When I was little, I was confused as to why people talked about “24 carrot gold.” What did carrots have to do with gold anyway? Turns out, I wasn’t the only one who got confused between “carrot” and “karat.” So when I saw a YouTube video called “24K Magic by Bruno Mars — played with 24 carrots,” I knew I had to watch it.
To make his adaptation, which is based on Bruno Mars’ smash disco-synth hit, (which has racked up over 100 million views on YouTube), YouTuber Andrew Huang not only snapped, tapped, and peeled carrots to get his sounds, but also made carrot slide whistles and recorders to get the notes he needed for the video.
“Hold up. Carrot instruments?”
Yep, it’s possible. To make his instruments, Andrew hollowed out carrots of all sizes and cut out mouthpieces and holes. It took some experimentation, but he eventually ended up with twelve carrot instruments. Mix those sounds with some sounds from twelve other carrots, some vocals, and some fancy video cutting and splicing, and you’ve got a 24-karat-gold-worthy video.
Vegetable instruments aren’t a new thing. The Vegetable Orchestra was founded in 1998 and toured around the world playing original compositions from instruments made out of vegetables like radishes, cabbage, and eggplants. They have 24 tracks on their Soundcloud and it has got some pretty sick beets, if I do say so myself. There’s even a museum dedicated to carrots that has an entire webpage on vegetable musicians and bands.
Inspired to make your own musical carrot instument? Andrew also released a video showing you all the steps.
If you’re like me though, and prefer carrot cake over carrot flutes, check out this recipe for carrot cake waffles.