ABOUT THE SPEAKERS
Natalie MacMaster - Fiddler
Natalie MacMaster is a star of Cape Breton fiddling, a Canadian tradition with Scottish roots. Her energetic style and virtuoso talent has brought her star billing on the international folk circuit.

Why you should listen

It's not easy to make traditional Irish-Scottish music sound sexy and yet still seem wholesome. But Natalie MacMaster manages this feat, drawing listeners in with her playful showmanship, and then holding them rapt with astounding technical flourishes.

The niece of renowned Canadian fiddler Buddy MacMaster, she's taken up the mantle as standard-bearer for Cape Breton fiddling, a method of Scottish-style violin-playing that's evolved over the last century on this island neighbor to Nova Scotia. The tradition was on the wane when, in 1972, a CBS documentary provocatively titled The Vanishing Cape Breton Fiddler jump-started preservation efforts in the fiddling community.

MacMaster's enthusiastic charm and extraordinary skill has landed her star billing on the international folk circuit and multiple Grammy nominations. She's released nine albums, including Yours Truly (2006), Natalie and Buddy MacMaster (2005) and My Roots Are Showing (1998). She's toured with countless performers, including the Chieftains, Faith Hill, Carlos Santana and Alison Krauss, and has been awarded two Juno Awards (Canada's equivalent to the Grammy).

More profile about the speaker
Natalie MacMaster | Speaker | TED.com
Thomas Dolby - Electronic music pioneer
Thomas Dolby has spent his career at the intersection of music and technology. He was an early star on MTV, then moved to Silicon Valley, then went back on the road with his album, "A Map of the Floating City."

Why you should listen

Perhaps best known for blinding us with science, Thomas Dolby has always blurred the lines between composition and invention. As a London teenager, Tom Robertson was fascinated with the convergence of music and technology. His experiments with an assortment of keyboards, synthesizers and cassette players led his friends to dub him “Dolby.” That same fascination later drove him to become an electronic musician and multimedia artist whose groundbreaking work fused music with computer technology and video. Two decades, several film scores, five Grammy nominations and countless live-layered sound loops later, it's clear Dolby's innovations have changed the sound of popular music.

In the 1990s, Dolby re-created himself as a digital-musical entrepreneur, founding Beatnik, which developed the polyphonic ringtone software used in more than half a billion cell phones. From 2001 to 2012, Dolby served as TED's Music Director, programming great music for the TED stage, assembling a wide variety of house bands and collaborations to play between speakers. At TED2010, backed by the string quarter Ethel, he premiered the song "Love Is a Loaded Pistol," from his sweeping, A Map of the Floating City. The album marked his return to recording and touring after a 15-year hiatus, and used seriously retro technology -- '40s-era oscilloscopes and Royal Navy field-test equipment -- to control modern synthesizers, in shows at once nostalgic and cutting edge.

In 2014, Dolby took on a new name: professor. He was named the Homewood Professor of the Arts at Johns Hopkins University, teaching the course "Sound on Film."

More profile about the speaker
Thomas Dolby | Speaker | TED.com
TED2002

Natalie MacMaster: Cape Breton fiddling in reel time

Natalie MacMaster fiedelt die Geige im Reel-Takt

Filmed:
832,973 views

Die Violonistin Natalie MacMaster und der TED-Dirigent Thomas Dolby spielen Dolbys Song "Blue is the River" ("Blau ist der Fluss") im folgenden himmlischen Duett - und mit einer kleinen Tanzeinlage.
- Fiddler
Natalie MacMaster is a star of Cape Breton fiddling, a Canadian tradition with Scottish roots. Her energetic style and virtuoso talent has brought her star billing on the international folk circuit. Full bio - Electronic music pioneer
Thomas Dolby has spent his career at the intersection of music and technology. He was an early star on MTV, then moved to Silicon Valley, then went back on the road with his album, "A Map of the Floating City." Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

00:25
♫ Like the heatherHeather
0
0
3000
♫ Wie das Heidekraut
00:28
♫ on the hillsideHang
1
3000
4000
auf dem Hügel,
00:32
♫ as they drovefuhr us ♫
2
7000
3000
als sie uns von
00:35
♫ from the HighlandsHochland
3
10000
4000
den Highlands vertrieben,
00:39
♫ Like the iceEis flowfließen
4
14000
4000
wie der Eisstrom
00:43
♫ from the ArcticArktis
5
18000
3000
aus der Arktis,
00:46
♫ where we landedgelandet
6
21000
4000
wo wir
00:50
♫ in NewfoundlandNeufundland
7
25000
5000
in Neufundland landeten,
00:55
♫ There's a colorFarbe
8
30000
5000
so ist die Farbe
01:00
♫ to my sorrowTrauer
9
35000
3000
meines Leids,
01:03
♫ There's a nameName for ♫
10
38000
4000
so ist der Name
01:07
♫ all this sadnessTraurigkeit
11
42000
3000
für all diese Trauer.
01:10
♫ Like the oceanOzean
12
45000
4000
Wie die See
01:14
♫ in betweenzwischen us ♫
13
49000
3000
zwischen uns
01:17
♫ I am blueblau
14
52000
4000
bin auch ich traurig.
01:25
BlueBlau is a riverFluss
15
60000
4000
Blau ist ein Fluss,
01:29
BlueBlau rememberedfiel ein
16
64000
4000
traurig die Erinnerung daran,
01:33
BlueBlau waterWasser
17
68000
5000
blau sein Wasser
01:38
runningLaufen clearklar
18
73000
3000
und klar sein Lauf,
01:41
BlueBlau like a planetPlanet
19
76000
4000
blau wie ein Planet
01:45
♫ to a spacemanSpaceman
20
80000
3000
für einen Raumfahrer,
01:48
BlueBlau riverFluss
21
83000
4000
traurig der Strom
01:52
♫ of my tearsTränen
22
87000
4000
meiner Tränen. ♫
01:56
(FiddleGeige and synthesizerSynthesizer)
23
91000
33000
(Geige und Synthesizer)
02:29
♫ So I camekam here ♫
24
124000
3000
♫ So kam ich hierher
02:32
♫ to the cityStadt
25
127000
4000
in die Stadt
02:36
♫ where the dreamTraum burnsbrennt
26
131000
4000
wo die Träume brennen
02:40
♫ like a furnaceOfen
27
135000
4000
wie Hochöfen.
02:44
♫ And I dazzledgeblendet
28
139000
4000
Und ich funkelte
02:48
♫ in these darkdunkel streetsStraßen
29
143000
3000
in diesen dunklen Straßen
02:51
♫ like a diamondDiamant
30
146000
5000
wie ein Diamant
02:56
♫ in a coalfaceFront
31
151000
4000
in einem Kohlenschacht.
03:00
♫ Then the coldkalt windWind
32
155000
4000
Dann wehte der kalte Wind
03:04
♫ from the islandsIrén
33
159000
3000
von den Inseln
03:07
blewblies a stormSturm cloudWolke
34
162000
4000
eine Sturmwolke
03:11
acrossüber the newneu moonMond
35
166000
5000
über den Neumond
03:16
♫ Like the gunGewehr smokeRauch
36
171000
4000
wie ein rauchender Colt
03:20
aboveüber the housesHäuser
37
175000
3000
über die Häuser
03:23
♫ in my home ♫
38
178000
4000
in mein Zimmer hinein.
03:30
BlueBlau is a riverFluss
39
185000
4000
Blau ist ein Fluss,
03:34
BlueBlau rememberedfiel ein
40
189000
5000
traurig die Erinnerung daran,
03:39
BlueBlau waterWasser
41
194000
4000
blau sein Wasser
03:43
runningLaufen clearklar
42
198000
3000
und klar sein Lauf,
03:46
BlueBlau like a planetPlanet
43
201000
4000
blau wie ein Planet
03:50
♫ to a spacemanSpaceman
44
205000
4000
für einen Raumfahrer,
03:54
BlueBlau riverFluss
45
209000
5000
traurig der Strom
03:59
♫ of my tearsTränen
46
214000
3000
meiner Tränen,
04:02
BlueBlau riverFluss
47
217000
5000
traurig der Strom
04:07
♫ of my tearsTränen
48
222000
3000
meiner Tränen. ♫
04:10
(FiddleGeige and synthesizerSynthesizer)
49
225000
61000
(Geige und Synthsizer)
05:11
(ApplauseApplaus)
50
286000
7000
(Applaus)
Translated by Wolf Ruschke
Reviewed by Marlies Gabriele Prinzl

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ABOUT THE SPEAKERS
Natalie MacMaster - Fiddler
Natalie MacMaster is a star of Cape Breton fiddling, a Canadian tradition with Scottish roots. Her energetic style and virtuoso talent has brought her star billing on the international folk circuit.

Why you should listen

It's not easy to make traditional Irish-Scottish music sound sexy and yet still seem wholesome. But Natalie MacMaster manages this feat, drawing listeners in with her playful showmanship, and then holding them rapt with astounding technical flourishes.

The niece of renowned Canadian fiddler Buddy MacMaster, she's taken up the mantle as standard-bearer for Cape Breton fiddling, a method of Scottish-style violin-playing that's evolved over the last century on this island neighbor to Nova Scotia. The tradition was on the wane when, in 1972, a CBS documentary provocatively titled The Vanishing Cape Breton Fiddler jump-started preservation efforts in the fiddling community.

MacMaster's enthusiastic charm and extraordinary skill has landed her star billing on the international folk circuit and multiple Grammy nominations. She's released nine albums, including Yours Truly (2006), Natalie and Buddy MacMaster (2005) and My Roots Are Showing (1998). She's toured with countless performers, including the Chieftains, Faith Hill, Carlos Santana and Alison Krauss, and has been awarded two Juno Awards (Canada's equivalent to the Grammy).

More profile about the speaker
Natalie MacMaster | Speaker | TED.com
Thomas Dolby - Electronic music pioneer
Thomas Dolby has spent his career at the intersection of music and technology. He was an early star on MTV, then moved to Silicon Valley, then went back on the road with his album, "A Map of the Floating City."

Why you should listen

Perhaps best known for blinding us with science, Thomas Dolby has always blurred the lines between composition and invention. As a London teenager, Tom Robertson was fascinated with the convergence of music and technology. His experiments with an assortment of keyboards, synthesizers and cassette players led his friends to dub him “Dolby.” That same fascination later drove him to become an electronic musician and multimedia artist whose groundbreaking work fused music with computer technology and video. Two decades, several film scores, five Grammy nominations and countless live-layered sound loops later, it's clear Dolby's innovations have changed the sound of popular music.

In the 1990s, Dolby re-created himself as a digital-musical entrepreneur, founding Beatnik, which developed the polyphonic ringtone software used in more than half a billion cell phones. From 2001 to 2012, Dolby served as TED's Music Director, programming great music for the TED stage, assembling a wide variety of house bands and collaborations to play between speakers. At TED2010, backed by the string quarter Ethel, he premiered the song "Love Is a Loaded Pistol," from his sweeping, A Map of the Floating City. The album marked his return to recording and touring after a 15-year hiatus, and used seriously retro technology -- '40s-era oscilloscopes and Royal Navy field-test equipment -- to control modern synthesizers, in shows at once nostalgic and cutting edge.

In 2014, Dolby took on a new name: professor. He was named the Homewood Professor of the Arts at Johns Hopkins University, teaching the course "Sound on Film."

More profile about the speaker
Thomas Dolby | Speaker | TED.com