Bobby McFerrin : love of my life.

this just may be the single most amazing thing i've ever heard. 

while to some of you i may seem to have posted this solely for comical purposes, i assure you i did not. this is absolutely serious. 

this is amazing. 

first, for anyone who sings, you probably know that this is immensely impressive. he's got such an astounding range. he's just flawlessly jumping multiple octaves, always remaining perfectly on-pitch. something that is nearly impossible to do. that is, unless you're bobby mcferrin. 

second, for the musicians, it's quite clear bobby mcferrin has an in-depth and well developed knowledge of music. i'd assume he arranged this piece himself, chose how to represent each part of the original piece, chose what tones and emphasis and rhythms to isolate, exaggerated, bring out, bring to life . . . and the sort  of "personalities" of the various characters he seems to embody throughout this piece. he knows what he's doing. i respect that. he's also simultaneously performing and conducting the audience to back him up. fabulous. 

third, for everyone else, the stuff that didn't quite fit into my first to groups. . . he clearly enjoys performing, he's got all of his own little quirky motions (like playing his invisible bass, for example, in the beginning of the video) as the music flows through him; and i'd be willing to bet he'd be amazing to see perform. this is an enjoyable and entertaining and comical performance whether you're a singer, or a musician or not. it's amazing. also, it's an amazing arrangement of the wizard of oz music, which is already pretty great. also, this is just one guy doing all of this. nobody else. (well, you know, the audience is participating too, i guess. . . but they really aren't all that important. who cares about them when bobby mcferrin is singing?) oh, and another thing, it's a pretty interesting concept to be including the audience in your performance, isn't it? kind of unique and intriguing. 

so, if i haven't convinced you that bobby mcferrin is a lot more than just the singer of "don't worry, be happy" (which, by the way, was also entirely a capella), well, then we can't be friends anymore. 

( also, i recommend you check out some more beautifulness from bobby. because it's all amazing. )

UPDATE: 

i'd also like to particularly draw your attention to his range and octave jumps at times such as 2:49- , 3:08- , 3:25-3:43 , oh, and so so so much more . . .