Balloon Bass
Home of Unpopable
What Is?
Addi Somekh plays a bass that is made 100% out of latex balloons and air. It is built using an 11 inch round balloon and two skinny twisting balloons – one skinny balloon is the string and the other is used to construct the resonator which is inside the round balloon. The balloon bass is 3 and a half octaves and is capable of deep, booming low frequencies, but also has the potential for twangy sitar-like sounds. Addi attaches a piezo pick-up to it and runs it through a pedal board and an amp.
Based in Los Angeles, Addi has a band called Unpopable with electric bass wizard Joey Maramba. They have recorded one album, called Unpopable Trio, featuring Alfredo Ortiz on drums. It is short, fun, and alternates between sweet and nasty.
A previous version of Unpopable featured guitarist Henry Bermudez and resulted in the aptly titled The Gift-Curse Combo.
Also, once a season or so, Addi adds a new and unique 3 song EP for you to download, in the Free EP Series.
The Youtube/balloonbass channel is a good spot to see what is going on, but of course, live shows are the funnest.
Also you can check out Addi's other life as an international balloon hat maker and abstract balloon twister.
Ethnomusicology Classification of the Balloon Bass:
“As an ethnomusicologist, I can tell you that the ballon bass defies the usual categories of instrument classification, falling somewhere between those called
chordophones (string instruments) and membranophones (basically, drums). But such technical analysis is rather beside the point. It’s what you can do musically with an instrument that matters.
Addi Somekh’s “balloon bass” is one of those perfect marriages of the silly and sublime. Combining the humblest of materials with pure human ingenuity, the balloon bass’s surprisingly adaptable “voice” and musical potential reminds us all of the reasons we play and listen to music in the first place: for the sheer joy of making sounds and playing together.”