave trade.

The new trading stations at Arguin and Senegal were estimated by Cadamosto have to have bought 700-800 African slaves annually to metropolitan Portugal by the mid-1450s.  But there would be no resumption of the slave razzias of 1444-47.  There is no record of any Portuguese ship sailing below Cape Vert again for nearly a decade (until Cadamosto in 1455).

Later life

Little more is heard about Lançarote de Lagos after his second raiding expedition of 1445/46. He continued as customs-collector (almoxarife) in Lagos. Having been knighted after his first expedition, Lançarote was promoted by the regent Peter as "caudel" of Lagos in May, 1446.  There are documents suggesting Lançarote was organizing and sending provisions supply ships from Lagos to Ceuta between 1452 and 1455. Records show Lançarote was still alive in May, 1463, after which there is no further trace.

Notes

Sources

Chronicles
 Alvise Cadamosto (wr. 1460s, pub. 1507) "Il Libro di Messer Alvise Ca da Mosto Gentilhuomo Venetiano", as printed in Venice (1550), by Giovanni Battista Ramusio, ed., Primo volume delle navigationi et viaggi nel qua si contine la descrittione dell'Africa. online (English translation: "Original Journals of the Voyages of Cada Mosto and Piedro de Cintra to the Coast of Africa, the former in the years 1455 and 1456, and the latter soon afterwards", in R. Kerr, 1811, A General History of Voyages and Travels to the end of the 18th century, vol. 2, Edinburgh: Blackwood.  online)
 Diogo Gomes (c.1499) De prima inventione Guineae [trans. by Gabriel Pereira (1898-99) as "As Relações do Descobrimento da Guiné e das ilhas dos Açores, Madeira e Cabo Verde" in Boletim da Sociedade de Geografia de Lisboa, no. 5.
 João de Barros (1552–59) Décadas da Ásia: Dos feitos, que os Portuguezes fizeram no descubrimento, e conquista, dos mares, e terras do Oriente.  Vol. 1 (Dec I, Lib.1-5)
 Gomes Eanes de Zurara (1453) Crónica dos feitos notáveis que se passaram na Conquista da Guiné por mandado do Infante D. Henrique or Chronica do descobrimento e conquista da Guiné. [Trans. 1896-99 by C.R. Beazley and E. Prestage, The Chronicle of the Discovery and Conquest of Guinea, London: Halykut]
 Manuel de Faria e Sousa (1675) "Empieça la Memoria de todas las Armadas", in Asia Portuguesa, Vol. 3, p.525-61

Secondary

 Cortesão, Armando (1931) "Subsídios para a história do Descobrimento de Cabo Verde e Guiné", Boletim da Agencia Geral das Colonias, No. 75. As reprinted in 1975, Esparsos, vol. 1, Coimbra
 Diffie, Bailey W., and George D. Winius (1977) Foundations of the Portuguese empire, 1415-1580 Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press
 Magalhães Godinho, Vitorino (1983) Os descobrimentos e a economia mundial, 2nd ed., v.4.
 Quintella, Ignaco da Costa (1839–40) Annaes da Marinha Portugueza, 2 vols, Lisbon: Academia Real das Sciencias. vol. 1
 Oliveira, Aurelio de (2002) ""Diogo Gomes: trato e diplomacia ao serviço da Expansão", Revista da Faculdade de Letras, Porto, p.163.
 Rau , Virginia , and Diffie, B. W. (1953) "Alleged Fifteenth - Century Portuguese Joint - Stock Companies and the Articles of Dr. Fitzler" , Bulletin of the Institute of Historical Research, v.26, p.181
 Russell, Peter E. (2000) Prince Henry 'the Navigator': a life. New Haven, Conn: Yale University Press.
 Teixera da Mota, Avelino (1946) "A descoberta da Guiné", Boletim cultural da Guiné Portuguesa, Vol. 1.  No. 1 (Jan), p.11-68, No. 2 (Apr), p.273-326; No. 3 (Jul), p.457-509.

15th-century explorers of Africa
Portuguese explorers
History of Mauritania
History of Senegal
Maritime history of Portugal
People from Lagos, Portugal
15th-century Portuguese businesspeople
Portuguese slave traders


Cathy Foster - Board of Directors, Teen Success, Inc.
Cathy Foster is a senior government relations and communications professional with over 25 years of public policy, regulatory and communications experience. She is VP, Global Government Relations and Public Policy at eBay managing an international team advocating for small businesses that utilize eBay's marketplace platform with foreign and US governments, regulatory, and anti-trust agencies.
Prior to joining eBay, Cathy was at Apple Inc. for 20 years in senior positions including Senior Director, Global Government Affairs, where she created the first global Government Affairs organization under Steve Jobs' leadership. In this role, she led Apple's global public policy and regulatory strategy with international, federal, state and local governments.
Prior to Apple, Cathy served as Director, Worldwide Government Affairs for National Semiconductor Corporation, where she oversaw regulatory, policy, and legislative issues. From 1989-1992, she served in the White House as Associate Director in the Political Office. In this position, she was responsible for developing and implementing President George H. W. Bush's political and legislative agenda in ten western states.
She holds a Bachelors of Arts in Political Science and Business Administration from University of California Los Angeles (UCLA). Cathy is a member of the UCLA Chancellors Society and the National Charity League. She is married to Andy Foster and has four daughters.


CALLING ALL WOMEN WHO LOVE TO SING!!
We are pleased to announce that Another Octave is open to new members. Come with your love of choral singing, and join a great group of women. Any singers who are interested in joining should attend an open rehearsal, Tuesdays 8/21-9/4.
All potential new members will be scheduled for an audition to join Another Octave. You must be able to sing in key. No music reading ability is necessary.
Directed by Melinda Walwer and assisted by Kris Montgomery, our 60-voice chorus regularly performs all over the state and has traveled nationally. We are members of GALA Choruses and Sister Singers.
Regular weekly rehearsals for our Winter/Holiday concert to be held in early December 2018 will begin on Tuesday evening, September, 4, 2018 from 7 to 9 pm. at the Cheshire Regional Rehabilitation Center at 745 Highland Ave. (Rt.10) Cheshire,CT 06410. Auditions are not required and all voices are welcome. Male singers are especially encouraged to join us.
Rehearsals for our December concert begins.
Open rehearsals for new members are on September 4, 11, 18 and 25. We welcome beginner to advanced singers in alll voice parts. Concert is scheduled for Sunday, December 9 at 4 pm. Come be part of our 34th season!
GNHCC Open Enrollment for Fall 2018!
Rehearsals for our 2018 fall semester begin Thursday, September 6, 2018, and are held Thursday evenings from 7–9pm, at the First Presbyterian Church, 704 Whitney Avenue, New Haven. The first three rehearsals of each semester are open to new singers – no experience required. Open enrollment dates are September 6, 13, and 20. Please join us for a very special semester as we begin celebrating our 55th anniversary season!
Tickets: While Open Enrollment is free, member dues are $50 per semester, or $75 for a couple from the same household.
Sing about prophets and priests, monks and widows, queens, and an angel — all in an afternoon! Throw in some medieval drinking songs, a bit of actual drinking, and even some musical insights. The Fairfield County Chorale's "September Sing" offers all of this on Saturday, September 8th at 4pm, at Trinity Episcopal Church in Southport.
Take part in a fun, relaxed read-through of selections from two opposite poles of the choral repertoire: Mendelssohn's oratorio Elijah and Orff's raucous Carmina Burana. FCC music director David Rosenmeyer will share his interpretation of each of these pieces as he leads the singers in an afternoon of musicmaking.
Stay after the sing to enjoy hors d'oeuvres and beer. Chat with chorale members, meet the music director, and learn more about the FCC's upcoming concert season. Interested in singing with the FCC this season? The event is the perfect opportunity to get your feet wet, and even schedule an audition.
$10 donation includes music rental. Attendees are also welcome to bring their own scores.
Tickets: $10 includes music rental, entry fee paid at the door.
Rehearsals will begin on September 10th at 7pm for our upcoming Christmas show.
When: Tuesday, September 4, and Tuesday, September 11, 2018.
The GMChorale invites interested singers in all voice parts to audition to join the ensemble as it prepares for its 42nd concert season. The 80-voice GMChorale, led by Artistic Director Joseph D'Eugenio, performs two major concerts each season, often with full orchestra, and is often invited to perform with other ensembles, including the Hartford Chorale, New Haven Symphony Orchestra, and others. Singers interested in joining the Chorale may participate in open rehearsals on Tuesday, September 4, and Tuesday, September 11, 2018 before scheduling a private audition with Maestro D'Eugenio. The GMChorale rehearses in Cromwell on Tuesday evenings. To register for the open rehearsal and/or schedule an audition, please contact audition coordinator and scheduler, Margie Livengood at margie.livengood@gmchorale.org or 860-633-6198. More information, including audition requirements, is available at www.gmchorale.org/auditions.
Join the Cappella Cantorum Masterworks Chorus for its first rehearsal of Puccini's "Messa di Gloria" and Saint-Saens' "Christmas Oratorio" on Monday, Sept. 17, 7 p.m., at John Winthrop Middle School, 1 Winthrop Road, Deep River (use rear entrance). These melodious and inspiring works will be performed in concert Sunday, Dec. 2, at John Winthrop with professional orchestra and soloists. Simon Holt of the Salt Marsh Opera will direct. Auditions are not required. Registration is $50 plus cost of music. Late registration is the following Monday, Sept. 24, same time and place. For more information visit www.CappellaCantorum.org or call 860-526-1038.
Join The Stamford Chorale as it celebrates its 70th year as a non-profit community choir.
Rehearsals start Tuesday Sept. 25 from 7:30 – 9:30 p.m. at Stamford Government Center, second floor. Open rehearsals continue through October.
Chorale members include amateurs to professionals. All voice parts are welcome. No audition is required. Just love to sing, be able to stay on pitch and enjoy making music with others!
Repertoire is varied, from classical to contemporary music to the Great American Songbook. Winter and Spring concerts will be performed under the direction of Eric Trudel.
Contact: Call 203-359-0659 or email thestamfordchorale@gmail.com.


A malaria vaccine based on Plasmodium falciparum apical membrane antigen 1 (AMA1) elicited strain specific efficacy in Malian children that waned in the second season after vaccination despite sustained AMA1 antibody titers. With the goal of identifying a humoral correlate of vaccine-induced protection, pre- and post-vaccination sera from children vaccinated with the AMA1 vaccine and from a control group that received a rabies vaccine were tested for AMA1-specific immunoglobulin G (IgG) subclasses (IgG1, IgG2, IgG3, and IgG4) and for antibody avidity.
Samples from a previously completed Phase 2 AMA1 vaccine trial in children residing in Mali, West Africa were used to determine AMA1-specific IgG subclass antibody titers and avidity by ELISA. Cox proportional hazards models were used to assess correlation between IgG subclass antibody titers and risk of time to first or only clinical malaria episode and risk of multiple episodes. Asexual P. falciparum parasite density measured for each child as area under the curve were used to assess correlation between IgG subclass antibody titers and parasite burden.
AMA1 vaccination did not elicit a change in antibody avidity; however, AMA1 vaccinees had a robust IgG subclass response that persisted over the malaria transmission season. AMA1-specific IgG subclass responses were not associated with decreased risk of subsequent clinical malaria. For the AMA1 vaccine group, IgG3 levels at study day 90 correlated with high parasite burden during days 90–240. In the control group, AMA1-specific IgG subclass rise and persistence over the malaria season was modest and correlated with age. In the control group, titers of several IgG subclasses at days 90 and 240 correlated with parasite burden over the first 90 study days, and IgG3 at day 240 correlated with parasite burden during days 90–240.
Neither IgG subclass nor avidity was associated with the modest, strain-specific efficacy elicited by this blood stage malaria vaccine. Although a correlate of protection was not identified, correlations between subclass titers and age, and correlations between IgG subclass titers and parasite burden, defined by area under the curve parasitaemia levels, were observed, which expand knowledge about IgG subclass responses. IgG3, known to have the shortest half-life of the IgG subclasses, might be the most temporally relevant indicator of ongoing malaria exposure when examining antibody responses to AMA1.
A malaria vaccine is regarded as an essential tool towards the global eradication of malaria, and short of this ambitious goal, an effective blood stage malaria vaccine would prevent disease and death [1, 2]. Predicting and evaluating efficacy in malaria vaccine trials would be simplified with a reliable correlate of protection; however, identification of immune correlates of protection has proven elusive .
A previous clinical trial tested a blood stage malaria vaccine composed of a recombinant apical membrane antigen 1 (AMA1) formulated with the AS02A adjuvant system (FMP2.1/AS02A) in Malian children. Children who received the vaccine had strain-specific protective efficacy and had increased AMA1 titers that were sustained for 24 months; however, no clinical efficacy was observed in the second season after vaccination, even though titers remained elevated [4, 5]. The short-lived efficacy of this vaccine cannot be explained by waning overall antibody titer, motivating exploration of other potential immune correlates of protection.
Total immunoglobulin G (IgG) is comprised of IgG subclasses named in order of relative abundance, IgG1, IgG2, IgG3, and IgG4 . Differences in structural composition determine functionality: IgG1 and IgG3 are associated with T-cell dependent, cytophilic activity and typically recognize proteins . They are the predominant subclasses observed in antibody dependent cellular cytotoxic responses to blood-stage merozoite antigens [7–14]. In contrast, IgG2 predominantly binds bacterial capsular polysaccharide antigens, which are typically T-cell independent. IgG4 binds allergens and chronically persistent antigens  and is, therefore, thought to exert anti-inflammatory effects.
Another humoral immune response characteristic that might influence protection is binding strength of antibodies to their targets, or avidity. This measure of intrinsic antibody function may distinguish effective from ineffective responses when total immunoglobulin quantities are equivalent. Avidity has been shown to differ across malaria transmission settings and to be associated with different clinical presentations [9, 16]. Low avidity has also been found to predict the failure of licensed vaccines for other infectious diseases , and although results vary across vaccine candidates, high avidity has been associated with vaccine-induced protection from malaria .
The hypothesis explored was that increased levels of cytophilic antibodies (IgG1 or IgG3) in malaria vaccine recipients and increased antibody avidity would be associated with protection from clinical episodes of malaria.
The study was conducted in Bandiagara (population ~ 14,000), a rural town in Mali, West Africa that has intense seasonal transmission of P. falciparum malaria from July to November with a peak of up to 60 infective mosquito bites per person per month in August or September . A randomized, double-blind, controlled Phase 2 trial of safety and efficacy against clinical malaria was conducted in 400 children from ages 1–6 years old in 2007–2008 and has been previously described . Briefly, children were randomized in a 1:1 ratio to receive FMP2.1/AS02A, which comprises recombinant AMA1 based on the 3D7 P. falciparum strain formulated with GSKBio's adjuvant system AS02A, or unadjuvanted rabies vaccine as a control, as three vaccinations given intramuscularly 1 month apart. Participants were followed for 2 years. The primary endpoint was a clinical episode of malaria, defined as fever (axillary temperature of ≥ 37.5 °C) with P. falciparum density of ≥ 2500 parasites/mm3 visualized on a thick blood smear. Efficacy was measured 6 months after final vaccination, or day 240. The primary analysis was of the first clinical malaria episode in an individual; a secondary analysis included multiple episodes in an individual. Exploratory efficacy endpoints included cumulative asexual P. falciparum parasite density measured for each child as the total area under the curve (AUC).
Ten FMP2.1/AS02A recipients and 10 controls who received rabies vaccine were randomly selected from all 400 participants for whom the previously measured day 90 total IgG titer was in the 25th–75th percentile for their respective groups (n = 98 and 96, respectively). Avidity and IgG subclass ELISAs were performed for samples from day 0, 90, and 150 for these subjects.
90 FMP2.1/AS02A recipients and 30 controls who had not already been included in the pilot study and from whom sera from appropriate time points were readily available (n = 177 from the malaria vaccine group, n = and 173 from the control group) were randomly chosen from the study population. Evaluable data was obtained from 85 vaccinees and 29 controls. Blinding to vaccine assignments was maintained until all assays were complete. IgG subclass ELISAs were performed on samples from days 0, 90, and 240.
A pool of sera from fifteen semi-immune adults obtained during peak malaria season who participated in a Phase 1 clinical trial of FMP1/AS02A, a merozoite surface protein-1 vaccine , was used as a positive control to monitor for batch effects and for construction of standard curves.
Ninety-six-well round-bottom Immulon 2 plates (Thermo Fisher Scientific, Waltham, MA) were coated with 50 µg of FMP2.1 diluted in phosphate buffered saline (PBS) to a total volume of 100 µL per well and incubated at 37 °C for 3 h. Plates were washed with PBS 0.05% Tween-20 (PBST) six times by a Biotek ELx405 automated plate-washer (Biotek, Winooski, VT), blocked with 10% nonfat milk by mass (Quality Biological, Gaithersburg, MD) in PBS, and incubated at 4 °C overnight. After washing, two-fold serum dilutions were tested in duplicate in PBS 0.05% Tween-20 with 10% nonfat milk (PBSMT). Plates were incubated for 2 h at 37 °C and then washed. For avidity assays, 100 µL of 5 M urea in PBST or 100 µL of PBST were added to wells and allowed to incubate at room temperature for 30 min. After washing, 100 µL of horse radish peroxidase (HRP)-conjugated goat anti-human IgG diluted with PBSMT to 1:10,000 (Jackson ImmunoResearch Laboratories, West Grove, PA) for avidity assays or subclass-specific HRP-conjugated sheep-anti-human secondary antibodies (The Binding Site, Birmingham, UK) diluted in PBSMT at concentrations of 1:400, 1:200, 1:250, and 1:100 for IgG1, IgG2, IgG3, and IgG4, respectively, were added to all wells. Plates were incubated at 37 °C for 1 h and then washed. For developing, 3,3′,5,5′-tetramethylbenzidine (KPL, Gaithersburg, MD) was allowed to equilibrate to room temperature and 100 µL was added to each well. Plates were placed in the dark for 15 min. The reaction was stopped with 100 µL per well of 1 M phosphoric acid, and optical densities (OD) were read by a Spectramax M2 plate-reader (Molecular Devices, Sunnyvale, CA) at 450 nm. Titers were calculated from linear regression curves created from positive control standards run on each plate, and defined as the reciprocal of the serum dilution that produced an OD of 0.2 above the blank. Avidity index was calculated as the ratio of the titer of the urea assay to the PBST assay. Cytophilic ratios were calculated as the sum of IgG1 and IgG3 titers divided by the sum of IgG2 and IgG4 titers.
Log10-transformed IgG subclass titers, cytophilic ratios, avidity indices as well as differences between time points for these variables were compared using a two-tailed two-sample student's t-test; a Kruskal–Wallis test was used for comparisons among age strata.
For analysis of time to first or only clinical malaria episode, Cox proportional hazards models, using the Firth penalized likelihood to reduce bias , were fit with log10-transformed IgG subclass antibody titer as the explanatory variable, day of episode as the censoring variable, and survival to episode as the response variable. The models were fit with and without age as a covariate. The log-transformed titer was used to reduce the influence of extreme values. Subjects who had a clinical malaria episode or any parasitaemia (including illnesses for which anti-malarials were administered but that did not meet the fever and/or parasitaemia thresholds defined by the primary study outcome, as well as actively detected asymptomatic parasitaemia) before day 90 were excluded from the models, as the day 90 antibody responses would reflect both vaccination and infection. As a post hoc assessment of statistical power, for the AMA1 vaccine group, minimum detectable hazard ratios were calculated that took into account the number of clinical malaria illnesses (events) and standard deviations of each subclass IgG titer. The study had 80% power to detect a significant association between IgG subclass titer and hazard of clinical malaria episode when the hazard ratio varied from 1.61 to 4.03 (for risk factors), or from 0.62 to 0.25 (for protective factors), depending on the subclass titer and time point.
For analysis of multiple episodes, a Cox proportional hazards gap time model with common coefficients for each episode, using the Firth penalized likelihood function, was used to assess the association of the log10-transformed day 90 IgG-subclass titer with clinical malaria .
Asexual P. falciparum parasitaemia measured as AUC was estimated using the trapezoidal rule for each participant from day 90 to day 240 (AUCd90–240) and for control volunteers from time of enrollment to day 90 (AUCd0–90). As specified in the statistical analysis plan of the study protocol, all recorded episodes of parasitaemia were included regardless of symptom presence or absence, and parasite density was assumed to decline linearly to zero 3 days after a treated malaria episode . IgG subclass titers were correlated with AUCd90–240 for the malaria vaccine group and the control group and AUCd0–90 for the control group, and Spearman's rank correlations were calculated.
Statistical analysis was performed using SAS software, version 9.4 for Windows (SAS Institute, Cary, NC); GraphPad Prism version 6.0 for Windows (GraphPad Software, La Jolla, CA); and R version 3.4.4 with RStudio version 1.0.136 and packages tidyverse, ggplot2, ggbeeswarm, scales, and grid. Results with a P-value of less than 0.05 were considered statistically significant. No adjustment was made for multiple comparisons.
In children immunized on days 0, 30 and 60 with either the AMA1 vaccine or rabies vaccine as a control, avidity levels did not change significantly from day 0 to day 90 or from day 90 to day 150 and did not differ when comparing 10 AMA1 vaccinees to 10 children from the control group (Table 1). Based on the results of this pilot study, further avidity studies were not performed.
As previously observed for whole IgG titers, in both the pilot study and the main study, baseline anti-AMA1 antibody titers for all four IgG subclasses in the FMP2.1/AS02A group increased after vaccination and remained elevated 180 days after the last vaccination (Fig. 1, Additional file 1). In addition, at each time point after day 0, post-vaccination titers of all four IgG subclasses tested were significantly greater in the malaria vaccine group as compared with the control group. The total IgG titer for the subset of the FMP2.1/AS02A and control groups presented here had similar magnitude and kinetics to the total IgG titers from all 400 participants in the original clinical trial .
Subclass titers for each time point were compared across age strata (1–2 years, 3–4 years, and 5–6 years; Fig. 2, Additional file 2). At day 0, before vaccination, compared with the youngest age stratum, the older age strata of both the control and AMA1 vaccine groups had higher titers of IgG1, IgG2, and cytophilic ratio. In addition, for the AMA1 vaccine group, IgG3 titers at baseline were higher in the older age strata. At day 90, the control group continued to demonstrate greater IgG1, IgG2, and cytophilic ratios in the older age strata. In the AMA1 vaccine group, which had day 90 (30 days post-vaccination) titers that were 1–2 logs greater than those in the control group, day 90 antibody subclass titer did not differ among age strata. The lack of differentiation among age strata by day 90 subclass antibody titers also held true when comparing volunteers who did not have a clinical episode before day 90. At day 240, titers for IgG1 in the AMA1 vaccine group and IgG1, IgG2, and IgG4 in the control group differed significantly by age strata.
To explore the association between log-transformed IgG subclass titer and risk of infection, Cox proportional hazards models were constructed in which any subject who had a clinical episode before day 90 was excluded from the model (n = 66 AMA1 vaccinees and n = 22 control subjects included). In addition, to ensure that each day 90 subclass titer reflected AMA1 vaccination only and not exposure to natural infection including asymptomatic parasitaemia, a model that excluded all parasitaemias before day 90 was also explored in the AMA1 vaccine group (n = 49). For all models tested in the malaria vaccine and control groups, no log-transformed subclass titer predicted decreased time to first or only clinical malaria episode (Table 2). Moreover, post-vaccination subclass titers were not associated with the occurrence of multiple clinical malaria episodes in either the AMA1 vaccine or the control groups (Table 3).
Asexual Plasmodium falciparum parasite densities measured as area under the curve (AUC) were calculated to study correlations between parasite burden and IgG subclass levels. In the malaria vaccine group, not including those with clinical malaria episodes between days 0 and 90 (n = 66), the AUCd90–240 correlated positively with IgG3 at day 90 and IgG3 at day 240. In contrast, AUCd90–240 did not have a statistically significant correlation with any IgG subclass at any time point in the control arm when those with clinical malaria episodes between days 0 and 90 were excluded (n = 22) (Table 4). However, when the control arm was evaluated without censoring participants for having infections between days 0 and 90 (n = 29), AUCd0–90 correlated positively with IgG1, IgG2, IgG3, and IgG4 at day 90 and IgG2 and IgG3 at day 240; additionally AUCd90–240 correlated with IgG3 at day 240 (Table 5). Spearman's rank correlations for IgG subclass titers for each time point and vaccination group were calculated—strong correlations were seen when comparing subclasses to each other except when comparing IgG3 to the other subclasses for the rabies group at day 0 and day 240 (Additional file 3).
In this analysis of IgG subclass antibodies elicited in response to an AMA1 vaccine, the vaccine elicited robust, ≥ 2-log10 increases in all four IgG subclasses that peaked at day 90 (30 days post-vaccination) and then waned by day 240, but remained ≥ 1 log10 higher than pre-vaccination antibody responses. In contrast, over the malaria transmission season, the rabies vaccine control children had a steady increase in IgG subclass antibodies that remained 1–2 log10 lower than the antibody responses in the AMA1 vaccine group, representing the naturally occurring immune response to a blood stage malaria antigen over a malaria transmission season. In the control group, IgG subclass titers correlated with increasing age, reflecting cumulative acquisition of immunity. In the AMA1 vaccine group, these effects were not observed, presumably because the adjuvanted vaccine increased titers to all subclasses globally, such that the youngest children's titers approached the levels of the oldest children. Indeed, children who received FMP2.1/AS02A had a several-fold lower baseline than adults residing in the same area, but after vaccination they had total IgG titers that were similar in magnitude to those of adults who received the same vaccine [5, 23]—thus the fold-rise in IgG was much larger in children than in semi-immune adults, who have a greater degree of acquired humoral immunity from previous P. falciparum exposure.
The original hypothesis of this study was that increased levels of cytophilic antibodies (IgG1 or IgG3) in malaria vaccine recipients would be associated with protection from clinical episodes of malaria. However, increased IgG subclass titers were not associated with decreased risk of clinical episodes among children who received the AMA1 vaccine. By examining antibody responses in the control group, the effect of natural malaria exposure on subclass IgG titers was explored; however, no associations between day 90 (peak season) IgG subclass titers and risk of subsequent clinical malaria illness were identified.
The relationship between exposure to P. falciparum and subclass immunoglobulin titer was assessed by estimating the parasite burden for each volunteer, expressed as AUC parasitaemia. In the AMA1 vaccine group, for children who did not have clinical malaria episodes within the first 90 days (n = 66), AUCd90–240 correlated with increased IgG3 at the day 90 and day 240 time points, suggesting that IgG3 levels in the AMA1 vaccine group correlate with exposure to parasites. One explanation is that increased IgG3 levels at day 90 indicate ongoing malaria exposure and counterintuitively predict infection in the ensuing 150 days. This correlation was not seen in the control group; the smaller sample size of the control arm might have limited the power to detect this association.
When the association between IgG subclass titer and AUC parasitaemia in the control arm without censoring subjects who had clinical infections in the first 90 study days was examined, correlations were identified between IgG subclass titers and parasite burden attributable to natural exposure. These correlations were observable because of the larger sample size (n = 29 vs. n = 22) and examination of AUCd0–90 (rather than AUCd90–240), an exposure interval not explored in the AMA1 vaccine group because vaccination occurred within the 0–90 day interval. In a pre-planned exploratory analysis of the original vaccine trial, median AUC was lower in vaccines than controls, suggesting an overall reduction in parasite burden that did not translate into a statistically significant reduction in the hazard of clinical malaria episodes . In the current study, the significant correlations between the control arm IgG subclass titers and AUCd0–90 support further evaluation the utility of AUC as a clinically relevant readout of malaria exposure. The finding that IgG3 at day 90 correlated with AUCd90–240 in both the AMA1 vaccine and control arms suggests that IgG3, which has the shortest half-life of the IgG subclasses, might be the most temporally relevant indicator of ongoing exposure. Thus IgG3 may be worthy of exploring as a biomarker for surveillance to detect populations experiencing ongoing or very recent exposure to help target malaria elimination interventions.
In other infectious diseases, humoral immune responses have served as correlates of protection [24, 25]. In malaria, antibodies have a proven functional role, although no generalizable and consistent correlates of vaccine-induced or naturally acquired protection have been established . Naturally occurring human antibodies against AMA1 are associated with clinical protection from malaria  and have functional invasion inhibition activity , justifying a focus on humoral immunity when searching for AMA1 vaccine-induced immune correlates of protection . Antibody avidity to full length VAR2CSA has been associated with absence of placental malaria in both high and low transmission settings in Cameroon [30, 31], and a study of adjuvanted circumsporozoite vaccine (RTS, S/AS01) showed increased avidity and protection when the third dose was fractional rather than full-dose . But, the association between avidity and protection is not universal [32, 33], and some studies have observed a lack of correlation between avidity assays and other functional antibody assays [34, 35].
Overall, the results from this study demonstrate the robust humoral response elicited by the FMP2.1/AS02A vaccine across all subclasses, and are among a handful of descriptions of antibody subclass and avidity responses to a candidate malaria vaccine. Although a correlate of protection based on antibody subclass or avidity was not observed for this vaccine, antibody subclass levels or avidity could be associated with protection for other malaria vaccines that exert broader efficacy. The lack of correlation of avidity or antibody subclass titer with protection despite the FMP2.1/AS02A vaccine eliciting strain-specific efficacy, and the lack of correlation of a growth inhibition assay with protection  suggest that additional signatures of humoral immune responses could be explored. These could include post-vaccination antibody response epitope mapping (Bailey et al. pers. comm.), additional studies of antibody function , and transcriptomic investigations that explore somatic hypermutation and affinity maturation [38, 39].
IgG subclass titers were not associated with vaccine-induced protection from subsequent malaria illness. However, older age correlated with increased IgG subclass titers in the control arm and not in the AMA1 vaccine arm, which reflects IgG subclass response to natural infection in the former and the adjuvant effect in the latter. IgG subclass titers were a marker of exposure that correlated with AUC parasitaemia levels. An association between IgG3 and subsequent parasite burden suggests that of the IgG subclasses, IgG3 may be the most temporally relevant indicator of ongoing malaria exposure when assessing AMA1 responses, and worthy of further exploration as a biomarker for surveillance in support of elimination efforts.
Concept and study design: AAB, ERG, MAT, SD, AO, LS, CLD, WCB, MBL, MBS, OKD, CVP, KEL; Data acquisition: AAB, ERG, BK, MAT, DC, AO, AN, AKK, KT, YT, ID; Data analysis and interpretation: AAB, ERG, VM, WCB, MBS, CVP, KEL. All authors except OKD read and approved the final manuscript.
The authors would like to thank the community of Bandiagara, Mali, the volunteers and their parents for their support in the conduct of this trial. The authors thank Danzele Coulibaly, Sekouba Mariko, and Moctar Traore for administrative support at the MRTC; Nicole Eddington Johnson, Amanda Icenroad, and Katherine Frankel for administrative support at UMB; Karen Ball for regulatory support; Kathy Strauss, Sudhaunshu Joshi, Sandra Mon, and Matthew Adams for laboratory support, and the team of the Bandiagara Malaria Project in Bandiagara for their dedication. In sorrow and gratitude, this work is dedicated to the memory of co-author Ogobara K. Doumbo, who passed away in June 2018. Professor Doumbo co-created the Malaria Research and Training Center at the University of Bamako and has been recognized during his prolific career as a global leader in malaria research. His colleagues, mentees, and collaborators will continue to build upon his scientific contributions for years to come.
MBL reports Grants from the Maryland Industrial Partnerships Program, outside the submitted work. All other authors declare that they have no competing interests.
Analysis of samples was approved by the Institutional Review Boards (IRB) of the University of Maryland, Baltimore (IRB #HP00041298) and the University of Sciences, Techniques, and Technologies, Bamako (IRB #FWA00001769).
This work was supported by a cooperative agreement (U19AI065683) from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) Grant R01AI093635; a training grant (D43TW001589) from the Fogarty International Center of the NIH; and awards to CVP from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. AAB is supported by NIAID Grant K23AI125720 and was supported by a University of Maryland School of Medicine Passano Foundation Clinician-Investigator Award. KEL is supported by the NIH (U19 AI110820, U01 AI089342, and R01AI110852), the Vaccine Research Center of NIH and the EMMES Corporation (HHSN272201000049I), The Office of the Surgeon General, Department of the Army (W81XWH-15-R-0034), and the Joint Warfighter Medical Research Program and Sanaria Inc. (W81XWH-JW14843). KEL was funded by an NIH R01 (AI-067954) and a Doris Duke Clinical Scientist Development Award at the time of trial conduct. The USAID Malaria Vaccine Development Program supported development of the vaccine.
12936_2019_2637_MOESM1_ESM.xlsx Additional file 1. AMA1 IgG subclass titers, total IgG titers, and cytophilic ratios for AMA1 vaccine and control groups.
12936_2019_2637_MOESM2_ESM.xlsx Additional file 2. Effect of age strata on IgG subclass titer.
12936_2019_2637_MOESM3_ESM.xlsx Additional file 3. Spearman's Rank correlations of AMA1 IgG subclass titers grouped by time point and vaccine group.


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David Sinclair Four: "4" – powerful, assured and perfectly fits the band's framework
June 25, 2015 staff
David Sinclair, who has shared stages with Wilko Johnson, the Oli Brown Band, Marcus Bonfanti, Johnny Dowd, Graham Bonnet, Willie Nile and many others, has released the critically-acclaimed albums Hey, Threewheeling and Take Me There. Now we have "4", released on Critical Discs/IRL on May 11; featuring contributions from harmonica man Paul Jones, rock legend Maxi Priest, and Scottish jazz singer Lorna Reid.
Cover art by Chiara Meattelli & Dominic Lee
The David Sinclair Four currently consists of David Sinclair (Vocals/Guitar/Songwriter), Geoff Peel (Lead Guitar/BVs), Jack Sinclair (Drums/BVs) and Jos Mendoza (Bass/BVs). Together they have delivered a 10-track album, steeped in what I would call 'elegant' blues.
"4" takes the swampy, dirty southern-fried blues-groove, slips it into the engine room, polishes up the edges and envelops it all in Brit-rock aplomb. It's that same 'elegance' that allowed bands like Pink Floyd, Fleetwood Mac and Dire Straits, to dominate and transform blues-based music into something sweeter, smoother and more harmonious and melodic for big city ears…without losing any of its soul!
"4" is exactly what we have come to expect of David Sinclair and clan; clean and sonically perfect arrangements with stellar musicianship, clever lyrics, and music that keeps sounding better with each listen. There are several gems that I am apt to skip to, the most of which being, "The Illness & The Cure", which features what I believe to be Sinclair's catchiest vocal harmony in any chorus, among the last two albums. "Life Gone Gold" is another tight little tune that features an irresistible guitar tone and solo by Geoff Peel. There's also the reggae influenced "Down By The Canal", featuring Maxi Priest.
David Sinclair – photo ©Marilyn Kingwill
And just in case you need to get a little swampy and closer to your roots, there's "World Turns Around", with harmonica-man Paul Jones and Geoff Peel on slide guitar to boot. But if there is one track that is worth the sum of the entire album, it has got to be "Coming off the Rails". From its arrangement down to the instrumentation, performance and production, this track simply rocks: serving as a calling card for every individual musician playing on it, as well the David Sinclair Four as a collective project. It is powerful, assured and perfectly fits the framework of what the experience in this band stands for today.
The David Sinclair Four have absolutely done it again with a very mature sounding album, where David Sinclair has reproduced slices of life in his slightly-off-centered world, inhabited by losers, lovers, legends, has-beens and assorted purveyors of ecstatic sadness and resigned joy. Sinclair paints lyrical pictures which are both ordinary and extremely extraordinary, sounding really inspired throughout the whole album.
David Sinclair & Maxi Priest – ©Marilyn Kingwill
The David Sinclair Four together with producer Livingstone Brown, have crafted "4" into music giving us blues-rock based stories that are stylized, polished and well thought-out. Maybe it comes second nature to them, but it is remarkable musicianship, songwriting and production all the same, a quality all but absent from pop music today, with its emphasis on sampled, spoken, garbled, screamed and trivialized affectation.
Besides grabbing the album, don't forget to go and see the band performing live all around England, Scotland and Wales during July-August. Check out the band's website for dates and details. The David Sinclair Four are also dropping the single "Coming Out Of The Rain", featuring singer and co-songwriter Lorna Reid, with the launch taking place in Edinburgh at The Voodoo Rooms on 29 July.
OFFICIAL LINKS: WEBSITE – ALBUM – FACEBOOK – TWITTER
4, Blues, David Sinclair Four, Livingstone Brown, Lorna Reid, Maxi Priest, Music, Reviews, Rock
Jessica Domingo: "Masterpiece" – naked or drenched in harmony, she's absolutely stunning
"COMING BACK TO LIFE": ALTEREGO VIBE'S NEW MUSIC VIDEOCLIP
August – "Armed & Dangerous" – at his most bare and captivating!
Ambrose – "Out of Nowhere" sticks to music's core essentials
David Tv Barnes – "Lost Time" sounds as passionate as it does smooth and mellow

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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text:
A critique of "The Lives of Sri Aurobindo" by Peter Heehs and its consequences in the Ashram life
committed to objective, academic, respectful and honest discussions
Dr Alok Pandey Replies to T.N. Chaturvedi
I may like to add in passing that in these matters the views of historians such as Romila Thapar, whose tilts and biases are very well known, or of the honourable ministers such as Jairam Ramesh whose knowledge of Sri Aurobindo's life and works is at best fragmentary and at worst picked up from popular tabloids, means nothing. Being a Scholar does not necessarily make one an all-knowing Omnibus; being a historian does not automatically guarantee faithful chronicling of all things; least of all, it assures authenticity since that involves certain human qualities of compassion, honesty, sincerity, especially a spiritual sensitivity which is very much wanting in the author of the said book. As someone rightly put it, he deals with his subject as if he were bludgeoning him into a shape desired by him. [extract - read full letter below]
Dr. Alok Pandey Replies to T.N. Chaturvedi
Dear Shri T N Chaturvediji,
I was a bit distraught to see your letter circulating over the internet recently concerning Peter Heehs' book TLOSA and the affairs following that. I have the following points to bring to your notice for your careful consideration:
1. You have mentioned that the book is a well-researched book with clear references. This is not a fact. The author has been very selective in referencing. He has generally taken references that would help his nefarious work of denigrating Sri Aurobindo. For this purpose he has gone to the extent of using obscure newspaper cuttings, (obviously) biased government records, stray statements from persons who were known detractors of Sri Aurobindo, whose own credentials are doubtful, out of context and partial statements from credible sources to create an image of Sri Aurobindo that would rend the heart of any devotee. For who else except a coward or a man with utter self-seeking interest would keep quiet when his parents are being verbally abused publicly. Spraying some words of praise to provide interim relief to a reader who feels hurt at such a callous and brutal treatment of a divine subject only adds to the degree of his cunning and his ability to conjure dark things under the neat cover of a white sheet spread over the darkness. I must add that this is not the first time he has done this. What is true is that this time he has done it with a masterly skill and managed to divide the community by splitting it across several lines that are merely a reflection of the deep schism in the book itself. I do not know how you missed this mischief which so many scholars of Sri Aurobindo have noted and written extensively about, unless someone deliberately tried to mislead you to use your good offices for justifying falsehood of the worst kind ever. For such a falsehood as this book hits out not only at the core of the Ashram life in particular but at the very core of spiritual life in general.
2. I can understand when biased historians who have their own vested interests and public agenda and political leanings are insensitive to spiritual things. But what amazes me is to see learned persons like you who are perhaps better read about these things than the average historian, to allow themselves to be defined through the lens of the Western world. Is this not slavery of another kind when we try to practise what is dished out by the Western media as the best values and forget our own swadharma? Yes, by doing so we may look good in the eyes of the West and even earn some praise from our past masters but at what cost? It is understandable that in the modern western world where mind is seen as all, one cannot conceive of any higher value than freedom to mentally dissect anything and everything brutally and mercilessly. But here in India we hold the Spirit and spiritual values as much greater. Otherwise things such as obedience to the Guru, fidelity to the path and the Master, surrender to the Guidance of the inner Divine or His human Representatives would all become redundant or at least subservient to the analytical mind, and the gospel of scientific materialism become the highest truth for us to bask and bathe in. Then let us close all the Ashrams and turn them into Research institutes where spiritual truths will be analysed and concluded by experts in the field of Freudian psychology and such like. Is that you would like as the destiny of this wonderful Ashram? Encouragement of men like Peter Heehs with a frowning mock at any form of devotion and worship is very much a step in that direction. Besides the whole thing then turns into an impossible paradox. For if you regard intellectual freedom as the highest quality, even over and above reverence for the Master in whose Ashram you have taken shelter, then you lose automatically the right to criticize devotees going to court or doing a dharna however unpleasant it may look or contradict the existing ethos of the Ashram life. One cannot use different yardsticks for interconnected events, something that one has painfully and repeatedly witnessed in the handling of this issue by those concerned. One has to be at least consistent in what we profess and what we practise. If we uphold intellectual freedom as higher than other spiritual qualities such as reverence for the Master because such is the demand of modernity and of a democratic setup of life, then we must remember that the same setup and modern outlook allows one to go to the police, media or to stage protests and dharnas against anyone however high and mighty he may be. Yes, I agree that these things are anathema to the Ashram life and its spiritual culture, but then so is the birth of such a book that uses the Ashram's good offices and documents to denigrate the Master an anathema to the Ashram life and ethos. This has never happened in the history of the Ashram life so long as the Mother and Sri Aurobindo were in Their physical bodies. Never has this basic fundamental ethos of the Ashram life been violated wherein (personal views of individuals apart) someone living in the Ashram as part of it has written such nasty stuff on Sri Aurobindo, His Work and His life. Who then broke the rules of the game or changed it for the worse? This is a question to be sincerely pondered upon if any sincerity is still left in those who are busy justifying Peter Heehs's stand and even going to the extent of heavily quoting from Their luminous Words to explain away one's opinion while refusing to even look at any other possibility. How does one expect Truth to prevail in such an atmosphere where selfish interests are driving the campaign of 'saving' Peter Heehs from some impossible religious fanatics, fundamentalists and terrorists? One has only to come here and see for oneself as to who is being persecuted more, Peter Heehs who goes about jogging everyday on the Pondicherry Beach despite the Terrorists and the land mafia people persecuting him through hired goons or the devotees who spoke frankly against his long standing misdeeds against whom there are dedicated websites spewing filth and venom which goes through the heart of the community in order to compel division or else to make it bleed and suffer.
3. I may like to add in passing that in these matters the views of historians such as Romila Thapar, whose tilts and biases are very well known, or of the honourable ministers such as Jairam Ramesh whose knowledge of Sri Aurobindo's life and works is at best fragmentary and at worst picked up from popular tabloids, means nothing. Being a Scholar does not necessarily make one an all-knowing Omnibus; being a historian does not automatically guarantee faithful chronicling of all things; least of all, it assures authenticity since that involves certain human qualities of compassion, honesty, sincerity, especially a spiritual sensitivity which is very much wanting in the author of the said book. As someone rightly put it, he deals with his subject as if he were bludgeoning him into a shape desired by him.
Well, I have spoken my heart freely and frankly to you since I do not doubt your basic loyalty towards Sri Aurobindo, having shared the same platform with you in some talks and meetings. I believe that you have been misguided by some persons who have their own vested interests involved and who are backing human beings blindly regardless of the nature of their deeds. Ideas and idealisms are for such men mere words to be twisted and used for selfish gains. Much as the West loves to define us as tolerant, non-violent Gandhian community since it serves their purpose while for itself it reserves the right to decimate nations for its oil-fields and petty national egoism. It prattles and sells the idea of intellectual freedom to infiltrate and pollute the minds and hearts of our children through media propaganda while it persecutes anyone who dares to speak the truth and reveals its dark underbelly, à la Assange if you like. How long will we accept this mental slavery and spare original thought for ourselves, a thought that has the refreshing perfume of 'Indian-ness' and the fragrance of pure spiritual thought and feeling that lifts itself in adoration towards the sublime rather than pulling it down towards the abysses of human silliness and scholarly stupidity!!
Thank you for your patience in reading this letter. It is written in a spirit of goodwill albeit from an Indian heart and mind and a soul that not only worships and adores Sri Aurobindo and the Mother but believes that the hope of the future lies in Them. It is therefore that we need to look beyond our present positions and limited view of things and see into the far avenues of the unborn beyond and ask this one simple question. Is this how we would like to present Sri Aurobindo, His life and work to the posterity, to our grandchildren and to the soul of India and the world? If yes, then there is nothing more to say, and each may follow his own path even if it leads towards the abyss. But if we have a clear no from our hearts, then what prevents us from taking a clear stand against the perpetrator of such crass falsehood – fear of being labeled as non-liberal, intolerant etc? Let us hope that we have learnt the lessons from our own history lest our tolerance becomes a cause for another bondage and our trying to define ourselves through labels of the West leads in the end to the loss of our own innate strength and the light that guides this nation. For if that happens, then it will be truly a sad day for India and the Earth and we all will be jointly a party to this national crime regardless of the camp we may belong to. Let us hearken to these luminous words written more than a century ago:
We say to the nation, "It is God's will that we should be ourselves and not Europe. We have sought to regain life by following the law of another being than our own. We must return and seek the sources of life and strength within ourselves. We must know our past and recover it for the purposes of our future. Our business is to realise ourselves first and to mould everything to the law of India's eternal life and nature. It will therefore be the object of the Karmayogin to read the heart of our religion, our society, our philosophy, politics, literature, art, jurisprudence, science, thought, everything that was and is ours, so that we may be able to say to ourselves and our nation, 'This is our dharma.' We shall review European civilisation entirely from the standpoint of Indian thought and knowledge and seek to throw off from us the dominating stamp of the Occident; what we have to take from the West we shall take as Indians. And the dharma once discovered we shall strive our utmost not only to profess but to live, in our individual actions, in our social life, in our political endeavours."
We say to the individual and especially to the young who are now arising to do India's work, the world's work, God's work, "You cannot cherish these ideals, still less can you fulfil them if you subject your minds to European ideas or look at life from the material standpoint. Materially you are nothing, spiritually you are everything. It is only the Indian who can believe everything, dare everything, sacrifice everything. First therefore become Indians. Recover the patrimony of your forefathers. Recover the Aryan thought, the Aryan discipline, the Aryan character, the Aryan life. Recover the Vedanta, the Gita, the Yoga. Recover them not only in intellect or sentiment but in your lives. Live them and you will be great and strong, mighty, invincible and fearless. Neither life nor death will have any terrors for you. Difficulty and impossibility will vanish from your vocabularies. For it is in the spirit that strength is eternal and you must win back the kingdom of yourselves, the inner Swaraj, before you can win back your outer empire. There the Mother dwells and She waits for worship that She may give strength. Believe in Her, serve Her, lose your wills in Hers, your egoism in the greater ego of the country, your separate selfishness in the service of humanity. Recover the source of all strength in yourselves and all else will be added to you, social soundness, intellectual preeminence, political freedom, the mastery of human thought, the hegemony of the world."
(Sri Aurobindo, CWSA, Karmayogin, pp 27-28)
Alok Pandey
Posted by General Editor at 8/25/2012 09:19:00 am
Labels: Administrative, Alok Pandey, Ashram Trust, News, Peter Heehs
RYD 25 August 2012 at 17:57
Well-drafted letter and I hope there will enter some light in the dingy rooms of these people. Most of them write articles or reviews or comments without reading "that" atrocious book, full of misrepresentations, or reading properly at all. The test will lie in a frank open discussion para by para and page by page of the Lives. And they call it a well-researched biography! which only means they don't know what thorough research is. There are any number of tight professional articles on this website itself and none of them has been countered. In fact, most of the time these people go about, as the famous phrase goes, strutting like headless chickens. The greater pity is, perhaps, our authorities have no eyes to see things. They have a major share in this perpetration and there doesn't seem to be any escape from it. Well, … take the example of Gautam Chikermane of the Hindustan Times who was making big noises about the Freedom of Expression in April, running to Grace Office and back to New Delhi to find every devious way to distort facts, but has now preferred to remain silent when it comes to the matter of silencing the voice of Kanchan Gupta. What does he say about it? We shall be looking for the answer at the HT.
Diane 26 August 2012 at 08:09
I can't comment on the scholarship of Peter Heeh's book as I have never read it, this being because I choose to admire the lotus, rather than wallow in the mud in which it grows.
I can however as a westerner, comment on the paradigm which Peter Heehs seems to ascribe to, based on his comments in various articles and interviews. Mr Heehs seems to have, despite several decades in India, retained a very modernist materialist world view.
Rupert Sheldrake has recently published a book the Science Delusion, where he addresses many of the so called scientific truths postulated by the paradigm and exposes them as at best a set of beliefs arising out of a particular cultural paradigm, the superiority of western modernity, and at worst self justifying myths of western patriarchal power and control. (of course this is my subjective interpretation not necessarily Sheldrake's)
I find it funny that, for all the Heehs supporters adherence to Freud, they seem to be incapable of turning it onto their own common culture. America was in part founded by puritans, and this influence seems to be still strong in american culture, it frowned upon ritual and delight, emphasising austerity, sin and punishment. As my mother use to say, best to look at your own dirty laundry before you comment on the state of others.
If this debate is to have any chance of progress, in my view, perhaps the westerners need to turn the torch on their own psyches and the influence of the culture in which they were born and its significant conscious and unconscious influence.
I have great sympathy for the people who reside in the Ashram and are personally caught up in this ideological battle. It does seem to me, however, that it has had one positive outcome, in that many devotees are looking at how the Ashram is run, and making suggestions for change. For my part, I don't care, I don't know Peter Heehs from Adam, and I have long since left many of the westerners I have know in the IY behind, better to move forward in solitude, rather than division.
I must say that this is a very fine comment, balanced and mature, speaking of the quality of a high soul. I will also say that to have "a very modernist materialist world view" is a positive thing and must be valued; we Indians generally don't have that. In that process something which is desirable for it to be the spirit's instrument is missed. When this is understood then perhaps this artificial compartmentalisation of Indian and Western sets of values or perceptions, of this culture or that culture, gets knocked off, and it is that which I will promote wholeheartedly. So it is really not a question of ideological inter- or intra-cultural differences, but something else that comes into play. The real struggle is with the deep-rooted falsehood seated within us. It is there in all of us, in one form or the other, and dealing with it is the business we have to attend, attend within oneself as well as, and as far as, possible in the wider collective. In the present context we are talking of certain collective issues and, it seems, it is these which need be addressed now. Our quarrel is essentially with misrepresentation and falsification of the vision and work of the Mother and Sri Aurobindo. This is hitting at the very roots of spirituality itself, and if we are here for spiritual purposes then it becomes totally unacceptable. There is a systematic attempt to destroy or cause damage to these foundational values which, if we allow to happen, will eventually mean nothing short of us committing suicide. We cannot be passive witness to these happenings,--if there is some fire burning in our souls. Perhaps we had been sleeping for too long, the sleep of tamas, of inertia, perhaps a "vast disguise" is waking us up now, and it is time for us to exercise our "tremendous choice" not given again. The rest will be done by the Master of the Destiny.
General Editor 27 August 2012 at 09:01
Anonymous Ashramite:
Peter is a thief. He is not a writer.
"I may like to add in passing that in these matters the views of historians such as Romila Thapar, whose tilts and biases are very well known, or of the honourable ministers such as Jairam Ramesh whose knowledge of Sri Aurobindo's life and works is at best fragmentary and at worst picked up from popular tabloids, means nothing." - Alok Pandey
I absolutely agree with Alok Pandey. How can a professor of history comment on Sri Aurobindo? Or for that matter, how can Jairam Ramesh, who has had no spiritual experience whatsoever, comment on a Yogi? Even the much quoted David Annoussamy review shows profound ignorance of spirituality in general, but it has been quoted as if his review is a final judgment on the book. David Annoussamy was Chief Justice in the Court of Law but that does not make his pronouncements a final authority in the realm of spirituality where he might not have an iota of experience.
Apropos of David Annoussamy's so-called review (it seems more a sponsored job) let me reproduce a few quotes in the following:
"You are not entitled to your opinion. You are entitled to your informed opinion. No one is entitled to be ignorant." ― Harlan Ellison
"Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity." ― Martin Luther King Jr.
"Living is Easy with Eyes Closed." ― John Lennon
"There are no uninteresting things, only uninterested people." ― G.K. Chesterton
"The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge." ― Stephen Hawking
"War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength." ― George Orwell
Excellent quotes!
Let me reproduce here Manoj Pavitran's review of The Lives of Sri Aurobindo; he points out the lack of "intellectual honesty or historical integrity or academic rigor" in the biography.
Anyone who is familiar with Sri Aurobindo can see that the author carefully omits quite many well-known aspects of Sri Aurobindo's life, especially what has been told by the Mother, who in my view is the foremost authority on Sri Aurobindo. The author has no difficulty in using newspaper clippings as documented evidence in his interpretations, but when it comes to documented evidence coming from the Mother, we see a great reluctance to use them and active omissions. The Mother's words may not be palatable to an academic audience, but to omit them from Sri Aurobindo's life is not intellectual honesty or historical integrity or academic rigor. Truth is truth, whether it is appealing to the academic world or not, and hiding it to please a particular audience may be good marketing strategy but lowers the standards of truth. Anyone who is familiar with Sri Aurobindo can see that the author carefully omits quite many well-known aspects of Sri Aurobindo's life, especially what has been told by the Mother, who in my view is the foremost authority on Sri Aurobindo. The author has no difficulty in using newspaper clippings as documented evidence in his interpretations, but when it comes to documented evidence coming from the Mother, we see a great reluctance to use them and active omissions. The Mother's words may not be palatable to an academic audience, but to omit them from Sri Aurobindo's life is not intellectual honesty or historical integrity or academic rigor. Truth is truth, whether it is appealing to the academic world or not, and hiding it to please a particular audience may be good marketing strategy but lowers the standards of truth.
It can be accessed at
http://sriaurobindoashram.com/Content.aspx?ContentURL=_StaticContent/SriAurobindoAshram/-09%20E-Library/-04%20Compilations/-01%20English/Critical%20Analysis%20of%20The%20Lives%20of%20Sri%20Aurobindo/-01_Reviews/A%20Review%20by%20Manoj%20Pavitran.htm
We must be extremely thankful to http://sriaurobindoashram.com/ for posting a few of the articles and comments that had appeared at different places critiquing The Lives of Sri Aurobindo. Congratulations. These can be accessed at
http://sriaurobindoashram.com/Contents.aspx?ParentCategoryName=_StaticContent/SriAurobindoAshram/-09%20E-Library/-04%20Compilations/-01%20English/Critical%20Analysis%20of%20The%20Lives%20of%20Sri%20Aurobindo/-02_Articles
It is a pity that David Annoussamy should not have read these before writing his own review of the book, giving the impression that he essentially went by the material that was supplied to him. The same can perhaps be said of Gautam Chikermane, Ashish Nandy, Sagarika Ghoshe, Ramachandra Guha, Pratap Bhanu Mehta, Romila Thapar, Jairam Ramesh, TN Chaturvedi, and a whole lot of them, some of whom were particularly very active in March/April; this looks to be true at least in the case of their early comments and media observations. It is this want of balanced and well-read view which makes their judgement suspect, if not valueless.
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Dragon Discs by Camden Town tube station: 1999/2000
Access All Areas first set up as an information and ticket hub for London's party scene at the back of a Camden record shop in 1999 before opening up a record shop in Kentish Town in 2002 and then moving to its current (until April 2018) office above Camden Market in 2006.
However, AAA was borne out of a desire to provide an interactive space and hub for party people to hangout and engage with each other at London parties share Skills & knowlwdge.. It's now more than 25 years since Amin Karim, the man behind AAA, first held an information stall – at Club Alien at the Rocket on Holloway Road in 1992 – as he sought to bring a piece of his spiritual and community-minded outlook to parties.
AAA was never primarily about selling tickets – it was about community: not just being part of one, but creating the space to nurture and foster one. Values that Amin drew from the Ismaili community in his native Uganda in the 6os and enjoyed with the squatting community in West London during the 70s.
The stalls acted as and provided a space to hangout, chat, leave feedback, get creative, find yourself or each other, have a cup of chai or any number of other things Amin thought might get people interacting with one another or relax. Such was the stall's success at Club Alien and Trancentral that other promoters were soon asking him and his partner to run stalls at their events too including: PLUR, Synergy Project and Restless Natives.
Amin then looked for a permanent base to see if the template he had successfully established at parties to provide a space for like-minded people to hang out and nurture a community could be recreated, but of course it would need to sustain itself.Amin at that time was a renowed Antique restorer specialing in Metal work period 1890s to 1930s.Kathy his wife was also restorer in her own right restoring antique jewellery.He was well established which gave him the opportunity to set a community based resource Hub away from parties.
In 1999 the owner of Dragon Discs in Camden, Rocket Ron, kindly allowed AAA to set up a small table at the back of his shop. From there AAA began selling tickets, set up a flyer stand and sell handmade crafts , jewellery ,Clubware.In Order to promote creativite everything needed to be unquie.It soon becoming the community hub that was its original intention run by volunteers and sutaining itself. For the first time AAA was invited to run an information stall at a festival: Sona Luna 2000 in Greece, which would go onto become a regular thing on top of the stalls at London parties.
As our community blossomed Dragon Discs sadly closed, so Amin opened up record shop Trackheadz in Kentish Town in 2001 and the fun continued with former Dragon Discs staff Jerome Hill, Mara Bruiser, Syber Symon, Charlie Behrens and Frank One joining the AAA crew of Amin, Johan, Ed Giles and Dan Hart, who between them ran the record shop and AAA respectively. Later recruits included Zebedee, Louise +1, Rob Stow, Ben Onken and Vicki ITA.
Trackheadz in Kentish Town: 2001-2005
For those that remember it Trackheadz was the peak of what we tried to achieve: a self-sustaining space for our community to hang out in, get party and activist information and buy tickets, records and clothes as well as our friends hand made arts and crafts. However, for those that worked and hung out there it was sometimes hard to tell when the party ended and the work began – or the other way around. But needless to say it all contributed to building and cementing a community – both inside and outside of parties – that continues to this day.
Meanwhile the stalls continued at festivals Glade and Samothraki where we provided all our usual services along with lost property, phone charging and an element of welfare for those that needed some TLC. We also started holding stalls at other large outdoor events including the Cannabis march, Anti War Demo, Reclaim the Future, May Day demo and Stop the Hiding event (anti-domestic violence event).
In December 2005 Trackheadz closed down as its lease came to an end, so we found ourselves a small office above Camden Lock market in February 2006 to continue AAA where it focused on event promotion, selling tickets and running information stalls at festivals, however, it continued to act as a space for promoters, party people and friends to connect, catch-up and converse despite most of our work now being done online.
Meanwhile the demand for our information stalls (marquees) at festivals grew taking us to some of Europe's biggest and best festivals that we were proud to be associated with: Ozora, Boom, Boomtown, Glade, Sunrise, Waveform and Sun where providing people with a level of care and courtesy was the aim of the game.
The Camden Lock office above the market: 2006-2018
Since 2013 we have wound down our activities and focused on the core business due to a family illness and bereavement, which has given reason to question what we have become and what we would like to be, not least the amount of time stuck inside the office.
So accordingly and after much thought we will close our Camden office in April 2018. With a large part of the business being conducted online we can be work from anywhere. The new found freedom will allow us to return to what we set out to do: be part of and support the party community, so expect to see us at parties a little more often catching up with old friends and being a bit more proactive in promoting the events they run or attend.
AAA Virtual Office
Party Flyer Wall


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