They are all trained musicians, but they buy their instruments from hardware shops; they tease beauty out of the mundane; they create magic out of scrap metal and pipe work. They are Zic Zazou.
This troupe of musical DIYers from Amiens in France, will be bringing their five-star Edinburgh Festival show to the Lichfield Garrick Theatre for two nights as part of this year's Lichfield Festival.
On Saturday 9 July and Sunday 10 July, the main Garrick Theatre stage will be filled with scaffolding and work benches, metal piping and tin cans. This is where the labouring musicians arrive in their overalls and get their noses down to the grindstone, pounding out some wildly infectious music to the rhythmical backdrop of a ticking clock.
Zic Zazou work in a very different area of music, exploring the instrumental potential spray hoses, drills and bottles of vin rouge. Whistles, firebox cleaning tools, punches... nothing escapes their collective creative imagination. They create a carefree atmosphere and a sense of delight that linger on long after the concert has ended.
One five-star review from the Edinburgh Festival stated: "The tunes are ace, the techniques ingenious and often wonderfully off-the-wall, and their skill as musicians alone is superhuman (I am not joking - there is a moment where one 'mechanician', using a blown-up party balloon like a sort of rudimentary bag-pipe, squeaked out the melody from La Vie en Rose. A balloon!), but what makes this production so enjoyable and so darn-tooting clever is the concept."
Booking is now open for Zic Zazou, go to www.lichfieldfestival.org or call 01543 412121
