Andy Garbi

Selected by Louis Vuitton to open their 2015 Paris fashion show, Andy Garbi’s cutting edge vocal, composition and audio-visual work have gained the support of leaders in all fields of the creative arts. He has worked with Nigel Kennedy, musicians from the CBSO and as singer with cult bands Suns of Arqa, Headhunters and Celtarabia has also appeared on the same bill as The Prodigy, Roni Size, Transglobal Underground, Square Pusher, Jah Wobble and Massive Attack. He has also headlined major stages at Glastonbury, The Big Chill, The Big Green Gathering, Windows on The World, Ely Folk Festival and the Trans Musicale, Europe’s biggest world music festival.

Andy’s unfettered approach in bringing together different musical elements has contributed to the development of a unique haunting, filmic style that has been featured on BBC R3 Late Junction, Classic fm, Chill fm and RTE Lyric fm. The launch of his 2008 debut solo album ‘The Sound Of One’ attracted global critical acclaim. This led to an awarded scholarship in 2009 for a music residency at the Banff Centre for The Arts Canada.

Returning to the UK, Andy created the multi site-specific acoustic-heritage project The Unsung Antiquarium and became an endorsed artist with the National Trust. Also supported by Arts Council England, Roland UK and the British Library, the project became the launchpad for his large-scale work. Examples include ‘Shadows & Dust’ (2014), a commissioned audiovisual installation for the inauguration of a brand-new museum in the heart of Birmingham and VITRESCENCE (2017) a world-premiere installation/performance inside a 100ft high cone chimney featuring an 18-piece choir, surround sound system, sculptural glass horns and live glass blowing.

A graduate of both music and fine art, Andy has been awarded a double distinction, the Masters Prize and the Postgraduate Prize by the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, the Channel 4 Ideasfactory film music prize and letters of commendation from Birmingham Royal Ballet and the Royal Netherlands Embassy for his international work. These plus other successes such as working with Tibetan refugee musicians in India and making sound diaries of ancient Himalayan trade routes up to 15,000ft led to being selected as a music ambassador for an Anglo-Dutch arts exchange. The subsequent performance at the CBSO centre featured Andy drumming on an upturned bicycle along with his bespoke ensemble (String Quartet, Drums, Gamelan, Piano, Music Technology) and received the PRS ATOM award for advances towards original music.

Andy’s collaborations extend to film, fashion, theatre and dance and has appeared on BBC2 The Art Show and Ireland’s premiere Arts programme Arena, also accompanying Culture Ireland dance tours across the European continent.

As an entirely self-sufficient artist, Andy’s music was selected to accompany the biography one of the world’s leading authorities on independent music – Derek Sivers. He was also recently featured artist at the Inside Outside online arts festival (May 2020) and have just received a coveted HMUK music award.

www.andygarbi.com