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 cântă: (Nothing But) Flowers ["(Numai) Flori"]

Filmed:
753,721 views

David Byrne cântă hitul celor de la Talking Heads din 1988, "(Nothing But) Flowers" ["(Numai) Flori"]. E acompaniat de Thomas Dolby şi quartetul de coarde Ethel, care au format formaţia casei la 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
(MusicMuzica)
0
1000
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(Muzică)
00:37
♫ Here we standstand
1
22000
3000
♫ Aici stăm ♫
00:41
♫ Like an AdamAdam and an EveEva
2
26000
4000
♫ Ca un Adam şi o Evă ♫
00:46
WaterfallsCascade
3
31000
4000
♫ Cascade ♫
00:50
♫ The GardenGradina of EdenEden
4
35000
4000
♫ Grădina Raiului ♫
00:55
♫ Two foolsproşti in love ♫
5
40000
3000
♫ Doi nebuni îndrăgostiţi ♫
00:59
♫ So beautifulfrumoasa and strongputernic
6
44000
4000
♫ Atât de frumos şi puternic ♫
01:04
BirdsPăsări in the treescopaci
7
49000
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♫ Păsări în copaci ♫
01:08
♫ Are smilingzâmbitor uponpe them ♫
8
53000
4000
♫ Zâmbesc asupra lor ♫
01:12
♫ From the agevârstă of the dinosaursdinozauri
9
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♫ Din epoca dinozaurilor ♫
01:16
CarsMasini would runalerga on gasolinebenzină
10
61000
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♫ Maşinile ar funcţiona pe benzină ♫
01:21
♫ Where? Where have they goneplecat? ♫
11
66000
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♫ Unde? Unde au plecat? ♫
01:25
♫ Now, there's nothing but flowersflori
12
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♫ Acum nu-i nimic decât flori ♫
01:30
♫ This was a factoryfabrică
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♫ Asta era o fabrică ♫
01:32
♫Now there are mountainsmunţi and riversrâuri
14
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♫ Acum sunt munţi şi râuri ♫
01:37
♫ You got it, you got it ♫
15
82000
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♫ Te-ai prins, te-ai prins ♫
01:39
♫ We caughtprins a rattlesnakeşarpe cu clopoţei
16
84000
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♫ Am prins un şarpe cu clopoţei ♫
01:41
♫ Now we'vene-am got something for dinnercină
17
86000
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Acum avem ceva pentru cină ♫
01:46
♫ You got it, you got it ♫
18
91000
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♫ Te-ai prins, te-ai prins ♫
01:48
♫ This was a parkingparcare lot ♫
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93000
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♫ Asta era o parcare ♫
01:50
♫ Now it's all coveredacoperit with flowersflori
20
95000
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♫ Acum totul e acoperit cu flori ♫
01:55
♫ You got it, you got it ♫
21
100000
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♫ Te-ai prins, te-ai prins ♫
01:57
♫ If this is paradiseparadis
22
102000
2000
♫ Dacă ăsta e raiul ♫
01:59
♫ I wishdori I had a lawnmowertuns iarba
23
104000
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♫ Aş vrea să fi avut o maşină de tuns iarba ♫
02:04
♫ You got it, you got it ♫
24
109000
2000
♫ Te-ai prins, te-ai prins ♫
02:42
♫ This was a shoppingcumpărături mallcentru comercial
25
147000
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♫ Ăsta era un mall ♫
02:44
♫ Now it's turnedîntoarse into cornporumb fieldcamp
26
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♫ Acum s-a transformat într-un câmp cu porumb ♫
02:49
♫ You got it, you got it ♫
27
154000
2000
♫ Te-ai prins, te-ai prins ♫
02:51
♫ Don't leavepărăsi me strandedeşuate here ♫
28
156000
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♫ Nu mă abandona aici ♫
02:53
♫ I can't get used to this lifestylemod de viata
29
158000
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♫ Nu mă pot obişnui cu stilul ăsta de viaţă ♫
02:59
(ApplauseAplauze)
30
164000
4000
(Aplauze)
03:03
ThomasThomas DolbyDolby: DavidDavid ByrneByrne.
31
168000
2000
Thomas Dolby: David Byrne.
03:05
(ApplauseAplauze)
32
170000
5000
(Aplauze)
Translated by Brandusa Gheorghe
Reviewed by Magda Marcu

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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