ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Kaki King - Guitarist
Kaki King combines jaw-dropping guitar work with dreamy, searching songwriting.

Why you should listen

Kaki King's percussive technique (guitar geeks compare it to Preston Reed's; everyone else compares it to Eddie Van Halen's) drives her songs forward, while layers of overdubs and her own soft vocals create a shimmering cloud of sound.

King's work on the soundtrack for 2007's Into the Wild was nominated for a Golden Globe, along with contributors Michael Brook and Eddie Vedder. Her groundbreaking multimedia work The Neck Is a Bridge to the Body uses projection mapping to present the guitar as an ontological tabula rasa in a creation myth unlike any other.

More profile about the speaker
Kaki King | Speaker | TED.com
TED2008

Kaki King: Playing "Pink Noise" on guitar

Kaki King interprète son nouveau single rock : "Pink Noise".

Filmed:
1,191,453 views

Kaki King, la première femme à apparaitre sur la liste des "dieux de la guitare" du magazine Rolling Stone, interprète plusieurs morceaux en live, à TED2008. Parmi d'autres, le morceau qui l'a fait connaître : "Playing with Pink Noise". Sa maîtrise de la guitare est le résultat d'une virtuosité stupéfiante alliée à une technique d'exception.
- Guitarist
Kaki King combines jaw-dropping guitar work with dreamy, searching songwriting. Full bio

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

00:14
I was thinkingen pensant about my placeendroit in the universeunivers,
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Je pensais à ma place dans l'Univers
00:17
and about my first thought about what infinityinfini mightpourrait mean,
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et l'une de mes premières pensées concernait le sens du mot infini,
00:24
when I was a childenfant.
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quand j'étais un enfant.
00:27
And I thought that if time could reachatteindre
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Je pensais que si le temps pouvait s'étendre
00:31
forwardsvers l’avant and backwardsen arrière infinitelyinfiniment,
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en avant et en arrière jusqu'à l'infini,
00:33
doesn't that mean that
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cela ne voulait-il pas dire
00:35
everychaque pointpoint in time is really infinitelyinfiniment smallpetit,
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que chaque point dans le temps est infiniment petit,
00:38
and thereforedonc somewhatquelque peu meaninglesssans signification.
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et donc, quelque part, dénué de sens?
00:40
So we don't really have a placeendroit in the universeunivers,
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Nous n'avons donc pas réellement de place dans l'univers,
00:42
as farloin as on a time lineligne.
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sur une échelle de temps.
00:44
But nothing elseautre does eithernon plus.
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Mais rien d'autre n'a de place non plus.
00:46
ThereforeC’est pourquoi everychaque momentmoment really is the mostles plus importantimportant momentmoment
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Donc, chaque moment est réellement le moment le plus important
00:49
that's ever happenedarrivé, includingcomprenant this momentmoment right now.
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qui ait jamais existé, entre autres ce moment précis.
00:52
And so thereforedonc this musicla musique you're about to hearentendre
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Et donc, la musique que vous allez écouter
00:54
is maybe the mostles plus importantimportant musicla musique
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est peut-être la musique la plus importante
00:56
you'lltu vas ever hearentendre in your life.
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que vous ayez jamais entendue de votre vie.
00:59
(LaughterRires)
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(Rires)
01:00
(ApplauseApplaudissements)
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(Applaudissements)
04:10
(ApplauseApplaudissements)
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04:13
Thank you.
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Merci.
04:15
(ApplauseApplaudissements)
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08:27
(ApplauseApplaudissements)
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08:56
For those of you who I'll be fortunatechanceux enoughassez to meetrencontrer afterwardsensuite,
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Pour ceux que j'aurai la chance de rencontrer après ce concert,
09:00
you could please refrains’abstenir from sayingen disant,
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pourriez-vous éviter de dire :
09:02
"Oh my god, you're so much shorterplus court in realréal life."
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"Oh mon dieu, vous êtes beaucoup plus petite en vraie."
09:06
(LaughterRires)
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(Rires)
09:09
Because it's like the stageétape is an opticaloptique illusionillusion,
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Parce que cette scène semble créer une illusion d'optique.
09:12
for some reasonraison.
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pour une raison quelconque.
09:14
(LaughterRires)
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(Rires)
09:18
SomewhatUn peu like the curvingcourbant of the universeunivers.
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Quelque chose comme la courbure de l'univers.
09:20
I don't know what it is. I get askeda demandé in interviewsinterviews a lot,
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Je ne sais pas exactement. On me le demande beaucoup en interview :
09:23
"My god, you're guitarsguitare are so giganticgigantesque!"
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"Mon dieu, vos guitares sont vraiment gigantesques!"
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(LaughterRires)
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"You mustdoit get them custompersonnalisé madefabriqué -- specialspécial, humongousHumongous guitarsguitare."
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"Vous commandez sûrement ces énormes guitares sur mesure."
09:30
(LaughterRires)
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14:21
(ApplauseApplaudissements)
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14:24
Thank you very much.
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Merci beaucoup.
14:26
(ApplauseApplaudissements)
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(Applaudissements)
Translated by Yann Jouitteau
Reviewed by eric vautier

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ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Kaki King - Guitarist
Kaki King combines jaw-dropping guitar work with dreamy, searching songwriting.

Why you should listen

Kaki King's percussive technique (guitar geeks compare it to Preston Reed's; everyone else compares it to Eddie Van Halen's) drives her songs forward, while layers of overdubs and her own soft vocals create a shimmering cloud of sound.

King's work on the soundtrack for 2007's Into the Wild was nominated for a Golden Globe, along with contributors Michael Brook and Eddie Vedder. Her groundbreaking multimedia work The Neck Is a Bridge to the Body uses projection mapping to present the guitar as an ontological tabula rasa in a creation myth unlike any other.

More profile about the speaker
Kaki King | Speaker | TED.com

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