Jaron Lanier plays 7000 year old instruments.

You won't believe your ears when you hear this.
Jaron Lanier, computer scientist and virtual reality pioneer, demonstrating some 7000 year old wind instruments after participating in a very fascinating 2 hour roundtable discussion about "The Future of Technology."

Watch the entire discussion here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4L11sb...

Jaron Lanier's wiki entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaron_La...

Jaron Lanier's website (including music downloads): http://www.jaronlanier.com/

• Category

  Music

[Grant Green]

Apparently, he can ;-) It is really too bad when a person feels so tied to tradition that he (or she) will not consider anything new. I think it is more "respectful" that he did not try to play a traditional Lao piece: he was demonstrating a wonderful Laoation instrument, not Laoation music.

[Matt Roberts]

He often makes a disclaimer that he does not use the instrument to make traditional southeast asian music. Your animosity over meaningless nationalistic gutter-banter is what is driving people apart and creating unwarranted prejudice and hate. The instruments provide him tools and inspiration for his work, which is quite important even if you don't agree with him on some ideas. Him uplifting humanity, as he does, is enough to justify him doing anything he wishes with these beautiful instruments.

[papoocanada]

interesting intruments. (But someone needs a haircut, delousing and a long bath.)

[thnidu]

Atlantis. Oh, yes, the land that follows the sun as it goes around and around the earth each day. Or wait, no, that's where the flying saucers come from. Right?

[slashingraven]

Sounds like congestion on the freeway.

[jack johnson]

i would love to hear the professionals of old play these instruments

[dROUFrank]

If there were a trite definition of what "art" is, the fixation of that definition would preclude the practice, experience, and understanding in which art in actuality as such is constituted.

I dare say that no one person can ever be justified in declaring what all the people of Laos, or all culturally Laotian people worldwide, will understand or not understand or like or dislike because of what they all do or do not. Cultural imperialism starts at home.

[Vex T]

Well, I ask you this, what is art? Is it just something to be objectively appeasing, something that's subjectively stimulating, or what religious people call spiritually uplifting? I believe it's resonating the harmony between your conscious frequency and the entire natural universe and beyond and back. Yet when you explain to Laotian people that this is merely just musical art, they'll not understand nor like it, because they tune for the living, but more importantly for the afterlife journey.

[Vex T]

Oh koo shit. Too bad he doesn't realize there was something called Atlantis and the "real" Egyptians who had musical technology thousands of years before this read instrument ever came into existence in this particular reality. Oh well.

The second instruments sounded more better and harmonic than that shit khaen instrument; I hear it all the time from the shaman men who play this at funerals and celebratory events of my own ethnic group of Hmong people who likely got it from Laotians.