Making music from ice (The coolest music in the world)
“We have made musical instruments out of almost everything else, why not water? I think that connects everything with everything”, one of the participants of the Ice Music Festival Geilo in Norway said. Some of the international musicians are rehearsing different Brazilian and African rhythms on the ice instruments for the environmentally responsible music festival that will take place 20-23 January 2011 at Geilo.
Percussionist Terje Isungset is a Norwegian musician and composer who has focused over the past decade on instruments made of ice, sculpting and cutting percussion instruments from one of the purest materials – frozen water from ancient lakes. Isungset has been recording unusually light and delicate sounds and serious music under harsh conditions in the mountains of Norway. From these recordings he has developed Ice Music.
"This is not the easiest way to make music," Isungset commented as he was having a performance at London this January. It was cold, and the crowd was wrapped up warm, but it was nothing like the freezing temperatures in Geilo, where Isungset founded the world's first Ice music festival. The musicians at the Ice music festival use instruments of pure ice such as ice horns, an iceophone and ice percussion. These fragile instruments are carved from ancient glaciers: “We are searching for the perfect ice, we are searching for a clear ice, crystal-clear ice...and it’s nature that decides if it’s going to be crystal-clear or not”, one of the members of the ice-crew says while the stage for the ice music festival is being set, and adds, “you can touch it and you can see if the ice is perfect – then you can make the instruments”.
An amazing exchange between the human and nature allows us to take the water in a shape of ice from our environment, to make music festivals or artistic events, and upon completing such an event – to return the water back to the nature. Could it possibly be more environmentally friendly than that?
Text: Borko Milosevic
“Ice Music, Moon Magic”, the video about how the ice music festival is being made in Norway – CLICK HERE
www.icemusicfestival.no
Percussionist Terje Isungset is a Norwegian musician and composer who has focused over the past decade on instruments made of ice, sculpting and cutting percussion instruments from one of the purest materials – frozen water from ancient lakes. Isungset has been recording unusually light and delicate sounds and serious music under harsh conditions in the mountains of Norway. From these recordings he has developed Ice Music.
"This is not the easiest way to make music," Isungset commented as he was having a performance at London this January. It was cold, and the crowd was wrapped up warm, but it was nothing like the freezing temperatures in Geilo, where Isungset founded the world's first Ice music festival. The musicians at the Ice music festival use instruments of pure ice such as ice horns, an iceophone and ice percussion. These fragile instruments are carved from ancient glaciers: “We are searching for the perfect ice, we are searching for a clear ice, crystal-clear ice...and it’s nature that decides if it’s going to be crystal-clear or not”, one of the members of the ice-crew says while the stage for the ice music festival is being set, and adds, “you can touch it and you can see if the ice is perfect – then you can make the instruments”.
An amazing exchange between the human and nature allows us to take the water in a shape of ice from our environment, to make music festivals or artistic events, and upon completing such an event – to return the water back to the nature. Could it possibly be more environmentally friendly than that?
Text: Borko Milosevic
“Ice Music, Moon Magic”, the video about how the ice music festival is being made in Norway – CLICK HERE
www.icemusicfestival.no