A REAL "BIG" BAND SOUND

The Thai Elephant Orchestra may be literally the biggest band in the world. The players, all retired work elephants based in Lampang, Thailand, have been trained to play supersized percussion instruments with their trunks. The orchestra was co-founded by Columbia University neuroscientist David Sulzer, who built an enormous xylophone, marimbas, and drums, along with mallets for the pachyderms to strike them with. The band’s three albums are so accomplished, Sulzer claims, that one music critic was convinced he was hearing professional musicians. “[He] said, ‘I bet it’s a new music group from Asia.’ I said, ‘You got it.’”