I defy ANYone to watch that without tears dripping off their chins.
Carmichael
Wow.
You and me both Tim Harris. It’s made my day. Thank you.
Cressida
Anyone catch what language they’re singing in? I’ve never heard it in anything other than German.
Rob
@1, 2 and 3 – Yeah sure I thought. Overly sentimental I thought. Then the swallowing started, then my reading glasses fogged, then my vision blurred. As the final notes rang out a single tear rolled down my cheek. Dammit, now I have to hand in my hardened bastard card.
Jim Baerg
Cressida: I asked that on the You Tube channel & got the answer ‘Catalan’.
I’m still wondering if it is a fairly direct translation from the German.
The video Ophelia posted has been one of my favourites for a few years.
Ooooh. I ended up spending an hour or more watching flash mob videos in bed last night – on my phone, with headphones. (Headphones make all the difference.) I especially like the Nürnberg one from 2014. There you can hear “An die Freude” in the original language. It also features a kid up a light pole.
Another one: Bohemian Rhapsody, Queen in a German shopping center. I especially enjoyed the tuba player who arrived late, but very unhurriedly and ultimately on time, with his tuba in a shopping cart.
I looked for any Early Music flash mobs. The only ones I could find that fit that description were a couple done to publicize the Edmonton Early Music Festival a couple of years ago. One was a rendition of the horribly overdone canon by Pachelbel. The other was a halfway decent performance of a chaconne by, I think, Tarquinio Merula. Giovanni Sances is also mentioned, but the performance seems to be a single work. There is a sackbut player in the ensemble, stage right, who is briefly visible a couple of times; be still my heart. I’ve never heard of either of the two named composers before, but the chaconne seems to be among Merula’s more well known works, enough so that there are multiple recordings.
Great fun was had by all, despite the soggy conditions. Raindrops were bouncing off my drums, I got a shower every time I hit the cymbal, and it took more than a week for my mallets to dry out; but I’d do it again in a heartbeat!
Comments
24 responses to “Flash mob”
Well, thank you, Josh & Ophelia. for that: it had me in tears.
I defy ANYone to watch that without tears dripping off their chins.
Wow.
You and me both Tim Harris. It’s made my day. Thank you.
Anyone catch what language they’re singing in? I’ve never heard it in anything other than German.
@1, 2 and 3 – Yeah sure I thought. Overly sentimental I thought. Then the swallowing started, then my reading glasses fogged, then my vision blurred. As the final notes rang out a single tear rolled down my cheek. Dammit, now I have to hand in my hardened bastard card.
Cressida: I asked that on the You Tube channel & got the answer ‘Catalan’.
I’m still wondering if it is a fairly direct translation from the German.
The video Ophelia posted has been one of my favourites for a few years.
Here is another one.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJNp5UKRtbQ
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ED0HcpadsGk
also ran
Ha – this is the second time I’ve been stumped by a language and it turned out to be Catalan. I’ll try to remember for the next time. :)
That made my Saturday Morning!
Love the looks on the kids faces.. they’re all just thrilled.
Here in Australia, they play classical music at train stations to keep feral types away. (just a hint for anyone reading in Cologne)
It’s 2am and I watched this just after watching Sarah Blasko’s version of ‘Life On Mars’. Not going to sleep for a while yet.
Humans can do this! And share it with others around the world. Perhaps there is hope after all.
Ditto. My favorite though is the guy whose jaw drops when the singers come in.
Not only a beautiful event, but beautifully captured on the video as well.
Yes – it’s very well shot and edited. They must have had a ton of cameras, so the camera people are part of the flash mob too – as are the editors.
I’ve watched it twice so far. The second time I got nice details like the bassoonist raising her eyebrows at the bass guy, who grinned back at her.
Hope. Liberty. Defiance. Joy.
Perhaps with extra meaning for Catalans. I know they won’t be listening in Ryadh, Pyongyang, Tehran.
I’m up to three views so far. About to start #4.
Ooooh. I ended up spending an hour or more watching flash mob videos in bed last night – on my phone, with headphones. (Headphones make all the difference.) I especially like the Nürnberg one from 2014. There you can hear “An die Freude” in the original language. It also features a kid up a light pole.
Another one: Bohemian Rhapsody, Queen in a German shopping center. I especially enjoyed the tuba player who arrived late, but very unhurriedly and ultimately on time, with his tuba in a shopping cart.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2rG9joNzmE#t=467.011337
I looked for any Early Music flash mobs. The only ones I could find that fit that description were a couple done to publicize the Edmonton Early Music Festival a couple of years ago. One was a rendition of the horribly overdone canon by Pachelbel. The other was a halfway decent performance of a chaconne by, I think, Tarquinio Merula. Giovanni Sances is also mentioned, but the performance seems to be a single work. There is a sackbut player in the ensemble, stage right, who is briefly visible a couple of times; be still my heart. I’ve never heard of either of the two named composers before, but the chaconne seems to be among Merula’s more well known works, enough so that there are multiple recordings.
https://youtu.be/RgbnZdc18X4
Beautiful. But now I’ve spent hours looking at flashmobs.
Really enjoyed this one from Hanoi in Vietnam.
https://youtu.be/wlKCsMKqURo
I was part of a not-quite flash mob; the event was advertised, but the musicians (apart from yours truly, who for safety reasons was the sole performer in front of the stage from the start) converged on the playing space in sections. The video, which shows clips from some of the rehearsals, all three performances – the hot, sunny one, the wet one and the Even Wetter one (©Jason Yarde) – and some backstage stuff, doesn’t really do the music justice.
Great fun was had by all, despite the soggy conditions. Raindrops were bouncing off my drums, I got a shower every time I hit the cymbal, and it took more than a week for my mallets to dry out; but I’d do it again in a heartbeat!
BOLD as BRASS Cork 2015
Oh yes, I remember that, but didn’t think to connect the two.
The first flash mob I ever discovered, though the performers are dancing rather than playing music.