ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Sleepy Man Banjo Boys - Bluegrass musicians
The Sleepy Man Banjo Boys is made up of 11-year-old banjo sensation Jonny Mizzone and his brothers Robbie, 14, on fiddle, and Tommy, 15, on guitar.

Why you should listen

These days your kid can get famous on YouTube for having water sprayed at him, for being duped about his Halloween candy, and for being high off laughing gas. But what if your 8-year-old gets famous on the Internet for being an absolute genius on the banjo? So goes the story of Jonny Mizzone, who first became a YouTube sensation in early 2011 for videos of him and his brothers tearing it up playing Earl Scruggs's Flint Hill Special. It wasn't long before the press started calling.

Now Jonny, Robbie (fiddle) and Tommy (guitar), known as the Sleepy Man Banjo Boys, are 11, 14 and 15 respectively. In 2011 alone they got calls from The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Jimmy Kimmel Live and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and in the summer of 2011 they appeared as musical guests on The Late Show with David Letterman and NBC’s Today Show.

While the trio grew up in New Jersey -- which is known more for rock music than for bluegrass -- they fell in love with the unique sounds of J.D. Crowe, Ralph Stanley, Clarence White and Earl Scruggs after some creative YouTube searching. Now, having become sensations on the platform themselves, the trio has accumulated more than 17 million video views. Their first album, America’s Music, was released in September 2011 and charted top eight on the Billboard Bluegrass Album Chart. In October 2012 they released their second album, The Farthest Horizon, which cracked the top three. The group is already at work on their next album.

More profile about the speaker
Sleepy Man Banjo Boys | Speaker | TED.com
TED2013

Sleepy Man Banjo Boys: Bluegrass virtuosity from ... New Jersey?

Sleepy Man Banjo Boys: Virtuosismo em bluegrass de ... Nova Jersey?

Filmed:
7,302,577 views

Todos com menos de 16 anos, os irmãos Jonny, Robbie e Tommy Mizzone são de Nova Jersey, um estado americano que é mais conhecido pelo rock de Bruce Springsteen do que pelo bluegrass de Earl Scruggs. Mesmo assim, os irmãos começaram apresentar covers de bluegrass, e também composições originais, ainda bem jovens. Aqui eles tocam três músicas deslumbrantes em três tons diferentes, passando o solo alternadamente da rabeca ao banjo e ao violão.
- Bluegrass musicians
The Sleepy Man Banjo Boys is made up of 11-year-old banjo sensation Jonny Mizzone and his brothers Robbie, 14, on fiddle, and Tommy, 15, on guitar. Full bio

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

00:14
(Music)
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(Música)
01:57
(Applause)
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105512
3752
(Aplausos)
02:01
(Music)
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(Música)
02:21
(Applause)
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(Aplausos)
02:31
Robbie Mizzone: Thank you.
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Robbie Mizzone: Obrigado.
02:33
Tommy Mizzone: Thank you very much.
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Tommy Mizzone: Muito obrigado.
02:34
We're so excited to be here.
It's such an honor for us.
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Estamos muito animados por estar aqui.
É uma grande honra para nós.
02:36
Like he said, we're
three brothers from New Jersey --
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Como ele disse, somos três irmãos de Nova Jersey --
02:39
you know, the bluegrass
capital of the world.
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sabem, a capital mundial do bluegrass.
02:43
(Laughter)
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(Risos)
02:45
We discovered bluegrass a few years ago,
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Nós descobrimos o bluegrass há alguns anos,
02:47
and we fell in love with it.
We hope you guys will too.
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e nos apaixonamos.
Esperamos que vocês também se apaixonem.
Esta próxima música
é de nossa autoria chamada "Timelapse",
02:50
This next song is an original
we wrote called "Timelapse,"
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02:54
and it will probably live up to its name.
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e provavelmente vai fazer jus ao seu nome.
02:57
(Tuning)
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(Afinando)
03:05
(Music)
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(Música)
04:49
(Applause)
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(Aplausos)
05:01
TM: Thank you very much.
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TM: Muito obrigado.
05:04
RM: I'm just going to take
a second to introduce the band.
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RM: Apresento a banda em um segundo.
No violão, meu irmão de 15 anos, Tommy.
05:07
On guitar is my 15-year-old brother Tommy.
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05:09
(Applause)
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(Aplausos)
05:14
On banjo is 10-year-old Jonny.
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No banjo, Jonny de 10 anos.
05:17
(Applause) He's also our brother.
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(Aplausos) Ele também é meu irmão.
05:23
And I'm Robbie, and I'm 14,
and I play the fiddle.
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E eu sou Robbie, tenho 14 anos e toco rabeca.
05:26
(Applause)
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(Aplausos)
05:30
As you can see, we decided
to make it hard on ourselves,
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Como vocês podem ver,
decidimos nos propor um desafio
e selecionamos três músicas para tocar
05:33
and we chose to play three songs
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em três tons diferentes.
05:35
in three different keys.
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05:39
Yeah. I'm also going to explain,
a lot of people want to know
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Pois é. Também vou explicar,
muitas pessoas querem saber
de onde tiramos o nome Sleepy Man Banjo Boys.
05:42
where we got the name
Sleepy Man Banjo Boys from.
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05:44
So it started when Jonny was little,
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Começou quando Jonny era pequeno,
05:47
and he first started the banjo,
he would play on his back
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e começou a tocar banjo, ele tocava nas costas
05:50
with his eyes closed,
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com os olhos fechados,
05:51
and we'd say it looked
like he was sleeping.
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e dizíamos que parecia que ele estava dormindo.
05:53
So you can probably piece
the rest together.
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E vocês podem imaginar o resto provavelmente.
TM: Não entendemos na verdadeira razão disso.
05:55
TM: We can't really figure
out the reason for this.
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Pode ser porque pesa quase um milhão de toneladas.
05:58
It might have been that it
weighs about a million pounds.
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06:02
(Music)
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(Música)
07:39
(Applause)
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(Aplausos)
07:43
(Music)
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(Música)
08:25
(Applause)
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(Aplausos)
08:30
TM: Thank you very much.
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TM: Muito obrigado.
08:32
RM: Thank you.
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RM: Obrigado.
Translated by Gustavo Rocha
Reviewed by Wanderley Jesus

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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Sleepy Man Banjo Boys - Bluegrass musicians
The Sleepy Man Banjo Boys is made up of 11-year-old banjo sensation Jonny Mizzone and his brothers Robbie, 14, on fiddle, and Tommy, 15, on guitar.

Why you should listen

These days your kid can get famous on YouTube for having water sprayed at him, for being duped about his Halloween candy, and for being high off laughing gas. But what if your 8-year-old gets famous on the Internet for being an absolute genius on the banjo? So goes the story of Jonny Mizzone, who first became a YouTube sensation in early 2011 for videos of him and his brothers tearing it up playing Earl Scruggs's Flint Hill Special. It wasn't long before the press started calling.

Now Jonny, Robbie (fiddle) and Tommy (guitar), known as the Sleepy Man Banjo Boys, are 11, 14 and 15 respectively. In 2011 alone they got calls from The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Jimmy Kimmel Live and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and in the summer of 2011 they appeared as musical guests on The Late Show with David Letterman and NBC’s Today Show.

While the trio grew up in New Jersey -- which is known more for rock music than for bluegrass -- they fell in love with the unique sounds of J.D. Crowe, Ralph Stanley, Clarence White and Earl Scruggs after some creative YouTube searching. Now, having become sensations on the platform themselves, the trio has accumulated more than 17 million video views. Their first album, America’s Music, was released in September 2011 and charted top eight on the Billboard Bluegrass Album Chart. In October 2012 they released their second album, The Farthest Horizon, which cracked the top three. The group is already at work on their next album.

More profile about the speaker
Sleepy Man Banjo Boys | Speaker | TED.com