We are delighted to kick off the new ODD NIGHTS series with a very special event – Phil Minton’s Feral Choir.
The revered improviser has a spectacular career spanning over four decades, whose collaborations include Audrey Chen, Tom Cora, Radu Malfatti and Mike Westbrook and a vocal improv quintet, Five Men Who Sing, with Jaap Blonk, Paul Dutton, Koichi Makigami and David Moss.
While deeply rooted in his solo practice, Feral Choir is a unique approach to improv, stripping down the concept to the very bare elements of the human voice, beyond language and music.
Dubbed as “an improvisation workshop for everyone who ever wanted to sing but was afraid to”, Feral Choir invites amateurs, professionals and shower singers to step out and rediscover their voices.
During the 20 years of doing the workshop, Phil had groups ranging from 10 to 60 people, including actors, improvisers, fans, children and even mentally challenged participants. Its nature transcends language and cultural barriers, offer a raw, primal communication system.
Participating in the workshop is a highly entertaining, often transformative experience. Under Phil’s direction, people blend humming, whistling, shushing and other bodily noises into a wild, cacophonous symphony.
The workshop takes place July 10th-12th at Salonul de Proiecte, with rehearsals Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday between 19-21, followed by a public performance on Wednesday from 21:30. Please sign up at info@oddweb.org.
Listen to the recording of the final performance here:
Photos by Petre Fall.
Reading Material
Biography
Phil Minton
Phil Minton comes from Torquay in the UK. He played trumpet and sang with the Mike Westbrook Band in the early 60s- Then in dance and rock bands in Europe for the later part of the decade. He returned to England in 1971, rejoining Westbrook and was involved in many of his projects until the mid 1980′s.
For most of the last forty years, Phil has been working as a improvising singer in groups, orchestras and situations, in various locations worldwide. Some composers have written pieces that especially employ his extended vocal techniques and improvisations. He has a quartet with Veryan Weston, Roger Turner and John Butcher and ongoing duos with all the above.
Phil also sings with many other musicians including Audrey Chen, with whom in the last ten years, he has performed worldwide. And recently, after a long break, he’s been involved in several of American composer Bob Ostertag’s projects.
Since the eighties, his Feral Choir, where he voice-conducts workshops and concerts for Anyone Who Wants to Sing, has performed in over twenty countries.