"The Crystal Quilt"

excerpt from Suzanne Lacy's "The Crystal Quilt", 1 hour, aired on PBS in 1987
"The Crystal Quilt" on YouTube

The Vegetable Orchestra was founded in February of 1998 in Vienna and plays 20-30 shows around the world a year. This group is ridiculously cool. They are an 11-person band (and 1 video person and 1 sound technician) that generates all sounds from vegetable instruments (including something called a cucumberphone!) that they have peeled, cut, carved, and drilled to make and the results are musical creations in all genres. All 11 are musically trained individuals that choose to work with vegetables because of the uniquely possible sounds that are emitted from these objects. Not only is the finished product awesome, but their philosophy as artists is as well. It is a somewhat silly concept but they take it seriously and create impeccable instruments and highly impressive compositions and improvisations. Also, it is a really nice touch that all their produce is bought at local markets and that the scraps from making the instruments go into a soup made for the audience at the end of the show.

vegetableorchestra.org