Cool sounds: Making music with ice

The world has its share of strange musical instruments, but what would you say to instruments made of ice?

Incredibly enough, Norway's “iceman'' Terje Isungset has not only made such instruments, but has even cut CDs, organised IceMusic festivals and toured the world with ice-music.

The composer, who has a background in jazz and Scandinavian music, has been combining natural elements such as wood, stones and bells since the 1980s. In recent years he has made ice his forté.

“The idea behind ice-music is going to a place, finding ice, building the instruments and the stage to play the concert and then returning the ice to nature. The instruments do not belong to me - I just borrow them from nature,'' said Isungset in an e-mail interview with XPRESS.

First cut

He first experimented with ice in 1999, when he was asked to compose a special concert in Lillehammer, Norway.

“I decided to use elements from the waterfall itself as instruments for parts of the composition. The concert also included the sounds of the river (underneath the ice) and the use of ice itself,'' he said.

It was in Lillehammer that he also recorded his first ice-music CD - Iceman Is - in 2001. Since then Isungset has gone ahead and cut five discs of ice-music, with the sixth record scheduled for release in January 2010.

In 2007, Isungset undertook the world's first ice-music tour – in total 33 concerts were held in Japan and Norway. “This was a dream I have had for years. It was great,'' he said.

In 2005, he founded All Ice Record to release music that was played only on ice instruments.

The same year he also got the idea of conducting an ice-music festival, and the first festival was held at Geilo, Norway, in 2006.

The second edition of the ice-music festival was held from February 21 to March 1 on a frozen glacier, 3,200 metres above sea level, in northern Italy, where Isungset, accompanied, among others, by vocalist Lena Nymark, conjured up images of frozen worlds and magical realms.

“The conditions were just perfect for ice-music. On days with good weather, the place was absolutely full (approximately 250-300 people),'' he said.

Which brings us to the question of how does Isungset coax sound from something as fragile as ice.

“I take ice from a river or lake (it has to be natural). Then I cut it with a chain-saw, after which I do the final work using only a knife. This is the fine-tuning of the instrument and also when I try to get the ice to ‘sing' or make sounds,'' he explained.

Ecological point

Isungset is obviously driving home an ecological point with his music. “It is fantastic to be able to make music out of the world's most important resource: fresh water. Without water there would be no life on earth,'' he concluded.