Iceman Is - Terje Isungset
(064 458-2 Jazzland rec. distributed by Universal Music).

The World's first serious recording of musical instruments made from ice!

ICE HARP
ICE TRUMPET
ICE PERCUSSION

Background
Norwegian percussionist Terje Isungset has for years used a variety of organic sound elements in creating music and instruments. He has incorporated the sound of naturally found wood, stone, metal objects, and industrial machines and processes in the creation of musical works. Utilising ice as a source of sound has long been a dream of his, and in the year 2000 a serious opportunity came along to explore this possibility. He was commissioned to create a performance piece and composition incorporating the live sound of water beneath a natural frozen waterfall at the 2000 Lillehammer Winter Festival, at minus 15°C degrees and with Palle Mikkelborg and Lena Willemark as participating musicians. (the concert was televised in Norway). This was likely the first public concert ever combining instruments of ice with traditional musical instruments. While preparing for the Lillehammer concert, Isungset was contacted to help create Sweden's contribution to the world-wide televised New Years Day Millennium Celebration . In co-operation with sculptor Bengt Carling, Isungset created a set of ice percussion instruments that were played for the whole world to see and hear.

Iceman Is
The sonic qualities of ice turned out to be so fantastic that Terje decided to start working on a CD recording with ice instruments. He wanted to expand beyond ice percussion, and had ideas for ice "brass" and string instruments. Recording conditions would have to be extreme, because the fragile ice instruments are very quiet and also prone to temperature damage. The perfect location was found at the Ice Hotel in Jukkasjarvi , North Sweden , and music for the CD "Iceman Is" was recorded the first two days of February 2001.

The Ice Hotel is built every winter on a frozen lake, and the nearby frozen river was a perfect source for the quality ice needed for the Iceman Is project. It is essential for good sound that the ice is free of air bubbles, cracks, pollutants, or dirt. This area is known to have large amounts of superior quality ice. With special tools and machines, huge blocks of ice were harvested from the river and cut to specific sizes. A 4x16m (13'x 52') recording studio room was built using 1 meter (3') thick hard packed snow blocks, and a small window for natural light. This room proved to be 100% sound proof. We built an adjacent control room for the audio technician, and to separate the hum of hard drives from the recording room. The outdoor temperature was -37°C , -8°C inside. (-34°F/17°F) Ideal conditions for ice instruments, if not for musicians. The ice changes character and density with different temperatures, and conditions are best around -10°C.

Isungset and Carling worked for 3 days and nights prior to the recording, inventing and developing new instruments made from ice, some building on previous experiences, others completely from scratch. New inventions undoubtedly came to light... Ice harp, Ice horn, Ice trumpet, ice bass drum, and other percussion instruments. New unknown timbres and sonic adventures. The only parts not made from ice were the strings for the ice harp, and the bass drum pedal. In addition, horn player Arve Henriksen at times used a glass fibre mouth piece, although most of the time he'd blow with his lips directly onto the ice trumpets.

The recording.
Two days of practice and performance featured Iro Haarla (iceharp), Arve Henriksen (ice trumpet) and Terje Isungset (ice percussion). 3 hours of recorded ice music resulted from this unique session.

During the following months, Isungset continued to work with this raw material, editing and rearranging the sonic elements, selecting and creating a more unified progression of musical elements, but without altering the original sound.

On some of the tracks on the final CD "Iceman Is", other instruments have been added later, Lena Willemark - vocal, Palle Mikkelborg - trumpet, Hilmar Jensson and Skuli Sverrison - electronics.

Still, the mood from the Jukkasjarvi session is preserved, and the ice instruments form the foundation and inspiration for the other instruments that were added. The sound of natural ice is the essence of the music on "Iceman Is". 100% natural - this is the sound of ice! You really can't get more "chill" than this…

Download this document in Word format.