ABOUT THE SPEAKERS
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
Ethel - String quartet
Ethel is, perhaps, the first 21st-century realization of the classical string quartet.

Why you should listen

An all-star foursome, Ethel includes performers Cornelius Dufallo (violin), Ralph Farris (viola), Dorothy Lawson (cello), and Mary Rowell (violin), a mixed bag of players from classical, rock and downtown new-music circles. The powerhouse ensemble takes an unconventional approach to performance.

Says the Wall Street Journal, "Ethel ... created a world in which classical music had never grown distant, a world in which it was as fresh and direct as crowds dancing in the street."

(photo by Steve J. Sherman)

More profile about the speaker
Ethel | Speaker | TED.com
David Byrne - Musician, artist, writer
David Byrne builds an idiosyncratic world of music, art, writing and film.

Why you should listen

Musician, author, filmmaker, curator, conservationist, digital music theorist, bicycle advocate, urban designer, visual artist, humanist ... David Byrne has many ways of expressing himself -- all of them heartfelt, authentic and thought-provoking.

From his groundbreaking recording career, first with Talking Heads and then as a solo artist and collaborator, to his recent use of digital media to connnect his creations to the world, he has been meshing art and technology to create jaw-dropping, soulful masterpieces that tell a story, and often invoke his audience to create some masterpieces of their own. In a recent art installation, Playing the Building, Byrne transformed an empty building into a musical instrument, and then invited visitors to play it. 

His book Bicycle Diaries is a journal of what he thought and experienced while cycling through the cities of the world. And his 2012 book How Music Works expands on his 2010 TEDTalk to imagine how music is shaped by its time and place. 

In David Byrne's 2010 TEDTalk, the image of CBGB comes from Joseph O. Holmes' CBGB series >>  

More profile about the speaker
David Byrne | Speaker | TED.com
TED2010

David Byrne, Ethel + Thomas Dolby: "(Nothing But) Flowers" with string quartet

David Byrne śpiewa piosenkę "(Tylko) Kwiaty"

Filmed:
753,721 views

David Byrne śpiewa hit z 1988 roku zespołu "Talking Heads" pod tytułem "(Tylko) Kwiaty". Akompaniuje mu Thomas Dolby oraz kwartet smyczkowy Ethei składający się z muzyków sesyjnych TED2010.
- 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 - String quartet
Ethel is, perhaps, the first 21st-century realization of the classical string quartet. Full bio - Musician, artist, writer
David Byrne builds an idiosyncratic world of music, art, writing and film. Full bio

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

00:16
(MusicMuzyka)
0
1000
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(Muzyka)
00:37
♫ Here we standstoisko
1
22000
3000
♫ Stoimy tutaj ♫
00:41
♫ Like an AdamAdam and an EveEwa
2
26000
4000
♫ Jak Adam i Ewa ♫
00:46
WaterfallsWodospady
3
31000
4000
♫ Wodospady ♫
00:50
♫ The GardenOgród of EdenEden
4
35000
4000
♫ Ogród Edenu ♫
00:55
♫ Two foolsPrima Aprilis in love ♫
5
40000
3000
♫ Dwoje zakochanych głupców ♫
00:59
♫ So beautifulpiękny and strongsilny
6
44000
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♫ Tak piękni i silni ♫
01:04
BirdsPtaki in the treesdrzewa
7
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♫ Ptaki na drzewach ♫
01:08
♫ Are smilinguśmiechając się uponna them ♫
8
53000
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♫ Uśmiechają się do nich ♫
01:12
♫ From the agewiek of the dinosaursdinozaury
9
57000
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♫ Od ery dinozaurów ♫
01:16
CarsSamochody would runbiegać on gasolinebenzyna
10
61000
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♫ Samochody jeżdżą na benzynę ♫
01:21
♫ Where? Where have they goneodszedł? ♫
11
66000
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♫ Gdzie? Gdzie one się podziały ♫
01:25
♫ Now, there's nothing but flowerskwiaty
12
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♫ Teraz, są tylko kwiaty ♫
01:30
♫ This was a factoryfabryka
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♫ To była fabryka ♫
01:32
♫Now there are mountainsgóry and riversrzeki
14
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♫ Teraz są tam góry i rzeki ♫
01:37
♫ You got it, you got it ♫
15
82000
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♫ Masz to, masz to ♫
01:39
♫ We caughtzłapany a rattlesnakeGrzechotnik
16
84000
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♫ Złapaliśmy grzechotnika ♫
01:41
♫ Now we'vemamy got something for dinnerobiad
17
86000
4000
♫ Teraz mamy coś na kolację ♫
01:46
♫ You got it, you got it ♫
18
91000
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♫ Masz to, masz to ♫
01:48
♫ This was a parkingparking lot ♫
19
93000
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♫ To był parking ♫
01:50
♫ Now it's all coveredpokryty with flowerskwiaty
20
95000
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♫ Teraz cały pokryty jest kwiatami ♫
01:55
♫ You got it, you got it ♫
21
100000
2000
♫ Masz to, masz to ♫
01:57
♫ If this is paradiseraj
22
102000
2000
♫ Jeśli to jest raj ♫
01:59
♫ I wishżyczenie I had a lawnmowerKosiarki do trawy
23
104000
5000
♫ Chciałbym mieć kosiarkę ♫
02:04
♫ You got it, you got it ♫
24
109000
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♫ Masz to, masz to ♫
02:42
♫ This was a shoppingzakupy mallcentrum handlowe
25
147000
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♫ To było centrum handlowe ♫
02:44
♫ Now it's turnedobrócony into cornkukurydza fieldpole
26
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♫ Teraz zamieniło się w pole kukurydzy ♫
02:49
♫ You got it, you got it ♫
27
154000
2000
♫ Masz to, masz to ♫
02:51
♫ Don't leavepozostawiać me strandedosierocone here ♫
28
156000
2000
♫ Nie porzucaj mnie tutaj ♫
02:53
♫ I can't get used to this lifestylestyl życia
29
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♫ Nie przywykłem do tego życia ♫
02:59
(ApplauseAplauz)
30
164000
4000
(Brawa)
03:03
ThomasThomas DolbyDolby: DavidDavid ByrneByrne.
31
168000
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Thomas Dolby: David Byrne.
03:05
(ApplauseAplauz)
32
170000
5000
(Brawa)
Translated by Przemysław Stanisz
Reviewed by Marek Kasiak

▲Back to top

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS
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
Ethel - String quartet
Ethel is, perhaps, the first 21st-century realization of the classical string quartet.

Why you should listen

An all-star foursome, Ethel includes performers Cornelius Dufallo (violin), Ralph Farris (viola), Dorothy Lawson (cello), and Mary Rowell (violin), a mixed bag of players from classical, rock and downtown new-music circles. The powerhouse ensemble takes an unconventional approach to performance.

Says the Wall Street Journal, "Ethel ... created a world in which classical music had never grown distant, a world in which it was as fresh and direct as crowds dancing in the street."

(photo by Steve J. Sherman)

More profile about the speaker
Ethel | Speaker | TED.com
David Byrne - Musician, artist, writer
David Byrne builds an idiosyncratic world of music, art, writing and film.

Why you should listen

Musician, author, filmmaker, curator, conservationist, digital music theorist, bicycle advocate, urban designer, visual artist, humanist ... David Byrne has many ways of expressing himself -- all of them heartfelt, authentic and thought-provoking.

From his groundbreaking recording career, first with Talking Heads and then as a solo artist and collaborator, to his recent use of digital media to connnect his creations to the world, he has been meshing art and technology to create jaw-dropping, soulful masterpieces that tell a story, and often invoke his audience to create some masterpieces of their own. In a recent art installation, Playing the Building, Byrne transformed an empty building into a musical instrument, and then invited visitors to play it. 

His book Bicycle Diaries is a journal of what he thought and experienced while cycling through the cities of the world. And his 2012 book How Music Works expands on his 2010 TEDTalk to imagine how music is shaped by its time and place. 

In David Byrne's 2010 TEDTalk, the image of CBGB comes from Joseph O. Holmes' CBGB series >>  

More profile about the speaker
David Byrne | Speaker | TED.com