Monday, January 29, 2007

The Tiger Lillies
















The Tiger Lillies are an extraordinary three piece band with a large cult following in London. They are fronted by singer Martyn Jacques who trained himself as an opera singer with a castrati style voice of heartbreaking beauty, whilst living alone above a strip joint in Soho for seven years. Accompanied by drummer Adrian Huge, whose appearance was described by David Byrne as James Joyce on drums, and double bass player Adrian Stout, Jacques plays accordion and sings savage and passionate songs about prostitutes, drug addicts and losers, his voice soaring and growling like a man possessed. Ken Campbell has described him as "the criminal castrati", and with his dickensian style of dress, long pigtail and bowler hat, his corrosive lyrics and his astonishing voice, all the while singing with his eyes closed, he makes an indelible impression. Jacques sings about life at the bottom of contemporary Britain with the voice of an angel.

The music is a startling mixture of opera, gypsy song and left bank Paris, but what really marks out this band from any other is the emotional charge and raw passion of the delivery. Because they are impossible to pigeonhole, the band has not yet had a wide commercial success, despite being picked up by David Byrne, with performances at the South Bank, as well as festivals and foreign tours, but this cannot last for much longer as their reputation is spreading very fast in the art culture underworld.
(
By Mina Courtauld 17/5/96 )

A taste of the lillies, thanks to a arca do pyrata is found here:
bad blood & blasphemy (1999) (rs) death and the bible (2004) (rs)
UPDATE: LINKS ARE DEAD...

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