The American jazz vocalist Bobby McFerrin turns the human body into the ultimate instrument.
This live concert clip demonstrates the ten-time Grammy Award winning artist’s virtuosity. (At one point, you will hear a spectacular display of polyphonic overtone singing in which two musical lines can be heard simultaneously). McFerrin frequently draws on improvisation and the African musical tradition of call and response. This 1995 album with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra features his vocal transcription of Bach’s A minor Violin Concerto.
Here is Baby, the second track from the 1990 album, Medicine Music. It’s a perfect marriage of recording technology and vibrant vocal overtones:
The voice gets to the soul of a person more than any other instrument. Because it’s the voice. It sings talks, it cries, it laughs, it squeals, it barks, it shouts it whispers, There is no other instrument that can do that. We’re born with it.
