Have You Seen This? Bottle 'Flight of the Bumblebee'

Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes

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TRIESTE, Italy — It is no secret that many people on the Internet have too much time on their hands, putting together images and videos that run the gamut from slightly wacky to downright weird.

But if you’re reading this, you likely agree that Internet patrons will be forever grateful to those who have too much time on their hands, because they entertain us daily. And it isn’t just yahoos and teenagers who are creating frivolous content — serious professionals with serious talent are on the bandwagon too.

And that is why you can view a charming rendition of composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s “Flight of the Bumblebee” played on 101 glass bottles by three men.

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“Flight of the Bumblebee” is arguably the most oft chosen song when a musician wants to impress an audience. And that’s no surprise, because the song takes the speed and dexterity that only much practice can yield. A quick search on YouTube shows results of musicians busting out the song (with varied levels of skill) on everything from harmonicas and accordions to trumpets and pianos.

This rendition isn’t so much about practice, but the hours it took to painstakingly arrange and fill bottles in such a way as to make the tune accurate enough to recognize. According to Colm O’Regan’s YouTube channel, it took four to five hours to set up the bottles on a rainy night in Italy for a 31-second rendition of “Flight of the Bumblebee.”

O’Regan, the seeming leader of the pack, knows what he’s about musically. He is a graduate of the Cork School of Music who created and conducts the award-winning vocal group Voci Nuove (New Voice).