WEBVTT

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Now, since this is TEDGlobal,

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who can tell me what this is called in French?

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I see you're all up on the history of hurdy-gurdy --

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"vielle à roue."

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And in Spanish, "zanfona."

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And in Italian, "ghironda," okay?

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Hurdy-gurdy, or wheel fiddle.

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So, these are the different kinds and shapes of the hurdy-gurdy.

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The hurdy-gurdy is the only musical instrument

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that uses a crank to turn a wheel

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to rub strings, like the bow of a violin,

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to produce music.

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It has three different kinds of strings.

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The first string is the drone string,

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which plays a continuous sound like the bagpipe.

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The second string is a melody string,

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which is played with a wooden keyboard tuned like a piano.

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And the third string is pretty innovative.

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It's also the only instrument

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that uses this kind of technique.

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It activates what's called the buzzing bridge, or the dog.

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When I turn the crank and I apply pressure,

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it makes a sound like a barking dog.

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So all of this is pretty innovative,

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if you consider

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that the hurdy-gurdy appeared about a thousand years ago

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and it took two people to play it;

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one to turn the crank,

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and another person -- yes -- to play the melody

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by physically pulling up large wooden pegs.

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Luckily, all of this changed a couple of centuries later.

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So, one person could actually play

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and almost -- this is pretty heavy --

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carry the hurdy-gurdy.

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The hurdy-gurdy has been used, historically, through the centuries

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in mostly dance music

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because of the uniqueness of the melody

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combined with the acoustic boombox here.

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And today, the hurdy-gurdy is used in all sorts of music --

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traditional folk music,

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dance, contemporary

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and world music --

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in the U.K., in France, in Spain

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and in Italy.

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And this kind of hurdy-gurdy takes anywhere from three to five years [to order and receive it].

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It's made by specialized luthiers,

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also in Europe.

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And it's very difficult to tune.

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So without further ado, would you like to hear it?

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(Audience: Yes.)

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Caroline Phillips: I didn't hear you. Would you like to hear it? (Audience: Yes!)

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CP: Okay.

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There I go.

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I'd like to sing in Basque,

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which is the language spoken in the Basque Country where I live,

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in the region in France and Spain.

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(Music)

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[Basque]

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(Music)

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Thank you.

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(Applause)

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This is a song that I wrote

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based on traditional Basque rhythms.

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And this is a song that has a kind of a Celtic feel.

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(Music)

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Thank you. Thank you.

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(Applause)