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A Zimbabwean mbira dza vadzimu.

The thumb piano is an African musical instrument, a type of plucked idiophone common throughout Sub-Saharan Africa. The proper name for this group of instruments is lamellophones.

Description[link]

Each note of a kalimba, mbira, etc. is a separate idiophone, and in orchestral terms, the instrument as a whole belongs in the bar percussion family (specifically: lamellophones). Furthermore, the thumbs are not exclusively used, as some instruments are played with the thumbs and other fingers also.

Thumb pianos traditionally consist of a wooden board to which metal tines of varying lengths are affixed. Some have mechanisms for readily tuning the tines to different scales. The longest tines are typically in the center, with shorter (and thus higher-pitched) tines arranged alternately in ascending order towards both sides of the instrument. The thumb piano is most commonly held in both hands, with both thumbs being used to pluck tines either simultaneously or in turn

Modern variations of the instrument may have more than the traditional array of 15 tines, with as many as four fully chromatic octaves, making the playing of more complex music possible. The thumb pianos are made of different woods, either with only a sound board or often with a resonant chamber. Those with hollow resonating chambers for increased volume, often have two holes on the back that can be used to create a vibrato as the fingers cover and open these holes.

Acoustics[link]

Lamellophones are instruments which have little tines, or "lamellae", which are played by plucking. Unlike stringed instruments or air-column instruments like flutes, the overtones of a plucked lamella are inharmonic (i.e., the overtones and the fundamental vibration do not harmonize), giving the kalimba a rather odd sound.^[1] However, the inharmonic overtones are strongest in the attack and die out rather quickly, leaving an almost pure tone which is quite beautiful.

The tuning of most kalimbas, with the notes in the scale ascending on the tines from the center outward in an alternating right-left fashion, results in chords being made by adjacent tines. When any tine is plucked, the adjacent tines also vibrate, and these harmonizing secondary vibrations serve a similar role to the harmonic overtones of a string instrument - they increase the harmonic complexity of an individual note, though in a strange yet pleasing way.

Tines on the Array Mbira are arranged so that the most consonant intervals (octaves, fifths, and fourths) vibrate along with the fundamental. Furthermore, each tine is bent at a certain angle to produce overtones (most notably the 6th harmonic, or two octaves plus a fifth) that are more consonant.

History[link]

Various kinds of thumb pianos have existed in Africa for thousands of years. The keys were originally made of bamboo but over the years metal keys have been developed. The instrument is known by different names in different regions of Africa, including Mbira, Mbila, Mbira Huru, Mbira Njari, Hurdy Gurdy, Mbira Nyunga, Marimba, Karimba, Kalimba, Likembe, and Okeme, as well as marímbula (also called kalimba) in the Caribbean Islands.

The kalimba appears to have been invented twice in Africa: a wood or bamboo-tined instrument appeared on the west coast of Africa about 3000 years ago, and a metal-tined lamellophones appeared in the Zambezi River valley around 1,300 years ago (Kubik, 1998). These metal-tined instruments traveled all across the continent and differentiated in their physical form and social uses as they spread. Kalimba-like instruments came to exist from the northern reaches of North Africa to the southern extent of the Kalahari desert, and from the east coast to the west coast, though many or most groups of people in Africa did not possess kalimbas. There were thousands of different tunings, different note layouts, and different instrument designs, but there is a compelling case from Andrew Tracey about a hypothetical tuning and note layout of the original metal-tined instrument from 1,300 years ago.

The thumb piano was typically played while walking by traveling Griots, African poet bards who keep the history of the tribe or village, and to entertain people with songs, stories, poems, dances, etc. It was thought in ancient times that the thumb piano was able to project its sound into the heavens and could draw down spirits to the earth. Some of them were evil spirits so the people would stop playing the music until the spirits had departed from the area.

Many players and griot clans have their own idiosyncratic tunings. Most of the time the instrument is played solo and tuning is not as critical as when playing with other musicians. But the tuning can be changed by adjusting the length of the metal tines inward or outward. It is also often an important instrument to be played at religious ceremonies, weddings, and other social gatherings. It is a particularly common musical instrument of the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Shona people of Zimbabwe.

In the mid 1900’s the instrument was the basis for the development of the Kalimba, a westernized thumb piano designed and marketed by the ethnomusicologist Hugh Tracey. This has become very important in popularizing the instrument outside of Africa. While the arrangement of notes on a thumb piano is considerably different from those on a piano or guitar, their arrangement is fairly intuitive, and it is considered to be an instrument easily learned. This quality is exploited in many elementary schools who use the thumb piano as an entry-level instrument. One of its indigenous names for this instrument can be translated as “The thing that makes walking easier” and as such it could be considered “the first walkman.”

Tunings[link]

Tuning chart for the 17-note treble kalimba.

Most western instruments have a simple linear visual mapping from the instrument to the pitch which is played: on a piano, the further left you go, the lower you go, and higher notes are to the right. String instruments have a similar mapping – the further up the neck you go, the lower the pitch – but this progression is realized independently on each string. Most western string instruments have a similar progression from one string to the next: each violin string, for example, is a perfect 5th higher than the previous one. Such consistent spatial mappings from the instrument to the pitches it plays promotes the development of intuition and aids in the learning of the instrument and even the ability to improvise or play by ear.

It is common on African mbira and other lamellophones to have the lowest notes in the center with higher notes to the far left and the far right - this is an ergonomic nicety, in that the thumb can pivot such that all the tines are easy to reach. However, traditional African tunings use notes that do not lie on the grid of the western tempered scale, and traditional kalimba note layouts are often idiosyncratic, sometimes with adjacent tines making part of a scale, but then an odd note thrown in that defies the pattern.

The Hugh Tracey kalimbas are tuned diatonically in the key of G. The arrangement of the notes on the Hugh Tracey kalimba borrows from the typical scheme with the lowest notes in the center and the upper notes on the left and the right, but a regular note layout is used, with the notes in the ascending scale alternating strictly right-left and going outwards towards the two sides. With this bidirectional note layout, it seems that all intuition from linearly mapped instruments goes out the window. This arrangement requires that the kalimba player develop a new intuition, but that new intuition is not as hard to come by as the more idiosyncratic note layouts of the traditional African lamellophones.

The diatonic western kalimba tuning Hugh Tracey used was practical for a worldwide instrument - with hundreds of African kalimba tunings, the chosen western standard would maximize the number of people who would immediately connect with the kalimba. The beauty of this note arrangement, with notes going up the scale in a right-left-right-left progression, is that modal 1-3-5 or 1-3-5-7 chords are made by playing adjacent tines and are trivial to learn and play. If chords are played in the lower octave, the same notes will appear on the opposite side of the kalimba in the upper octave, which makes it very easy to simultaneously play a melody in the upper octave and an accompanying harmony in the lower octave. So, the arrangement of notes on the Hugh Tracey kalimba (and on virtually any kalimba you find, as this note layout scheme has been adopted by virtually everyone who copies the Hugh Tracey kalimba) makes some complex musical operations very simple and easy.

Alternative tunings are possible, as the tines of most kalimbas are easily pushed in and out to sharpen or flatten their pitch. Some alternative tunings simply change the key of the kalimba, without changing the note layout scheme. Other alternative tunings move the kalimba to non-modal scales (such as Middle-Eastern scales). Each note of the kalimba can be tuned independently (unlike a guitar), so any scale, western or non-western, is possible, and traditional African scales are still accessible to this modern African instrument. Composer Georg Hajdu has tuned the Hugh Tracey alto kalimba to the chromatic steps of the Bohlen–Pierce scale in a piece called Just Her - Jester - Gesture. The Bohlen–Pierce scale subdivides the just twelfth into 13 steps.

The Chromatic Kalimba is also a fairly new instrument. There are a few different makers of the chromatic kalimba. One is the Hugh Tracey/AMI 2 octave kalimba which ranges from the G below middle C up to the G above the top line of the treble clef. The accidentals are mounted on the rear side of the kalimba as flats right under their adjacent parent note from the top. Recently, (2010) Aaron Chavez modeled an idea for the 4 octave chromatic kalimba utilizing octaves C2-C6. JBH Guitars is the original maker of this 4 octave chromatic.

Other variants[link]

The Gravikord

A special type of thumb piano is the Array mbira, consisting of as many as 150 tines configured in a special order based on the circle of fifths (see Isomorphic keyboard.) Although its design diverges from the simplicity of the original African instruments, the musical possibilities of this design are very rich and not limited to the diatonic scale. There is another simpler chromatic variant design having a double structure consisting of a diatonic kalimba on top and another kalimba on the bottom for the missing accidentals. These can be played simultaneously for full chromatic access. Another variant is the Guitaret an electric lamellophone made by Hohner and invented by Ernst Zacharias, in 1963.^[2]

In the late 20th century instrument builder and musician Robert Grawi was inspired by playing cross rhythms on a thumb piano to create a new westernized African instrument called the gravikord. It's design is derived from on a combination of the tonal structure of Hugh Tracey kalimba overlaid on the structure of the West African kora in a modern electro-acoustic instrument. The tuning of the gravikord is really an extended version of the "G" major / "E" minor tuning system of the kalimba while its overall physical structure is derived from the kora. It has 24 notes evenly divided between two ranks of strings in notches on a free standing open "Vee" shaped double bridge. Tones rise in a strictly alternate right/left hand symmetry familiar to any kalimba or thumb piano player, so that any tunes and techniques that are learned on these instruments can be directly transferred and played on the gravikord.^[3]

Kalimba

A Hugh Tracey treble kalimba

Popularity[link]

Hugh Tracey, an English ethnomusicologist who moved to Africa in 1920, spent several years from the 1920s through the 1950s traveling about in rural Africa (i.e., as far away as he could get from western musical influences such as radio, eastern-influenced bands, and Christian missionaries) where he recorded traditional music and documented the tunings and note layouts of the different kalimbas. However, when Hugh Tracey founded the company African Musical Instruments and started building kalimbas in Rudespoort, South Africa, and exporting them around the world in 1954, the note layout and tuning were not traditional. Rather, the kalimbas were tuned diatonically in the key of G, with adjacent notes on the scale sitting on opposite sides of the kalimba.

The first kalimba to be exported commercially out of Africa was the Hugh Tracey Kalimba. After years of studying African music and dozens of prototype instruments, Hugh Tracey's company African Musical Instruments also began manufacturing kalimbas, a western version of the mbira, in the late 1950s. The name kalimba is a Bantu word which means "little music", and is similar to the word karimba, a type of mbira.

While kalimba initially meant the Hugh Tracey kalimba, the name kalimba is now a generic name and can describe any non-traditional thumb piano, or can even be used generically for the traditional lamellophones of Africa (i.e., the mbira, karimba, sansa, etc.).

In the early 1960s, Hugh Tracey secured an initial order of 10,000 kalimbas with Creative Playthings of Princeton NJ, a company which designed and distributed innovative toys and furniture, mostly made from natural materials. And so, many people bought their first kalimba from a toy store. People quickly realized that the kalimba was not a toy, but a real instrument capable of real music.

Soon, African Musical Instruments began making other styles of kalimba with similar, but different note layouts. The original kalimba was named the Treble, and a larger, lower pitched 15-note model called the Alto was introduced. See the ALTO tuning chart below:

Tuning chart for the 15-note alto kalimba.

Similarly, different kalimba models with the same note layout were also introduced over time. Most traditional African kalimbas had the tines mounted on a flat board, rather than on a box, though some traditional kalimbas were mounted on a piece of wood which was hollowed out to provide a resonant box. The flat board kalimbas could be placed inside or on top of a hollow gourd, which was used as a resonator to amplify and alter the quality of the sound the kalimba produced. The new board-mounted Hugh Tracey kalimbas were a nod to the traditional African kalimba designs. The smaller board-mounted Hugh Tracey kalimbas were given the name "celleste" (as in "celleste treble").

Shortly after the Hugh Tracey kalimba started being sold around the world, artisans and craftspeople started copying the design, or adapting the design. Several high quality kalimba makers exist around the world today: Lucinda Ellison, Andrew Masters, David Bellinger, Steve Catania, Luc DeCock, R. P. Collier, and Greg Trimble. On the other hand, most kalimbas sold today are inexpensive copies made in third world countries such as Pakistan or Indonesia.

African Musical Instruments continues to produce high quality kalimbas from their shop in South Africa. They have expanded their offerings to over a dozen different kalimba models, ranging from an 8-note student model to a modern version of a traditionally tuned Shona karimba. AMI also makes high quality marimbas and drums.

A few artists, including Genesis, Earth, Wind & Fire, Jo Mango, King Crimson, John Mayer, Laura Barrett, and Vampire Weekend have also incorporated the kalimba into Western pop and rock music styles. Joan Armatrading used the mbira on her album Show Some Emotion.

Maurice White, the Founder and Leader of the popular group Earth, Wind & Fire, gave immense exposure to the Kalimba in the band's music. Earth, Wind & Fire recordings such as "Kalimba Story", "Evil", "Biyo" and "Departure", all revolved around White's electrified Kalimba solos. The Kalimba also proved to be an iconic symbol of the band's reflection of African-ism.

Use in New Music[link]

Finally, the kalimba also found its way into the domain of New Music where it is often used together with live-electronics. In his composition kalimBAO (2006), Sascha Lino Lemke uses a Kalimba with microtonal tunings, whereas in Karlheinz Essl's Sequitur XIV the kalimba is processed with a custom-made computer program. Both pieces were premiered by pianist Jennifer Hymer who also specializes in Kalimba performance.

The kalimba /mbira features extensively in the work of English composer and performer Tom Green both as Another Fine Day and with The Orb. The British national newspaper, The Independent, placed Green's kalimba driven album 'Life Before Land' at number three in its list of all time greatest ambient albums.

A Kalimba (or Mbira) playing the opening theme from Pink Floyd's "A Saucerful of Secrets" along with milk-bottle flute introduces the first tune "I Believe in Milko" from The Ninth Tentacle's first album for the Cellartapes record-label: Voyeuradeism.

The 2007 tribute record "Four Songs by Arthur Russell" features Swedish singer-songwriter Jens Lekman using a kalimba in his rendition of Russell's "A Little Lost". While he had initially played ukulele for the cover (as broadcast live on the radio series "No Love For Ned" 21 February 2005), Lekman thereafter frequently featured the kalimba version in his live sets for a period.

In the late 20th century instrument builder and musician Robert Grawi was inspired by playing cross rhythms on the kalimba to create another new westernized African instrument called the gravikord. It is an electric double harp made of modern materials mostly stainless steel. The tuning is based on the "G" tuning of the kalimba but its structure is based on the West African kora. It has 24 notes evenly divided between two ranks of strings which rise in a strictly alternate right/left hand symmetry familiar to any kalimba player, so that any tunes and techniques that are learned on the kalimba can also be played on this instrument.

The kalimba was used by James Horner in the soundtrack to ALIENS, specifically in the cue "The Complex" (6-M-1).

On Pelbo's latest album, «Days of Transcendence», Ine Kristine Hoem is credited as playing kalimba among other instruments and vocals.

See also[link]

• Lamellophone
• Music of Africa
• Mbira
• Gravikord
• Marímbula - Caribbean Bass thumb piano

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Warner Dietz, Betty and Olatunji, Michael Babatunde. (1965). Musical Instruments of Africa: Their Nature, Use, and Place in The Life of a Deeply Musical People. New York: John Day Company.
• http://www.kalimbamagic.com/
• http://www.asza.com/ikalim.shtml
• http://ilam.ru.ac.za/
• http://www.mrduggan.com/
• http://www.kalimba.co.za/
• http://www.nscottrobinson.com/mbira.php
• http://www.youtube.com/kalimbamagic
• http://www.music.vt.edu/musicdictionary/textk/Kalimba.html The tuning diagrams are incorrect.
• http://www.acoustics.org/press/155th/chapman.htm David M.F. Chapman "The Sound of the African Thumb Piano (kalimba), Acoustics '08, Paris.
• World Musical Instrument Database. New York: Archive of Contemporary Music
• http://www.davidduggan.com/

Gordon Ralph Hall Caine (15 August 1884 - 26 June 1962) was a British publisher and Conservative politician.

Caine was born into an Isle of Man family, the son of novelist Hall Caine and his wife Mary Chandler. He was born at Hampstead London.

His father had dramatic interests in America and in 1902 Gordon Caine was in America to study business methods and consider publishing an American version of Household Words.^[1] With his brother, Derwent Hall Caine, he founded the publishing house The Reader's Library.^[2] In 1920 as Deputy Controller of Paper, he was awarded the CBE.^[3]

At the 1922 general election Hall Caine was elected Member of Parliament (MP) for East Dorset as an Independent Conservative. He took the Conservative Whip in 1923 and held the seat until the 1929 general election. In the 1931 general election he regained the East Dorset seat, this time until 1945.^[4] His brother Derwent had won Everton in 1929 as a Labour candidate, but lost it in 1931.

In 1935 the two brothers established Hall Caine Airport on the Isle of Man.^[5]

Hall Caine had residences at Greeba Castle (previously owned by his father) and at Maidenhead, Wooley Firs. In the 1950s he moved with his second wife, Sarah Tripp, into a townhouse in Park Lane, which was round the corner from his office at Old Burlington Street.

References[link]

See also[link]

• National Portrait Gallery
• Hall Caine

Mr. Scruff is the recording name of Andy Carthy (born 10 February 1972,^[1] Macclesfield, Cheshire, England), a British DJ and artist. He lives in Stockport, Greater Manchester, and studied fine art at the Psalter Lane campus of Sheffield Hallam University. Before he could make a living from his music alone, he worked as a shelf-stacker in the Burton Road branch of Kwik Save.^[2]

His DJ name was inspired by his scruffy facial hair, as well as his trademark loose-lined drawing style. He has been DJing since 1994, at first in and around Manchester then nationwide. He is known for DJing in marathon sets (often exceeding six hours), his eclectic musical taste, his love of a "nice cup of tea" and the quirky home-produced visuals and animations associated with his music. In an interview he said: "It’s about putting a lot of effort in and paying attention to detail. I get annoyed if I don’t take risks. I’m very hard on myself."^[3]

Career[link]

Scruff's first 12", "Hocus Pocus" was released on the small Manchester-based label, Robs Records. Subsequent singles and his first album, Mr. Scruff followed, released on Robs Records subsidiary, Pleasure Music.^[4] After a brief spell working with Mark Rae, he moved to the larger Ninja Tune label, and subsequently released the albums Keep It Unreal and Trouser Jazz.

His most notable hit, "Get a Move On", is built around "Bird's Lament (In Memory of Charlie Parker)" by Moondog.^[5] and has been used in several commercials ranging from Lincoln and Volvo automobiles to France Télécom and GEICO insurance. The song also samples Shifty Henry's "Hyping Woman Blues" and led to a renewal of interest in Henry's compositions.

In 2004, Mr. Scruff released Keep It Solid Steel Volume 1, the first of what is intended to be a series of several DJ-mixed compilation CDs for Ninja Tune's Solid Steel series of artist mixes.^[6] These mixes are designed to recreate the eclectic genres one would expect to hear at a Mr. Scruff club night. In November 2006, Ninja Tune confirmed that the 8th Solid Steel record would be mixed by J Rocc and the 9th would be Volume 2 from Mr. Scruff. Other Solid Steel mixes have been released by fellow Ninja Tune artists including The Herbaliser, Hexstatic, DJ Food and Amon Tobin.

He has a wide array of remixes to his name, and has also produced tracks for others – notably "Echo of Quiet and Green" for sometime-collaborator Niko for her 2004 album Life on Earth. Niko returned the favour, appearing on the track "Come Alive" from the Trouser Jazz album.

Having performed regularly at The Big Chill Festival in Eastnor Castle deer park, Ledbury, Herefordshire, he was asked in 2006 to select the tracks for the compilation album, Big Chill Classics.^[7]

July 2008 saw the release of Southport Weekender Volume 7, a double album released in the Southport Weekender series, recorded in a purpose-built holiday village in Southport, Merseyside. The first disc was mixed by German nu jazz DJs Jazzanova, and the second was mixed by Mr. Scruff. Scruff's contribution is a mix of soul music.^[8]

In 2008, a new independent record label, Ninja Tuna, was founded, a collaboration between Scruff and the Ninja Tune label. Mr. Scruff's most recent singles and the album Ninja Tuna were all released on the new label.^[4][9]

A US-only release of the album on mp3 came with 10 additional tracks from the Ninja Tuna recording sessions, under the title Bonus Bait. A CD version of this supplementary album was released in the UK in February 2009.

Style[link]

Artwork[link]

Mr. Scruff's album and single cover art, music videos, merchandise and his official website are noted for their whimsical cartoonish look; the cartoons are drawn by Scruff himself, in what he calls "potato style". The images and animations are also projected onto large screens during his gigs. Scruff also drew cartoons for music magazines such as Jockey Slut in the 1990s.^[10]

Tea[link]

Mr. Scruff began selling tea from a small room at the Manchester club, the Music Box, where he was resident DJ in around 2000, with the proceeds going to charity. When he started touring, Scruff took the enterprise with him and gained a reputation for being the DJ with the teashop. When appearing at festivals, such as Big Chill and WOMAD, tea stalls or tents were erected, and were open for the duration of the festivals. Scruff subsequently started an online tea company, Make Us a Brew, and produces his own range of fair trade teabags. Both his official website, and the Make Us a Brew site also sell branded tea-related paraphernalia including teapots, mugs and tea-towels. The teabags are sold in department store chains Selfridges, Waitrose and Booths.^[11]

Fish[link]

Most of Mr. Scruff's studio albums contain tracks about fish, whales and other sea-life, which cut up recordings of voiceovers from children's stories and nature documentaries to create surreal and silly stories.^[12] They began with the track "Sea Mammal" (featuring a sample from Boogie Down Productions' track "Part Time Sucker"), released on the Hocus Pocus single (1995).^[13] It is also the opening track on Scruff's first album. This was followed by "Wail" (as a homophone for "Whale"), also on his first album. Keep It Unreal (1999) featured the tracks "Shanty Town" and "Fish", the latter of which features samples from the likes of David Attenborough and David Bellamy. The album Trouser Jazz (2002) closes with another cut-up track, "Ahoy There!", noted as featuring an appearance from "Albert Ross" (albatross).

Scruff has stated that he is unlikely to record any further fish-based cut-up tracks. However, marine references continue in Scruff's work including the track "Shrimp" from Trouser Jazz, and the title and cover art of his most recent albums, Ninja Tuna (2008) and its companion release, Bonus Bait (2009).

Hot Pot[link]

Mr. Scruff and Treva Whateva (his Ninja Tune label-mate and friend from Stockport) recorded a weekly hour-long radio show, some episodes of which can still be found on samurai.fm.

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

Studio albums[link]

• Mr. Scruff (Pleasure Music, 9 May 1997)
• Keep It Unreal (Ninja Tune, 14 July 1999)^[14] UK #175
• Trouser Jazz (Ninja Tune, 16 September 2002) UK #29^[15]
• Mrs. Cruff (Ninja Tune, reissue of Mr. Scruff with additional tracks, 5 May 2005) UK #195
• Ninja Tuna (Ninja Tuna, 6 October 2008)^[9] UK #60
• Bonus Bait (Ninja Tuna, 9 February 2009)

Mix and compilation albums[link]

• Heavyweight Rib Ticklers (Compilation album, Unfold Recordings, 11 February 2002)
• Keep It Solid Steel Volume 1 (DJ mix album, Ninja Tune, 1 January 2004)
• Big Chill Classics (Compilation album, Resist Music, 21 August 2006)
• Southport Weekender Volume 7 (DJ mix album – Disc 2 mixed by Mr. Scruff, Concept Records, 21 July 2008)
• Mr. Scruff Feat. Alice Russell (Music Takes Me Up, 2008)

Singles[link]

• "Hocus Pocus" (Robs Records, March 1995)
• "The Frolic EP Part 1" (Pleasure Music / Pinnacle Records, 15 January 1996)
• "The Frolic EP Part 2" (Pleasure Music / Pinnacle Records, 16 February 1996)
• "Limbic Funk" (Pleasure Music, 29 July 1996)
• "Large Pies EP" (Cup of Tea Records, 7 April 1997)
• "How Sweet it Is" / "Is it Worth It?" (with Spikey T) (Grand Central Records, 13 June 1997)
• "Pigeon" (Pinnacle Records, 6 June 1997)
• "Chipmunk / Fish / Happy Band" (Ninja Tune, 10 March 1998)
• "Get a Move On" (Ninja Tune, 26 April 1999) UK #139
• "Honeydew" (Ninja Tune, 22 October 1999) UK #129
• "Hocus Pocus" (re-release, Robs Records, 7 May 2001)
• "Get a Move on / Ug" (re-release, Ninja Tune, 6 August 2001) UK #83
• "Shrimp!" (Ninja Tune, 27 May 2002) UK #78
• "Beyond / Champion Nibble" (Ninja Tune, 23 September 2002) UK #125
• "Sweetsmoke" (Ninja Tune, December 2002) UK #75^[15]
• "Sweetsmoke Remixes" (Ninja Tune, April 2003) UK #91
• "Giffin" (Ninja Tune, 20 October 2003)
• "Chicken in a Box / Spandex Man" (Ltd edition, Ninja Tune, 11 April 2005)
• "Donkey Ride / Giant Pickle" (with Quantic, Ninja Tuna, 12 May 2008)
• "Kalimba / Give Up To Get" (Ninja Tuna, 14 July 2008)
• "Music Takes Me Up" (Ninja Tuna, 15 September 2008)
• "Get on Down / Hold On" (Ninja Tuna, 1 December 2008)
• "Whiplash / Bang The Floor / Cat & Mouse" (Ninja Tuna, 9 February 2009)
• "This Way / Hairy Bumpercress" (Ninja Tuna, 9 March 2009)
• "Nice Up The Function / Listen Up" (Ninja Tuna, 6 April 2009)
• "Bunch of Keys / Cat & Mouse Version 2" (Ninja Tuna, 8 June 2009)
• Mr Scruff Vs Kirsty Almeida – "Pickled Spider" (Ninja Tuna, 14 June 2010)
• "Wobble Control" (Ninja Tuna, 9 May 2011
• "Feel It / Bounce" (Ninja Tuna, 3 October 2011)

Collaborations[link]

Mr. Scruff with...

• DJ Spooky – "Murderah Style" appeared on the compilation album Tribal Gathering 96 (Universe, 1 October 1996)
• Mark Rae – "How Sweet It Is" and "Gotta Have Her" both appeared on the compilation album Central Heating (Grand Central Records, 25 November 1996)
• Tony D – "Flavour" featuring Mark Rae, Mark 1 and Mr. Scruff, from the album Pound For Pound (Grand Central Records, 15 September 1997)
• Mark Rae – "The Squirrel" appeared on the compilation album Central Heating 2 (Grand Central Records, 17 April 2000)
• Peter Nice Trio vs. Mr. Scruff – "Harp Of Gold" from the compilation album Out Patients (Hospital Records, 30 May 2000)
• Fingathing – "Just Practice" featuring Mr. Scruff, from the album The Main Event (Grand Central Records, 20 November 2000)
• Quantic – "It's Dancing Time" from the compilation album Shapes One (Tru Thoughts, 1 September 2003)
• Quantic – "Giraffe Walk" from Quantic's album, One Off's Remixes and B Sides (Tru Thoughts, 6 February 2006)
• Swell Sessions – "No No" from the album Swell Communications (Freerange Records, 24 September 2007)
• Quantic – "Donkey Ride" (Ninja Tune, 12 May 2008)
• Kaidi Tatham – "Fresh Noodles" (Prime Numbers, 30 November 2009)
• Kirsty Almeida – "Pickled Spider" (Ninja Tune, 30 April 2010)

Several of Mr. Scruff's records also feature guest vocalists and musicians. These include Sneaky (from Fingathing), Roots Manuva, Niko, Braintax, Alice Russell and Danny Breaks. Both Scruff and Roots Manuva have expressed an interest in recording a full album together, though the artists' schedules have prevented it to date.^[11]

Cover version[link]

• "Get a Move On" was covered by Will Holland's side project, The Quantic Soul Orchestra on the album Pushin' On (Tru Thoughts, 5 May 2005).

Song appearances[link]

• The last segment from the documentary movie Scratch (2001), entitled "Full Circle", features a different mix of "Spandex Man" with additional samples.
• Episodes of the Channel 4 UK TV comedy show Spaced featured the tracks "Spandex Man", "Chipmunk" and "Blackpool Roll" from the Keep It Unreal album.
• "Spandex Man" was also used on the BBC series Top Gear, is often used on the BBC Three show The Real Hustle and features in the films SW9 and Gumball Rally 3000.
• The song "Ug" from the album Trouser Jazz is used in numerous Weebl and Bob cartoons, including the very first one entitled "Pie". The pie as a motif later recurred in one of Scruff's videos (Sweetsmoke).
• "Get a Move On" has been used in advertisements including Volvo and Lincoln automobiles, in television shows including the BBC's snooker highlights, Bargain Hunt and The Apprentice and in Kenny Anderson's section of the skateboarding video One Step Beyond. The song was chosen by Victoria Wood as one of her eight favourite records on Desert Island Discs.^[16]
• "Blackpool Roll" was used in New Zealand by television network TV ONE as background music as part of their branded channel advertising and show listings. It also appears in the game Rolando 2.
• "Fish" was used by Nexus Productions for the Virgin Atlantic safety video, which features the voices of Vic Reeves and Dani Behr. It was also used by Thomson Reuters for their UK Customer Service hold music.
• Several Mr. Scruff tracks appeared on Rolando, a game for Apple's iPhone and iPod Touch devices in 2008. The game, developed by HandCircus and published by Ngmoco, features the tracks "Ug", "Stockport Carnival", "Spandex Man", "Donkey Ride", "Kalimba", "Shrimp", and "Mice at the Organ".
• The track "Kalimba" from the album Ninja Tuna is included in the sample music folder on computers running Windows 7. It is also on the soundtrack of the short film Modeling, the True Story.^[17]
• "So Long" and "Get a Move On" from the album Keep it Unreal, have been featured on Cartoon Networks' Adult Swim during commercial breaks.

References[link]

External links[link]

This article's use of external links may not follow Wikipedia's policies or guidelines. Please improve this article by removing excessive or inappropriate external links, and converting useful links where appropriate into footnote references. (April 2012)

Official[link]

• Artist website
• Artist page on Mr. Scruff's label, Ninja Tune
• "Pie Space" artist page on MySpace
• Artist page on SoundCloud
• Make Us a Brew website

Interviews[link]

• Bergen, Andrez. "A Quickie with Mr. Scruff". de-VICE the 3rd. http://de-vice-third.tripod.com/id37.html. 
• Gluzman, David (2004). "Interview with Mr.Scruff". R4NT Magazine. http://r4nt.com/article/interview-with-mrscruff/. 
• "Mr Scruff interview". BBC Norfolk. 18 May 2005. http://www.bbc.co.uk/norfolk/content/articles/2004/09/18/club_feature_mr_scruff_interview_feature.shtml. 
• Kiddey, Guy (May 2008). "Guy Kiddey talks to Mr Scruff, international DJ and good-time man". The Globalist (Cambridge: Varsity): 48. http://www.theglobalist.co.uk/Editions/May08.pdf. 
• Naylor, Ben (26 June 2008). "The 5-minute Interview: Mr Scruff, DJ and producer". The Independent. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/the-5minute-interview-mr-scruff-dj-and-producer-854318.html. 
• Sleigh, Rob (18 Apr 2010). "Interview with Mr Scruff". Room Thirteen. http://www.roomthirteen.com/features/750/Interview_with_Mr_Scruff.html. 

Other[link]

• "Train Wreck Mix" by Mr. Scruff on the Red Bull Music Academy Radio website
• "Essential Mix" by Mr. Scruff (7 February 2009)

Bobby McFerrin
Bobby McFerrin in March 2011
Background information
Birth name	Robert McFerrin, Jr
Born	(1950-03-11) March 11, 1950 (age 62) Manhattan, New York
Genres	Jazz, Reggae, World Music, Classical Music
Occupations	Musician Songwriter Conductor Arranger Producer
Instruments	Vocals, piano, bass guitar, clarinet
Years active	1977–present
Labels	Manhattan Records Blue Note Records Elektra Records Sony Classical
Associated acts	Chick Corea Herbie Hancock
Website	www.bobbymcferrin.com

Robert "Bobby" McFerrin, Jr. (born March 11, 1950) is a virtuoso American vocalist and conductor. He is best known for his 1988 hit song "Don't Worry, Be Happy". He is a ten-time Grammy Award winner. He is well known for his unique vocal techniques and singing styles.

Life[link]

Bobby McFerrin was born in Manhattan, New York City, the son of operatic baritone Robert McFerrin and singer Sara Copper.^[1] Robert Sr. was the first African American to be a regular with New York's Metropolitan Opera. Sara is a former soloist with regional opera companies and in Broadway shows, and is a professor emeritus of music at Fullerton College in Fullerton, California.

Bobby McFerrin married Debbie Green in 1975. They have three children.^[2]

McFerrin's song "Don't Worry, Be Happy" was a No. 1 U.S. pop hit in 1988 and won Song of the Year and Record of the Year honors. McFerrin has also worked in collaboration with instrumental performers, including pianists Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, and Joe Zawinul, drummer Tony Williams, and cellist Yo-Yo Ma.

Vocal technique[link]

As a vocalist, McFerrin often switches rapidly between modal and falsetto registers to create polyphonic effects, performing both the main melody and the accompanying parts of songs. He makes use of percussive effects created both with his mouth and by tapping on his chest. McFerrin is also capable of multiphonic singing, as observed in his song "Drive" from the 2005 DVD Live in Montreal.^[3]

A notable document of McFerrin's approach to singing is his 1984 album The Voice, the first solo vocal jazz album recorded with no accompaniment or overdubbing.^[4]

Career[link]

In 1986, McFerrin was the voice of Santa Bear in Santa Bear's First Christmas, and in 1987 he was the voice of Santa Bear/Bully Bear in the sequel Santa Bear's High Flying Adventure. That same year, he performed the theme song for the opening credits of Season 4 of The Cosby Show, as well as the music for a Cadbury chocolate commercial.^{[citation needed]}

In 1988, McFerrin recorded the hit song "Don't Worry, Be Happy", which brought him widespread recognition across the world. However, the song's success "ended McFerrin's musical life as he had known it," and he began to pursue other musical possibilities – on stage and in recording studios.^[5] The song was used in George H. W. Bush's 1988 U.S. presidential election as Bush's 1988 official presidential campaign song, without Bobby McFerrin's permission or endorsement. In reaction, Bobby McFerrin publicly protested that particular use of his song, including stating that he was going to vote against Bush, and completely dropped the song from his own performance repertoire, to make the point even clearer.^{[citation needed]}

In 1989, he composed and performed the music for the Pixar short film Knick Knack. The rough cut to which McFerrin recorded his vocals had the words "blah blah blah" in place of the end credits (meant to indicate that he should improvise). McFerrin spontaneously decided to sing "blah blah blah" as lyrics, and the final version of the short film includes these lyrics during the end credits. Also in 1989, he formed a ten-person "Voicestra" which he featured on both his 1990 album Medicine Music and in the score to the 1989 Oscar-winning documentary Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt. The song "Common Threads" has frequently reappeared in some public service advertisements about AIDS. McFerrin also performed with the Vocal Summit.^{[citation needed]}

As early as 1992, widespread rumors circulated that falsely claimed McFerrin committed suicide. The rumors intentionally made fun of the distinctly positive nature of his popular song "Don't Worry, Be Happy" by claiming McFerrin ironically took his own life.^[6]

In 1993, McFerrin sang Henry Mancini's "Pink Panther" theme for the movie Son of the Pink Panther.

In addition to his vocal performing career, in 1994, Mr. McFerrin was appointed as creative chair of the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. He makes regular tours as a guest conductor for symphony orchestras throughout the United States and Canada, including the San Francisco Symphony (on his 40th birthday), the New York Philharmonic, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the London Philharmonic, the Vienna Philharmonic and many others. In McFerrin's concert appearances, he combines serious conducting of classical pieces with his own unique vocal improvisations, often with participation from the audience and the orchestra. For example, the concerts often end with McFerrin conducting the orchestra in an a cappella rendition of the "William Tell Overture," in which the orchestra members sing their musical parts in McFerrin's vocal style instead of playing their parts on their instruments.

For a few years in the late 1990s, he toured a concert version of Porgy and Bess, partly in honor of his father, who sang the role for Sidney Poitier in the 1959 film version, and partly "to preserve the score's jazziness" in the face of "largely white orchestras" who tend not "to play around the bar lines, to stretch and bend". McFerrin says that because of his father's work in the movie, "This music has been in my body for 40 years, probably longer than any other music."^[7]

McFerrin also participates in various music education programs and makes volunteer appearances as a guest music teacher and lecturer at public schools throughout the U.S. McFerrin has collaborated with his son, Taylor, on various musical ventures. Taylor has recently been singing, rapping, and playing minimal keyboard accompaniment with Vernon Reid (leader-guitarist of Living Colour) in the eclectic metal-fusion-funk group Yohimbe Brothers.^{[citation needed]}

In 2009, McFerrin and musician-scientist Daniel Levitin served as co-hosts of The Music Instinct, a two-hour award-winning documentary produced by PBS and based on Levitin's best-selling book This Is Your Brain On Music. Later that year, the two appeared together on a panel at the World Science Festival, where McFerrin demonstrated audience participation with the ubiquitous nature of human understanding of the pentatonic scale by singing and dancing, and having the audience sing while following his movements.^[8]

Discography[link]

As leader[link]

• Bobby McFerrin (1982)
• The Voice (1984)
• Spontaneous Inventions (1987)
• Elephant's Child (1987)
• Simple Pleasures (1988)
• Don't Worry, Be Happy (1988)
• How the Rhino Got His Skin/How the Camel Got His Hump (1990)
• Medicine Music (1990)
• Play, with Chick Corea, 1992
• Hush, with Yo-Yo Ma, 1992
• Many Faces of Bird (1991)
• "The Siamese Cat Song" on Simply Mad About the Mouse (1991)
• Sorrow Is Not Forever (1994)
• Paper Music (1995, Doick with the St. Paul Chamber orchestra)
• Bang! Zoom (1996)
• The Mozart Sessions, with Chick Corea, 1996
• Circlesongs (1997)
• Mouth Music (2001)
• Beyond Words (2002) – featuring Chick Corea, Cyro Baptista and Richard Bona
• Konzert für Europa -The Schönbrunn Concert (2004)
• VOCAbuLarieS (2010)

As sideman[link]

• Pharoah Sanders, Journey to the One, 1980
• Grover Washington, Jr., The Best Is Yet to Come, 1982
• Various Artists, The Young Lions, 1983
• Charles Lloyd Quartet, A Night in Copenhagen (Blue Note, 1984)
• Various Artists, A Tribute to Thelonius Monk, 1984
• Chico Freeman, Tangents, 1984
• Michael Hedges, Watching My Life Go By, 1985
• The Manhattan Transfer, Vocalese, 1985
• Joe Zawinul, Di•a•lects, 1986
• Weather Report, Sportin' Life, 1985
• Al Jarreau, Heart’s Horizon, 1988
• Quincy Jones, Back on the Block, 1989
• Laurie Anderson, Strange Angels, 1989
• Gal Costa, The Laziest Gal in Town, 1991
• Dizzy Gillespie, Bird Songs: The Final Recordings (Telarc, 1992), To Bird with Love (Telarc, 1992)
• Jack DeJohnette, Extra Special Edition (Blue Note, 1994)
• Yellowjackets, Dreamland, 1995
• George Martin, In My Life, 1998 – on "Come Together" with Robin Williams
• En Vogue, Masterpiece Theatre, 2000
• Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, Little Worlds, 2003
• Chick Corea, Rendezvous in New York, 2003
• Wynton Marsalis, The Magic Hour, 2004
• size2shoes, 2006 (free track)^[9]

Grammys[link]

• 1985, Best Jazz Vocal Performance, male, "Another Night In Tunisia" with Jon Hendricks
• 1985, Best Vocal Arrangement for two or more voices, "Another Night In Tunisia" with Cheryl Bentyne
• 1986, Best Jazz Vocal Performance, male, "Round Midnight"
• 1987, Best Jazz Vocal Performance, male, "What Is This Thing Called Love"
• 1987, Best Recording for Children, "The Elephant's Child" with Jack Nicholson
• 1988, Song of the year, Best Pop Vocal Performance, male, Record of the year, "Don't Worry, Be Happy"
• 1988, Best Jazz Vocal Performance, male, "Brothers"
• 1992, Best Jazz Vocal Performance, "Round Midnight"

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Bobby McFerrin

• Bobby McFerrin