Really cool music: Avant-garde composer uses instruments made out of ICE



A live performance by musician Terje Isungset is guaranteed to send shivers down your spine - as the instruments he plays are made entirely out of ice.

Terje, from Bergen in Norway, became known as the Iceman after he started making music with instruments carved out of blocks of ice drawn from a nearby lake.

His amazing frozen creations include harps, trumpets, horns, guitars, marimbas and even a iceridoo - a frozen version of the Australian didgeridoo.



Polar grooves: Norweigan musician Terje Isungest performs with some of his incredible ice instruments

Terje claims every instrument he makes has a unique sound and while one ice horn he created was used for 50 performances many only last for a single session.

He said: 'I have to listen to my instrument. Instead of deciding how it's going to sound, the instrument decides how I'm going to play.

'I can never practice on my instrument because my instrument is new every time.This is one thing that's difficult.'

Chillingly beautiful: A fellow musician wraps up warm to perform on one of Terje's ice harps

Unique: Terje says different types of ice produce vastly different sounds and many of his instruments only last for a single performance

Terje started off as a percussionist playing alongside his accordionist father in dance bands.

Although he was an accomplished musician capable of playing a wide range of styles he became disillusioned with regular sounds and decided to switch to something a bit more experimental.



He begun by hitting frozen stalactites before moving on to forging his own instruments.

Word of his bizaree performances quickly spread and In 2006 he founded the annual Icemusic Festival on a mountainside at Geilo in Norway.

Unsurprisingly many of his songs have a winter theme.



According to Terje different types of ice produce completely different sounds and while it looks perfect, man-made ice sounds appalling and is completely unsuitable.



The best-sounding ice he's found came from a glacier in the north of Sweden.

He said: 'You can have a hundred pieces of ice and ten will sound good and 90 will sound bad.'

Blowing his own trumpet: Terje blasts away on a hand-carved horn

Among the more unusual venues he has performed in are a frozen waterfall and Sweden's Ice Hotel.

He added: 'I have to treat ice gently and I have to listen to the ice.

'If it's very cold, and I have had some concerts in 33 below zero, then the ice sounds very crisp and you get more high frequencies and more low frequencies.