ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Naturally 7 - A capella ensemble
The group Naturally 7 practices vocal play -- the art of using the human voice to mimic instruments. It's as if a beatboxing troupe decided they could "-box" a whole orchestra: flute, horns, drums, guitar -- building a vocal wall of sound.

Why you should listen

The men of Naturally 7 can sing like a dream. But what you might not expect from this vocal group is what else they do -- their voices contain multitudes of instruments, from a glorious trumpet to a full drum kit (with a side of turntables). They call it "vocal play" -- the art of creating instrumental music with the human voice. It's an evolutionary step beyond beatboxing, which is a solo pursuit -- these seven musicians are a tight orchestra.

Naturally 7's sonic range is clear even by reading the member lineup: Roger "N'glish" Thomas is a baritone and rapper; Rod Eldridge handles tenor, trumpet and scratching; Warren Thomas brings percussion, guitar and a third tenor. Baritone Dwight Stewart; tenors Jamal Reed and Garfield Buckley (who also plays harmonica); and bass Armand Hutton round out the group.

More profile about the speaker
Naturally 7 | Speaker | TED.com
TED2009

Naturally 7: A full-band beatbox

Naturally 7 beatbox toute une bande

Filmed:
1,907,500 views

Unique en son genre, le groupe de R&B Naturally 7 beatbox vaut un orchestre d'instruments pour mettre l'ambiance avec leur chanson, "Fly Baby."
- A capella ensemble
The group Naturally 7 practices vocal play -- the art of using the human voice to mimic instruments. It's as if a beatboxing troupe decided they could "-box" a whole orchestra: flute, horns, drums, guitar -- building a vocal wall of sound. Full bio

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

01:22
♫ I think I'm readyprêt to do my thing ♫
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♫ Je pense que je suis prêt à faire mon truc ♫
01:24
♫ I think I'm readyprêt to take my chanceschances
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♫ Je pense que je suis prêt à saisir ma chance ♫
01:27
♫ I've been diningsalle à manger out and all stresseda souligné out ♫
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♫ J'ai diné dehors et je suis completement stressé ♫™
01:29
DueDue to the circumstancesconditions. See? ♫
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♫ En raison des circonstances. Tu vois? ♫
01:32
♫ I gottaje dois get up, get up, get up, get up ♫
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♫ Je dois me lever, lever, lever, lever ♫
01:38
WakeSillage up, wakeréveiller up, wakeréveiller up, wakeréveiller up ♫
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♫ Réveiller, réveiller, réveiller, réveiller ♫
01:43
♫ I see what you're sayingen disant
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♫ Je vois ce que tu dis ♫
01:45
♫ We sentenvoyé a demodémo to the worldmonde, they said it soundsdes sons like Take 6 ♫
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♫ Nous avons envoyé une démo au monde, ils ont dit qu'il ressemble à Take 6 ♫½
01:47
♫ I said "HoldMaintenez on, wait a minuteminute, I'll be back with the remixremix" ♫
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♫ J'ai dit: "Attends, attends une minute, je serai de retour avec le remix" ♫
01:50
♫ They looking at us funnydrôle, we can't make any moneyargent
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♫ Ils nous regardent bizarrement, nous ne pouvons pas faire de l'argent ♫
01:52
♫ It tooka pris us yearsannées to figurefigure out that we was dealingtransaction with dummiesnuls
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♫ Il nous a fallu des années à comprendre, qu'on nous traitait comme des idiots
01:54
♫ They didn't understandcomprendre the sounddu son from the BronxBronx, that's the boogieboogie down ♫
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♫ Ils ne comprenaient pas le son du Bronx, c'est le "Boogie Down" ♫
01:57
♫ to HuntsvilleHuntsville, AlabamaAlabama, there's no circlescercles in my plannerPlanificateur de, so ♫
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♫ à Huntsville, Alabama, il n'y a pas de cercles dans mon agenda, donc ♫
02:00
♫ It was time to make the productproduit, so we hookedaccroché up with TownsendTownsend
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♫ Il était temps de sortir un tube, on a donc fait affaire avec Townsend ♫
02:02
MadeFaites a dealtraiter with JohnJohn NealNeal, on the roadroute soldvendu tenDix thousandmille
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♫ conclu un accord avec John Neal, sur la route vendu dix mille ♫
02:05
WBAWBA, that meansveux dire a tripvoyage to NashvilleNashville
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♫ WBA, cela signifie un voyage à Nashville ♫
02:07
FestplatteFestplatte showedmontré up and said them boysgarçons are naturalsNaturals
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♫ Festplatte apparu et leur a dit que les garçons sont naturels ♫
02:10
♫ Can you hearentendre what they were hearingaudition? See what they were seeingvoyant? ♫
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♫ Pouvez-vous entendre ce qu'ils ont entendu? Voir ce qu'ils voyaient? ♫
02:12
♫ From BronxBronx to BerlinBerlin, we tooka pris the tourtour EuropeanEuropéenne
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♫ Du Bronx à Berlin, nous avons fait une tournée européenne ♫
02:15
♫ All vocalvocal yeah, we widitwidit, call the albumalbum "What is it?" ♫
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♫ A capella yeah, on l'a fait, on a appelé l'album "Qu'est-ce que c'est?" ♫
02:17
♫ With SarahSarah ConnorConnor, setensemble the goalobjectif for numbernombre one and we hitfrappé it ♫
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♫ Avec Sarah Connor, on s'est fixé l'objectif d'être numéro un et on a cartonné ♫
02:19
♫ But now it's KevKeV, SimSIM, DrewDrew, StewRagoût, time for a newNouveau day ♫
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♫ Mais maintenant, c'est Kev, Sim, Drew, Stew, le temps pour une nouvelle journée ♫
02:22
RingBague the alarmalarme, hitfrappé 'em'em on SkypeSkype or a two-waybidirectionnelle
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♫ Sonne l'alarme, chope-les sur Skype ou d'une autre manière ♫
02:25
SungChanté by the wordsmots, we readyprêt to flymouche! ♫
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♫ Chanté par les mots, on est prêts à voler! ♫
02:28
FlyMouche babybébé! Time to leavelaisser that nestnid
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♫ Vole bébé! Le temps de quitter ce nid ♫
02:30
FlyMouche babybébé! This ain'tn'est pas no time to restdu repos
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♫ Vole bébé! Ce n'est pas le temps de se reposer ♫
02:32
♫ Come on flymouche babybébé, we got work to do ♫
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♫ Vole bébé! Nous avons du travail à faire ♫
02:35
♫ Here we go, spreadpropager my wingsailes and ... ♫
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♫ Ici nous allons, étends mes ailes et ... ♫
02:37
FlyMouche babybébé! Time to leavelaisser that nestnid
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♫ Vole bébé! Le temps de quitter ce nid ♫
02:40
FlyMouche babybébé! This ain'tn'est pas no time to restdu repos. Come on ♫
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♫ Vole bébé! Ce n'est pas le temps de se reposer. Vas-y ♫
02:43
FlyMouche babybébé! We got work to do ♫
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♫ Vole bébé! Nous avons du travail à faire ♫
02:45
♫ Here we go. SpreadPropagation my wingsailes and flymouche. One more time ♫
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♫ Ici nous allons, étends mes ailes.Une fois de plus ♫
02:50
FlyMouche babybébé! Time to leavelaisser that nestnid
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♫ Vole bébé! Le temps de quitter ce nid ♫
02:52
FlyMouche babybébé! This ain'tn'est pas no time to restdu repos
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♫ Vole bébé! Ce n'est pas le temps de se reposer ♫
02:55
FlyMouche babybébé! We got work to do ♫
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♫ Vole bébé! Nous avons du travail à faire ♫
02:57
♫ Here we go, spreadpropager my wingsailes and ... ♫
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♫ Ici nous allons, étends mes ailes et ... ♫
03:00
FlyMouche babybébé! FlyMouche babybébé flymouche
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♫ Vole bébé! Vole bébé vole ♫
03:03
FlyMouche babybébé! FlyMouche babybébé highhaute
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♫ Vole bébé! Vole bébé élevé ♫
03:05
FlyMouche babybébé! Up to the skyciel
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♫ Vole bébé! jusqu'à au ciel ♫
03:08
SpreadPropagation my wingsailes and flymouche
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♫ Étends mes ailes et vole ♫
03:11
InstrumentalInstrumental!
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Instrumental!
03:31
♫ We're readyprêt to flymouche! ♫
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♫ Nous sommes prêts à voler! ♫
03:34
(ApplauseApplaudissements)
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(Applaudissements)
03:45
Thank you very much.
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Merci beaucoup.
03:47
(ApplauseApplaudissements)
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(Applaudissements)
Translated by Daniel Burón
Reviewed by Christelle SANTARNECCHI

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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Naturally 7 - A capella ensemble
The group Naturally 7 practices vocal play -- the art of using the human voice to mimic instruments. It's as if a beatboxing troupe decided they could "-box" a whole orchestra: flute, horns, drums, guitar -- building a vocal wall of sound.

Why you should listen

The men of Naturally 7 can sing like a dream. But what you might not expect from this vocal group is what else they do -- their voices contain multitudes of instruments, from a glorious trumpet to a full drum kit (with a side of turntables). They call it "vocal play" -- the art of creating instrumental music with the human voice. It's an evolutionary step beyond beatboxing, which is a solo pursuit -- these seven musicians are a tight orchestra.

Naturally 7's sonic range is clear even by reading the member lineup: Roger "N'glish" Thomas is a baritone and rapper; Rod Eldridge handles tenor, trumpet and scratching; Warren Thomas brings percussion, guitar and a third tenor. Baritone Dwight Stewart; tenors Jamal Reed and Garfield Buckley (who also plays harmonica); and bass Armand Hutton round out the group.

More profile about the speaker
Naturally 7 | Speaker | TED.com