Incredibly Inventive Musicians Play Beautiful Music With a Bass Made From Balloons and a Wooden Box

In 2009, Los Angeles balloon artist and musician Addi Somekh performed a range of songs with his amazing balloon bass. Somekh’s friend Andy Sanesi joined in with percussion created from a wooden box.

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.

Since that time Somekh has been playing with the The Unpoppable Trio along with some solo experimentation.

Lori Dorn
Lori Dorn

Lori is a Laughing Squid Contributing Editor based in New York City who has been writing blog posts for over a decade. She also enjoys making jewelry, playing guitar, taking photos and mixing craft cocktails.