Opera by Gorillaz about Monkey

October 26, 2007 4:52 PM

Damon & Jamie's Excellent Adventure is a documentary following the Gorillaz' boys - Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett - as they attempt to make an opera based on classic Chinese novel Journey to the West [or for them - the 70s television show Monkey]. The documentary follows the two year process with a decent section on Albarn's approach to learning a new form of music.
posted by meech (8 comments total)

Thanks much. Albarn is one of my favourite composers, and The Good, the Bad, and the Queen went straight to my top five records of all time. Looking forward to this opera.

Blur with Graham coming up as well.
posted by juiceCake at 5:07 PM on October 26, 2007

Earlier JTTW link on Metafilter.

I'd love to see this opera.
posted by Joey Michaels at 5:34 PM on October 26, 2007

Saw this on telly I think. Albarn is a right cunt, watching him direct the lead during the auditions was the stuff of Alan Partridge.
posted by fire&wings at 5:47 PM on October 26, 2007

I am afraid I have to concur with fire&wings. Albarn also has terrible posture and will be spending alot of money with the osteopath, or getting a hunchback. So there's that to look forward to.

Cool instrumentation was worth seeing, though.

The show does look spectacular, mostly due the the amazing and numerous chinese performers. Jamie Hewlett's costumes are pretty great as well.
posted by asok at 6:16 PM on October 26, 2007

saucy jack, you're a haughty one...............
posted by sgt.serenity at 4:24 AM on October 27, 2007

Thanks for this, the opera sounds fab - Monkey and Damon Albarn should be a great combination.
posted by goo at 4:52 AM on October 27, 2007

The Nature of Monkey is Irrepressible!
posted by meehawl at 9:18 AM on October 27, 2007

Here's another example of an East meets West opera. A love story set in post-Pol Pot Cambodia:

Here's the NPR story from April '07: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9907120
posted by jsteffensen at 2:00 PM on October 27, 2007