Musical instruments made of ice: beautiful and strange. I would love to hear this. (thanks Cindy).
GEILO, Norway (AFP) – Never has the phrase "sends shivers down your spine" more aptly described a musical concert. Inside a large snow arena tucked away in Norway's mountains, spectators marvelled as musicians performed for two days using instruments made almost entirely of ice.
Organised to coincide with the first full moon of the year, Geilo ski resort in the central mountain region separating Oslo from Norway's second largest city, Bergen, is home to the world's only ice music festival.
As short-lived as sandcastles, the ice-sculpted wind, string and percussion instruments give off surprising new sounds that vary according to the quality of the ice and the surrounding temperatures.
"Ice is extremely beautiful on a visual and musical level. It has additional qualities to other materials. It is abstract. Although it is cold it gives out a warm sound," said Terje Isungset, the festival organiser and a pioneer in ice music.
As we say in our house: people are amazing. Actually, the world is amazing. We had a whole weekend of bright, bright sun with cold, brilliant nights. I woke to a world covered in frost like the hair of an old goat. It looks like more of the same today. Life is good. I'm certainly feeling much less ranty :)
