Jaap Blonk, Namesake of the blonkorgan, performer, sound poet. AaaaaAAAøøøøøøøøøAEEEeeeiiiIIIIIiiiüüüüüüüüüüieeeeooooOUUUUUooooooo. [more inside]
posted by idiopath on Nov 23, 2009 - 21 comments

Fiddle, accordion, and a singing drummer. Seven minutes and fifty seven seconds of Gypsy music from Ukraine, live in Budapest. The real thing. Totally wailing. Kickass. Técső Banda at Kertem.
posted by flapjax at midnite on Oct 10, 2009 - 23 comments

Kuchh Kook Hota Hai is an all singing, dancing (and possibly epileptic fit inducing) Indian cookery show (without much cooking), featuring two sassy assistants 'salt' and 'pepper'. To whet your appetite – Mutton Burger and Carrot Roll.
posted by tellurian on Sep 1, 2009 - 25 comments

Stan Hugill, often known as "The Last Shantyman," authored a book called Shanties From the Seven Seas, based on his own work experiences in the last days of sail. Influential in the folk revival, the book is one of the most important written sources for music sung aboard ships in the 19th and early 20th century, the "Bible" of sea music. Decades of chanteying in pubs and at festivals have kept many of the songs alive, but in most cases they've strayed stylistically from the verses and versions Hugill collected, or dropped out of popularity entirely. Now, one musician is returning to the source and creating a new audio archive for the original versions of the songs as written, by singing through the more than 400 songs in the book, one song each week, and posting the songs on YouTube, with commentary. [more inside]
posted by Miko on Jun 15, 2009 - 28 comments

Some revolutions are about hate. Others are about revenge. But there was at least one that was about hope and music. The Singing Revolution is the story of how hope and music saved a nation. [more inside]
posted by Effigy2000 on May 14, 2009 - 7 comments

The Singing Nerd is a guy who likes to write, play, and record songs about the things that he likes and then post music videos on Youtube. Most of these songs are about nerdy things, such as The Ballad of Catan, a song simply entitled Chess! and a song about Role Playing. But there's also songs about things we can all relate to, like Fast Food Commercials, A Trip To Las Vegas and... um... Pirates?. Hmmm. Anyway, check out the rest of his songs here.
posted by Effigy2000 on Apr 15, 2009 - 7 comments

Perhaps the greatest country baritone since George Jones is confined to a wheelchair by muscular dystrophy and has a day job at a nuclear power plant. [more inside]
posted by BitterOldPunk on Apr 14, 2009 - 29 comments

The Berkutchi is a falconer who hunts with the Golden Eagle [more inside]
posted by hortense on Apr 8, 2009 - 19 comments

Here are some of Ireland's current and past crop of Irish traditional singers, for your perusal and enjoyment this fine St. Paddy's Day.
posted by LN on Mar 17, 2009 - 8 comments

The Vocaloids,¹ anime-like characters created for the singing synthasizer program by the Yamaha Corporation, have been capturing the imaginations of Japanese fans for more than a year. They've inspired and starred in a large body of fan-produced songs and animated videos,² ranging from macabre to sorrowful to dramatic to humorous. [Massive MLYTP] [more inside]
posted by anthy on Jan 28, 2009 - 7 comments

Phil Minton | Jaap Blonk | Ami Yoshida | Maja Ratkje | Henri Chopin | The Littlest Sound Poet
posted by Beautiful Screaming Lady on Dec 3, 2008 - 8 comments

You're my Love

Pehli Nazar (First Look)

Salaam-E-Ishq (Salute thy Love)

Tujhe Aksa Beach Ghuma Doon (May I show you around Aksa Beach)

Singh is King

posted by hadjiboy on Sep 17, 2008 - 25 comments

Frank Harte is considered to be one of the greatest balladeers and song collectors in the Irish musical tradition. He specialized in the songs of Dublin City and saw himself as a "storyteller in song". [more inside]
posted by LN on Aug 22, 2008 - 13 comments

This is a list of frogs. Look at pictures the frogs. Most importantly, listen (sounds like a fart) to (sounds like a baseball card in your bike tire) the (sounds like a sheep) frogs (classic frog sound). [more inside]
posted by bigmusic on May 3, 2008 - 21 comments

Ennio Marchetto : Italian quick-change papercraft drag queen does musical medley. [more inside]
posted by Dave Faris on Apr 21, 2008 - 5 comments

Feel good hit of the year; Discovery Channel's 'I Love the Whole World' ad [more inside]
posted by oxford blue on Apr 19, 2008 - 103 comments

Frank Newsome leads the congregation at the Little David Church in Hayside, Va. Old Regular Baptists, they sing the way people sang when they first came to the American colonies: without instruments or notation, and following their leader line by line. It's called lined-out hymnody, and people outside the southern Appalachian Mountains rarely hear it. One of the songs Newsome sings at services is a hymn about longing for heaven, called "Beulah Land."
posted by The Jesse Helms on Apr 8, 2008 - 30 comments

The musical number of "Leroy, The Uninterrupted Lobster," and the science of aging lobsters.
posted by Del Far on Apr 7, 2008 - 10 comments

Can I Get a Napkin Here? A food court musical brought to us by the fine folks of Improv Everywhere . For more musicals in public places, check out "Reach! A Lecture Musical!" and "Reading on a Dream: A Library Musical" both from Prangstgrup.
posted by Del Far on Mar 10, 2008 - 44 comments

In Mongolia, overtone singing (or hoomei, as it's known locally) is mainly a guy thing, but there are exceptions to the rule, for example, the Hoomei Women's Group. More commonly though, women who want to sing do so in an exquisite, soaring style like this and this. Sometimes the men do the hoomei thing while the women do that soaring thing. Then there are those lovely choral arrangements. And then there are those rare moments when the YouTube poster's description of a clip just hits the nail square on the head, as with this one: amazing. [more inside]
posted by flapjax at midnite on Feb 29, 2008 - 23 comments

Drinking Songs & Barroom-lore is an unbelievable collection of audio , textual and other materials related to "traditional drinking songs (many bawdy), toasts, recitations and other bar-room folklore." If that's not enough, check out ARRR!!!'s sea shanties and drinking songs and/or Barstool Mountain's Top 100 Drinking Songs. Still not enough? Well, OK. [more inside]
posted by cog_nate on Feb 5, 2008 - 30 comments

Pride of Toledo - 2004 Contest Pictures of barbershop harmony female singers from Lake Erie Region 17, encompassing parts of Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania. (All are part of Sweet Adelines International, a worldwide organization of women singers, which was mentioned before)
posted by growabrain on Jan 24, 2008 - 15 comments

THE church elder’s reaction was one of utter disbelief. Shaking his head emphatically, he couldn’t take in what the distinguished professor from Yale University was telling him. "No," insisted Jim McRae, an elder of the small congregation of Clearwater in Florida. "This way of worshipping comes from our slave past. It grew out of the slave experience, when we came from Africa." But Willie Ruff, an Afro-American professor of music at Yale, was adamant - he had traced the origins of gospel music to Scotland. [more inside]
posted by brautigan on Jan 11, 2008 - 96 comments

Frère Jacques! Frère Jacques! [more inside]
posted by oxford blue on Dec 28, 2007 - 13 comments

Apparently there is no trickery here; just a lot of practice, which allows this guy to sing backwards. [more inside]
posted by quin on Dec 27, 2007 - 42 comments

Part of your world, the Little Mermaid's song, sung amazingly by a man. [more inside]
posted by nickyskye on Dec 2, 2007 - 73 comments

I got a gal in Kalamazoo, and a lucky number. Jumpin Jive! Is that the Chatanooga Choo-choo? No, even better! It's the Nicholas Brothers!
posted by louche mustachio on Oct 1, 2007 - 10 comments

Hatsune Miku is the latest singing sensation to sweep Japan. No, she's not a new idol singer, she's Yamaha's Vocaloid2 software simulating the voice of vocalist Saki Fujita. Currently a #2 seller on Amazon, even at the cost of 15750 yen (about $137). But you don't need to buy the software to appreciate it. Check out Ievan Polka, Fly Me to the Moon, the theme from Princess Mononoke, and more!
posted by CrunchyFrog on Sep 18, 2007 - 40 comments

A Basenji dog can't bark but man; they sure can sing.
posted by KevinSkomsvold on Aug 2, 2007 - 40 comments

It seems that this gentleman bought a set of musical robots from the defunct Showbiz Pizza restaurant chain. This gent has been reprogramming the robots to sing recent hit songs, rather than the '60s Motown hits they sang originally. He then takes video of these performances, and posts it on YouTube. I guarantee this version of Evanescence's "Lithium" will haunt your dreams (or, perhaps, make you hurl).
posted by metasonix on Aug 2, 2007 - 59 comments

Broadway's original Effie White, Jennifer Holliday, has been very open about how haunted and snubbed she felt during the production of the Dreamgirls movie. In particular she was hurt when, without permission, her own singing voice was used in a theatrical trailer to promote the production that had completely shut her out. Yesterday at the BET Awards she was finally given some overdue recognition and invited to join Jennifer Hudson onstage for a duet of the song she made famous. You may have heard the song a hundred times, but try to make it 101. 'Cuz seriously, the girls can sing. Previously.
posted by miss lynnster on Jun 27, 2007 - 46 comments

Throat singing from Tuva's Huun Huur Tu and Kongar-ol Ondar. [all youtube]
posted by flapjax at midnite on May 18, 2007 - 26 comments

Oh say can you see... (YT) the sound of Auto-Tune gone berserk?
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane on Feb 25, 2007 - 86 comments

Reggie Watts ain't much of a dancer, but he's pretty good with his mouth. {vimeo}
posted by dobbs on Jan 29, 2007 - 13 comments

Religious popular music from Upper Egypt Munshidin sing devotional songs, Tartil (a melodic recitation of the Qur'an), and Tawashih, which uses call-and-response . One of a number of interesting music resources at bolingo.
posted by Abiezer on Dec 24, 2006 - 12 comments

UCLA's Awaken A Capella does some strange, beautiful things with the power of combined human voices. From Ave Maria to Mr Roboto, their oeuvre spans the spectrum. More clips, including Like a Prayer and Walk Like an Egyptian, available on their MySpace page. Their version of Imogen Heap's "Hide and Seek," available through KCRW's daily podcast, is sublime.
posted by gottabefunky on Sep 14, 2006 - 42 comments

Multiphonic chanting of the Gyuto Tantric University monks. [more]
posted by nickyskye on Aug 15, 2006 - 22 comments

They're on NPR? They're in the New York Times? (archived here as a .pdf). I guess it's no wonder - I can't go into half of the rooms at work without hearing them. And they took in $45 million last year singing "Yummy, Yummy"? Yes, i'm talking about The Wiggles, a pop-culture bitch-slap gift from Australia that has apparently kicked Barney's ass. That doesn't mean that they aren't open to some well-deserved satire.
posted by scblackman on May 18, 2006 - 44 comments

For when you really want to karaoke with a severed deer's head, but just don't know where to start. Do you have a cousin, grandparent, or spouse who enjoys really large, high-concept, expensive gag gifts? Look no further. Buck the Singing Trophy is the latest product from Gemmy industries, whose previous culture-changing invention was Big Mouth Billy Bass. It's already sold out at Wal-Mart and most online stores, so you'll either have to wait until the new year or head to Ebay to get your crate of Pepsi Blue. And really, has Pepsi Blue ever tasted so strange (WMV)?
posted by billysumday on Dec 21, 2005 - 37 comments

"The extraordinary radiance of the voice. I still remember that. The extraordinary, enveloping, overwhelming beauty of Ferrier's voice."
When Kathleen Ferrier died at 41 in October 1953, she was as famous as the newly crowned Queen. A working class girl from Blackpool who had to quit school at 14 to work as a telephone operator, a young woman who lacked formal musical training and whose husband bet that she would never win a music contest, Ferrier -- under the guidance of the great conductor Bruno Walter -- went on to become an international superstar. An "ordinary diva" who humbly worshipped "Herr Doktor Bruno Walter", gave very few newspaper interviews, never appeared on television or in cinema newsreels. Her speaking voice can be heard only briefly and only twice, on a tape made at a post-concert New York party, and in a short speech she made for the BBC at an Edinburgh Festival. Her extraordinary career lasted only less than 12 years.
Half a century later, although her legacy lives on through her music, Ferrier herself -- "Klever Kaff" -- remains elusive. More inside.
posted by matteo on Dec 3, 2005 - 11 comments

"I had been planning to set up a socialist band, which I hope will play a leading role in the world socialist revolution because it is possible to influence people greatly through music and I have acquired sufficiently strong singing abilities through karaoke to convince myself that I would be capable of singing in a band." [music here]
posted by dodgygeezer on Nov 15, 2005 - 80 comments

Mouse serenade: Tim Holy and Zhongsheng Guo at Washington University School of Medicine in Missouri discover the songs of mice. Published at the Public Library of Science, Biology, (non newsie, science article). Examples of the singing, 1- shifted down 4 octaves, timing intact (MP3 file) and, 2 - shifted down 4 octaves and slowed down 16 fold. (MP3 file) (partially via)
posted by edgeways on Nov 1, 2005 - 17 comments

The Song and the Singer For many he is the greatest Lieder singer of the 20th century. As he turns 80, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau reflects on his long career.
posted by matteo on Sep 8, 2005 - 7 comments

Together at last! Joy Division and Mongolian throat singing.
posted by Damienmce on Jul 5, 2005 - 28 comments

George Bush sings (MP3 contains swearing) and shows how he imagines the world should be. Now that John Ashcroft has left the administration it was clearly time for someone else to step up and lead the vocals. There's more info at Wax Audio.
posted by sien on Jun 9, 2005 - 27 comments

Lets wade in the water, Coded slave songs.
posted by sgt.serenity on Apr 27, 2005 - 15 comments

Merry Christmas from James My sister sent me this link from a friend that didn't want to send out cards this year - he's not much of a singer but I thought it was a great idea! Hallmark could be in danger...
posted by matty on Dec 23, 2004 - 32 comments

On the origins and history of the military (marching/running) cadence. Some were straightforwardly about identity, some inevitably about the performance of bloodthirstyness, but it always seemed to me that the most rewarding and enjoyable cadences to sing were those that were simply special cases of an older tradition: the working man's blues. A platoon run to cadence in the Fort Knox gloaming may be one of the few purely vocal expressions remaining, at that, now that others have fallen by the wayside.
posted by adamgreenfield on Oct 4, 2004 - 9 comments

Sing your current administration blues away at a Kerryoke.
posted by thedailygrowl on May 2, 2004 - 9 comments

Singing Babies! I don't know what to say about it, but it is worth watching. Babies and young children love it! That's why Singing Babies is now one of the best selling baby videos. It is the most fun and entertaining way to teach your child the classic nursery rhymes and toddler tunes! Research shows that babies benefit from watching other babies. Infants learn to talk by studying the sounds and movement made by the human mouth. SINGING BABIES® creatively combines these research findings in a way that accelerates your child's rate of cognitive development, increases capacity to learn language, and enhances your child's natural musical ability.
posted by Slimemonster on Feb 27, 2004 - 17 comments