Colin Offord - vocalist & instrument inventor - TreeLine Closing Event

Event date: 3 Jul 2010

 

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Performance:  Saturday, July 3, 4pm, Free Concert

Cooroy Amphitheatre (outside the new Cooroy Library)

Followed by a Closing Party at the nearby Butter Factory Arts Centre - All Welcome

The Event

Expect a concert of extraordinary music and songs played on original instruments by a performer who has traveled the world to develop his unique art form.  Offord creates sweeping soundscapes on the Great Island Mouthbow interspersed with interludes on a range of original and traditional wind instruments accompanied by Jamie Pattugalan: drums and percussion and Yilan Yeh on Moonbells: a glorious sounding set of multi-phonic harmonic bells created by Colin.

“Uplifting musical work capable of replenishing the human spirit.” Lisa Yallamas, Brisbane Courier Mail “He is like a modern troubadour with his artistic crossover of Celtic, Aboriginal, Medieval and Asian music.  His performances are enchanting, effortless and always an exciting event. Antoine Legat Cultuur Magazine,Belgium.

“Offord sings in a gloriously rich voice of exceptional range. The sound he makes carries the breath of angels. A magical blend of the primal and the sophisticated.” John Shand, Sydney Morning Herald “Magical and extraordinary. A musician and artist of genius. A real national musical treasure.” Bruce Elder, Sydney Morning Herald

Colin Offord is a singer, composer, multi-instrumentalist, inventor of original instruments, designer of performance works and visual artist. Of Anglo-Celtic heritage, his extensive travels and many collaborations have led him to a synthesis of the artistic and philosophical influences of western avant-garde and folk music, experimental Jazz, East Asian, Aboriginal Australian and Pacific island art forms. Offord’s art is passionate, expansive and genuinely original yet very accessible to a wide audience. He has created an international art form with a distinctly Australasian character.

Colin Offord sings in a rich voice of exceptional range. He has developed a unique singing style that combines song forms and vocal improvisation, calls and yodels, throat harmonics, falsetto and the exploration of vocal sound. He accompanies his voice with the most noted of his many original instruments:  the Great Island Mouthbow. Over twenty years in development, it is a complex string instrument, which can be bowed, plucked and played percussively. Colin then modifies the sounds harmonically with his throat to produce sweeping, rhythmic soundscapes. The result is a vast array of sonic possibilities from a single instrument.

Colin has performed at arts and music festivals, in concert halls, theatres, galleries, churches and schools throughout Australia and the world. He has staged environmental events in volcanic craters, caves, beaches, gardens, and architectural settings and in the digital realm. He has given performances throughout Europe, North America. East Asia, Reunion Island and South Africa and throughout the island nations of the Pacific Ocean. He has represented Australia at Commonwealth Arts Festivals, World Expos, and World Drum Festivals and for Sydney’s Olympics 2000 bid in Monaco.

Colin’s activities include solo concerts, ensemble performances, environmental works, cross cultural collaborations, the developing and building of original instruments, scores for theatre, new media, circus, film and dance, special events, concerts and workshops, community projects and exhibitions of visual art. He has collaborated with traditional, folk and experimental musicians and dancers throughout the world.

This year Colin is working on an exhibition of his visual art to open on December 18th, 2010 at the Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts in Taiwan and is composing music for “Hand Stories” by Chinese puppet master Yeung Fai to premier in Vidy Theatre Lausanne, Switzerland in January 2011. Colin is also creating a new score for the 1927 silent film masterpiece “For the Term of his Natural Life” for Australia’s Silent Film Festival and will launch his new music group “Curlew Republic” this year.

Visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tzDOyjLQrc to hear more of Colin's work.

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