7/23/09

Elephants and Theremins


At Thailand's Elephant Conservation Center, 46 elephants hit the stage twice a day (and three times a day on weekends) to haul logs and paint for the tourists. But the real highlight of the show is the Thai Elephant Orchestra, comprised of roughly 14 elephants who play custom instruments. It's all improvisational, and they allegedly took to making music on their own without human encouragement.

Some of their music might be called "Free Jazz meets Gamelan":



and some is more avant garde, like "Trio for Theremin and Electric Keyboard":



A 36-minute documentary can be seen here. And buy one of their CD's. a portion of the money goes to helping the conservation center stay afloat.

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