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Chicago, 1977: A four-year-old Andrew Bird picks up his first violin. (Actually, it is a Cracker Jack box with a ruler taped to it.) So begins a formative period soaking up classical repertoire completely by ear followed by a teenage expansion into Hungarian Gypsy music, early jazz, country blues, South Indian music and more, as well as the discovery of an uncanny whistling ability.
Fast-forward 32 years – the Bird man has 8 critically lauded albums under his belt (5 solo works and 3 with his band, Andrew Bird’s Bowl of Fire), and has been winning accolades for his astonishing live performances. The New York Times’ Jonathan Mahler witnessed the multi-instrumentalist virtuoso performing in his native Chicago last January, and summed up the experience thusly:
“Onstage, Bird was engaged in something of a musical high-wire act, whistling, singing and manically shifting from violin to guitar to glockenspiel. All the while, his feet were busy working the pedals of an electronic looping station that recorded and then played back his musical progressions in short intervals….Bird’s sound is not easy to categorize. His songs are swelling and orchestral, the legacy of years spent studying classical violin at Northwestern University’s prestigious conservatory and elsewhere…His songs have a pastoral, homespun feel, but they also have a darkness and emotional complexity not typically associated with folk rock.”
True dat, Jonathan Mahler! Bird began his musical career with a 1996 solo violin album, Music of Hair, that paid tribute to American and European folk traditions, as well as jazz and blues. A year later he released Thrills with his new band Andrew Bird’s Bowl of Fire, followed by Oh! The Grandeur in 1999, The Swimming Hour in 2001 and Fingerlings in 2002.
In 2003 Bird re-invented himself as a solo artist, recreating the sound of a full band with the help of multitrack recorders and loop pedals. Solo albums Weather Systems (2003), The Mysterious Production of Eggs (2005), Armchair Apocrypha (2007) and Bird’s latest, Noble Beast (2009) have since blown critics and fans away with their disarmingly off-beat lyrics and lush, layered instrumentation.
We at Split Works are psyched to be hosting this baroque-rock gypsy-folk indie-orchestral juggernaut on his first tour in these parts. Come one, come all, and prepare to be blown away.
Singapore
Tue., Jan. 26 | 7:30pm
SGD 40/60 (SGD 25 for students and NSF)
1 Esplanade Drive
Hong Kong
Presented by
Wed., Jan. 27
HKD 300 (presale)/340 (door)
Grappa’s Cellar
Jardine House, 1 Connaught Place, Central
Shanghai
Fri., Jan. 29 | 9pm
RMB 150 (presale)/180 (door)
Dream Factory
4/F, 66 Yuyao Lu, near Xikang Lu
Beijing
Sat., Jan. 30 | 9pm
RMB 150 (presale)/180 (door)
West Courtyard, former site of Duan Qirui Government
3-2 Zhangzizhong Rd., Gulou
Dongcheng district
010-6404-2711[:zh]
Andrew Bird是一位独特的民谣音乐人，即使平均每年演出200场以上，也从不让自己感到厌倦。因为即便是同一首歌，他演了多少遍，就有多少个版本，没有任何两次的处理是完全一样的。无论是小提琴、口哨还是他的演唱，几乎什么都可以变，但每次变化都令人神往。虽然每首歌都只有区区几个和弦，但他会刻意在创作时留给每首歌很大的发挥空间，从而使每首歌都充满了神秘和惊喜。
这个出生于1973年的巨蟹座男人来自芝加哥，除了音乐，从没做过任何其他工作。他从4岁开始接触小提琴，受着学院派的古典音乐训练。他每天练习10到13个小时，直到手肘发炎；5岁就跟奶奶学习吹口哨。早在1996年，就以self-funding的姿态发行独立制作唱片的Bird，倚靠独特的古典乐背景，将弦乐与民谣摇滚完美融合。然而真正把口哨用在他的音乐里，是2002年。那次演出，他的乐队Bowl of Fire不能出席，他便硬着头皮一人带着乐器上阵，并尝试在演出时吹口哨，然而观众的反响出乎意料的好。直到现在，优雅的口哨声已经成为他音乐的标志之一。
正是那次成功的个人演出之后，他一个人通过乐器和多轨录音机完成了整个乐队的任务：他身兼歌手、词曲创造和各种乐器的融合，可以说，他一个人就是一个乐队。当他怀抱小提琴，背着木吉他上台的时候，观众无法想象将要看到、听到的到底是什么。他的风格诡异而离奇，有着吉普赛民谣的风情，又充满了南方蓝草的根源；有着早期摇摆爵士乐的风味，又不乏乡村布鲁斯的淳朴；再仔细听，还有着苏格兰民谣、卡利普索甚至南印度音乐的影子。正是这样，你永远也不可能把他和别人弄混。甚至每一次演出中的他，都是一个崭新的Andrew Bird。
他曾说，只要世界任何一个地方有300名观众要看他唱歌，他都会开心地跑过去演出。而08年他在芝加哥千禧年公园的演出，却聚集了超过13000名观众。他在最近四年发行的三张专辑，为他在全世界赢得了大量声誉和赞赏。任何一个看过他演出的人，都为他现场流露的才华和迷人的歌声所倾倒。
2010年1月末，曾经将瑞典民谣诗人Jose Gonzalez带来中国的Split Works，将在中国和新加坡举办4站Andrew Bird亚洲巡演。你准备好了吗？听，Andrew Bird正用小提琴和口哨优雅地唱歌。
www.douban.com/artist/andrewbird
新加坡
1月26号|周二
SGD 60/40 （学生/NSF 价格：SGD 25）
@ Esplanade
香港
1月27号|周三
港币300 (预售) / 340 (现场)
@ Grappa’s Cellar
怡和大廈，中環，康樂廣場1 号
上海
1月29号 | 周五
21:00
150 元 (预售) / 180 元 (现场)
@ 芷江梦工场
静安区余姚路66号（近西康路），4楼
北京
1月30号 | 周六
150 元 (预售) / 180 元 (现场)
@ 愚公移山
东城区张自忠路3-2号，段祺瑞执政府旧址西院
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