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
TED2010

Thomas Dolby: "Love Is a Loaded Pistol"

Томас Долбі: ''Каханне -- зараджаны пісталет''

Filmed:
618,579 views

Дзеля свайго першага за дзесяцігоддзе студыйнага альбома, музычны інаватар Томас Долбі пісаў музыку ў надзвычайна натхняльным месцы -- адноўлёным ратавальным чоўне. Томас упершыню прэзентуе адну з сваіх цудоўных, мемуарных песень з гэтага альбома, якая распавядае аб начы з легендай. Музычна яму акампануюць члены сучаснага струннага квартэту 'Этэль'.
- 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

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

00:21
I've been playing TED for nearly a decade,
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Дзеля TED я граю ўжо
амаль з дзесяцігоддзе.
00:24
and I've very rarely played
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Рэдка калі я граю
00:27
any new songs of my own.
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якую-небудзь новую сваю песню.
00:30
And that was largely because there weren't any.
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І гэта збольшага таму, што
новых песень і не было.
00:33
(Laughter)
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(Смех)
00:35
So I've been busy with a couple of projects,
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Я працую над некаторымі праектамі,
00:37
and one of them was this:
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адным з якіх быў гэты:
00:39
The Nutmeg.
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The Nutmeg (мускатны арэх)
00:41
A 1930s ship's lifeboat,
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Гэта ратавальны човен 30-ых гадоў,
00:43
which I've been restoring in the garden
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які я аднаўляю ў садзе
00:45
of my beach house in England.
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свайго пляжнага дома ў Англіі.
00:47
And, so now,
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Дык вось, калі шапкі
00:49
when the polar ice caps melt,
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палярнага снегу растопяцца,
00:52
my recording studio will rise up like an ark,
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мая гуказапісваючая студыя
ўздымецца як човен,
00:56
and I'll float off into the drowned world
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і я паплыву па затопленым свеце,
00:58
like a character from a J.G. Ballard novel.
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як герой раману Д.Г. Балларда.
01:01
During the day,
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Удзень
01:03
the Nutmeg collects energy
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Nutmeg запасіцца энергіяй
01:05
from solar panels on the roof of the wheelhouse,
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праз сонечныя батарэі, замацаваныя
на даху каравана,
01:08
and from a 450 watt turbine
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і праз 450-ватавую турбіну
01:10
up the mast.
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на мачце.
01:12
So that when it gets dark,
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Такім чынам, калі цямнее
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I've got plenty of power.
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ў мяне ўжо шмат энергіі.
01:16
And I can light up the Nutmeg like a beacon.
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Я ўключаю Nutmeg, які
робіцца маяком,
01:19
And so I go in there until the early hours of the morning,
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і застаюся ў ім да самага рання,
01:22
and I work on new songs.
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працую над новымі песнямі.
01:25
I'd like to play to you guys,
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Я б жадаў зыграць для вас, спадарства,
01:27
if you're willing to be the first audience to hear it.
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песню, якую яшчэ ніхто не чуў.
01:29
(Applause)
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(Апладысменты)
01:35
It's about Billie Holiday.
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Яна пра Білі Холідэй.
01:37
And it appears that,
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Справа ў тым,
01:39
some night in 1947
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што адной ноччу, ў 1947 годзе
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she left her physical space
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яна пакінула сваю фізічную прастору,
01:45
and was missing all night,
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і знікла на ўсю ноч.
01:47
until she reappeared in the morning.
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А ўранку вырнулася зноў.
01:50
But I know where she was.
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Але я ведаю, дзе яна
знаходзілася.
01:52
She was with me on my lifeboat.
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Яна была са мной на
ратавальным чоўне.
01:55
And she was hot.
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Палкая жанчына.
02:00
(Music)
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(Музыка)
02:27
♫ Billie crept softly ♫
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Білі кралася лёгка
02:30
♫ into my waking arms ♫
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ў мае пільныя абдымкі.
02:34
♫ warm like a sip of sour mash ♫
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Цёплая, як глыток віскі.
02:40
♫ Strange fruit for ♫
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Дзіўны фрукт
02:43
♫ a sweet hunk of trash ♫
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для прагнага да асалоды дурня.
02:51
♫ Panic at the stage door ♫
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Паніка каля дзвярэй да сцэны
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♫ of Carnegie Hall ♫
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ў Карнэгі-хол.
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♫ "Famous Jazz Singer Gone AWOL" ♫
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"Знакамітая спявачка джазу знікла
без паведамлення."
03:05
♫ Must have left the building ♫
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Хутчэй за ўсё пакінула будынак,
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♫ body and soul ♫
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цела і душу.
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♫ On a creaky ♫
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На рыплівым
03:19
♫ piano stool tonight ♫
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стуле да піаніна,
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♫ as the moon is my ♫
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у час, калі толькі луна
03:24
♫ only witness ♫
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была маім сведкам.
03:29
♫ She was breathing ♫
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Яна дыхала
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♫ in my ear ♫
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ў маё вуха
03:35
♫ "This time it's love" ♫
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"У гэты раз -- гэта каханне."
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♫ But love is a loaded pistol ♫
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Але каханне -- зараджаны пісталет.
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♫ By daybreak she's gone ♫
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Яна сышла досветку.
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♫ Over the frozen river, home ♫
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Праз замерзлую раку, дамоў.
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♫ Me and Johnny Walker ♫
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Я ды Джоні Ўолкер
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♫ See in the new age ♫
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глядзім у новы час
04:02
♫ alone ♫
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у адзіноце.
04:08
♫ Stay with me ♫
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Застанься са мной
04:11
♫ again tonight ♫
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сёння ўначы зноў.
04:14
♫ Billie, time, ♫
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Білі, час,
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♫ time is a wily trickster ♫
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час -- хітры жартаўнік.
04:21
♫ Still an echo ♫
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І толькі рэха
04:24
♫ in my heart says, ♫
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ў маім сэрцы паўтарае:
04:27
♫ "This time it's love" ♫
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"У гэты раз -- гэта каханне."
04:40
(Applause)
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(Апладысменты)
Translated by Maryia Anishchankava
Reviewed by Hanna Baradzina

▲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