Blur, The Gorillaz, and now Opera?

Many of you may know Damon Albarn as the frontman for Blur, or the guy who formed the Gorillaz, or the guy who recently launched a supergroup with the Clash’s Paul Simonon, The Good, the bad and the Queen.  But Abarn is mixing things up again, and is preparing for an opera that’s been commissioned by the first Manchester International Festival (June 28-July 15). 

In his first major project since the Gorillaz, Abarn will partner with Jamie Hewlett  to produce Monkey: Journey to the West, a re-working of the ancient Chinese legend Journey to the West.

The Gaurdian writes:

For Monkey: Journey To The West, Albarn has set a text in Mandarin
Chinese and scored his music for western and Chinese instruments, plus
some he has invented himself. The designs and animations are by Jamie
Hewlett, designer for Gorillaz, and the cast includes 40 Chinese circus
acrobats, singers and martial arts performers.

"The hope is that people who love opera and who are interested in its
wellbeing and development will come to see what is being done," said Mr
Poots. "Traditional opera looks very much towards singers trained in
the western European conservatoire method and uses a very wonderful
musical language coming from that area. But it is a language with which
many people do not identify.

The Gaurdian: From Britpop to Britop

Event info on The Purple List