+4 votes
239 views
in Arts & Humanities by

These guys are amazing.


5 Answers

+5 votes
by

Yes they are amazing. I have never seen them before but that was great! Good job Tink! :)

+4 votes
by

O'Tink what a show! No I did not know of them, you wonder how they came up with the idea for a marching corps exclusively drums...I laughed at the commentator's remark, "...all with day jobs, but percussion rules their lives."

Obviously they are having a great time at that! I looked at the YouTube posting, and they have 14 million hits...and one of the YouTube comments was "I bet these guys eat Swiss watches for breakfast."

by

:D :D :D

by

O'Tink, I went to Marianne's link, a wonderful time learning about this drum corps...it seems that in Basel, everybody loves drumming - at any given time, about 3,000 active drummers in this city of 170,000!

And, although Top Secret is not a military group, it is founded on a long tradition; "Basel drumming style is militaristic, derived from the military drumming drills of Swiss soldiers dating back to the Middle Ages."

Fascinating, a great post!

by
+1

TU, Virginia. :)

+4 votes
by

No, I've never seen them. I do enjoy watching drum corps though!

+3 votes
by

Lol - the Basel Carnival is an ancient tradition and known for its (pipes and) drummers.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnival_of_Basel

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top_Secret_Drum_Corps

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Edinburgh_Military_Tattoo

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basel_Tattoo


Some among you might have also heard of the Mummenschanz:


by

The Mummenschanz are VERY creative folk!

by
+1

@Virginia

They are amazing us since long, and they are one of our most popular mimes' group - since more than 45 years.

:)


by
+1

I am glad to know of them, Marianne...actually, I am not even sure I would call that "mime"...at least it's a very different/unusual way of miming!

by
+1

Oh yes - it is a very special way of miming, playing or acting - with masks; in English, you call that "Mummer's Plays":

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mummers_play

:)

by
+1

Marianne, that is an interesting article...you really get a sense of the richness of the culture in the British Isles...the mumming...(mummering?)

For example I read that mummers were associated with morris dancing, which I had never heard of - but obviously, that is probably the etymology of the male name Morris! And then following the word morris back further, it seems to have derived from the Moors...Moorish dancing...anyway, what a nice link!

by
+1

Virginia - you are adding quite a few new elements: for instance, the name Morris, Maurice, Moritz, Maurizio is derived from Latin: Mauricius and the adjective maurus, i.e. dark (Ancient Greek μαυρός mauros), and which was indeed used to name and/or describe the Moors - and moorish (Think will refer to "Mohr" in German), and we might then think of Othello.

And yes, mummering is certainly related to the mummers - lol.


by
+1

Oh Marianne, of course, it makes sense now...names such as Maurice and Moritz as variations...for a while etymology, both words and names, was a hobby of mine! (And I still find it fascinating...)

by
+1

It is interesting indeed to look into the origins of words and names. You will laugh, my leisure interests as kid (besides the usual subjects at school, family, friends, church, everyday life, etc., reading, of course, and other activities) started with animals and plants, hence with zoological and botanical names, then spread further with various other more or less related domains.

:)

by
+1

Marianne, I had guessed you were an early lover of botany!

by
+1

@Virginia

Oh yes, indeed, my love for botany and zoology started in my early childhood. I don't remember, though, which came first. :)


by
+1

...not to mention your interest in geology, plate tectonics and such...:O

by
+1

Lol - geography, climatology, etc. - because of the fascinating exotic species, and later on geology, plate tectonics, etc. :D



by
+1

You have a very fine liberal arts education, Marianne, most of it self-education I would guess! 

by
+1

@Virginia

Lol - liberal? Education was very strict, old-fashioned, sexist, and many subjects were taboo. And the "icing on the cake" was, that nuns in convents were/are often much more open-minded than most of the wordly, not so exemplary, narrow-minded middle and lower middle class people. And the hippies and other cultural and more or less idealist groups opposed other, more or less embarrassing and even ridiculous extremes.

Yes, I was a bookworm, of course, and still am, and I have the impression that this is also your case.

:):)

by
+1

Marianne, at times I have indeed been a bookworm...and always I have loved literature. I have looked up for you this quote from Lord Dunsany (1878-1957). His masterpiece was doubtless THE KING OF ELFLAND'S DAUGHTER. He was of course a contemporary of Albert Einstein, as well as one of the original fantasy authors, upon whom many contemporary authors of that genre have based their own writing. I think Lord Dunsany addressed the relativity of time in a literary fashion, even while Einstein was doing his thought experiments in the realm of science! 

(As you can see, I admire Lord Dunsany very much.)

Anyway, here is the quote; I love literature especially because think it is magical to be able to connect with so many of the creative minds throughout history! And, Lord Dunsany here is describing the wonders of ink:

"How it can mark a dead man’s thoughts for the wonder of later years, and tell of happenings that are gone clean away, and be a voice for us out of the dark of time, and save many a fragile thing from the pounding of heavy ages; or carry to us, over the rolling centuries, even a song from lips long dead on forgotten hills.”

by
+1

Virginia, I am impressed - an excellent description.

You seem to have read much more than I did - or was it, because I read more French, German and Italian literature - or (especially as a kid) translations from the great British, American, Australian, Russian, Swedish and other authors? And, during my professional activities, I read much more technical, linguistical and scientific literature in various domains, and dictionaries, lexica, maps, etc. had to be always within reach, at work and at home.


by
+1

I would have guessed you read more than me, Marianne...but no matter, truly we both appreciate literature!

0 votes
by

Not before today.  I only saw portions of it but very cool.

Is this page not working?

Click here to see the recent version of this page

...