Ventriloquism: A 12-Year-Old Ventriloquist Darci Lynne Farmer Won America’s Got Talent
Ventriloquism, or ventriloquy, is an act of stagecraft in which a person (a ventriloquist) changes his or her voice so that it appears that the voice is coming from elsewhere, usually a puppeteered “dummy”. The act of ventriloquism is ventriloquizing, and the ability to do so is commonly called in English the ability to “throw” one’s voice.
Origins
Originally, ventriloquism was a religious practice. The name comes from the Latin for to speak from the stomach, i.e. venter (belly) and loqui (speak). The Greeks called this gastromancy (Greek: εγγαστριμυθία). The noises produced by the stomach were thought to be the voices of the unliving, who took up residence in the stomach of the ventriloquist. The ventriloquist would then interpret the sounds, as they were thought to be able to speak to the dead, as well as foretell the future. One of the earliest recorded group of prophetsto utilise this technique was the Pythia, the priestess at the temple of Apollo in Delphi, who acted as the conduit for the Delphic Oracle.
One of the most successful early gastromancers was Eurykles, a prophet at Athens; gastromancers came to be referred to as Euryklides in his honour.[3] In the Middle Ages, it was thought to be similar to witchcraft. As Spiritualism led to stage magic and escapology, so ventriloquism became more of a performance art as, starting around the 19th century, it shed its mystical trappings.
In China, this practice is named after Kouji.
Other parts of the world also have a tradition of ventriloquism for ritual or religious purposes; historically there have been adepts of this practice among the Zulu, Inuit, and Māoripeoples.
https://youtu.be/7KS2oJPzeZk
12-year-old Darci Lynne Farmer won $1 million and a contract for a Las vegas show on America’s Got Talent Wednesday night, becoming the third ventriloquist to win in the show’s 12 seasons.
The Associated Press reports that Farmer won against 10-year-old singer Angelica Hale, and the moment of the crowning is almost comically upsetting, as two preteens weep over their potential, imminent loss:
Farmer got the most votes from viewers, which means that America is getting the winner it wants and deserves. And she is undeniably good at clenching her jaw hard while manipulating a terrifying puppet. She tells jokes, and she sings:
https://youtu.be/8ropWor8aAM
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