Carol Thorns: Red Cello Electrified

“It is a very busy and noisy world out there and whenever I need to escape, I just play my cello in a quiet place. It’s like an amazing form of meditation.” – Carol Thorns

Take a break from the hustle and bustle of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe with a very special show. One of South Africa’s top musicians, pioneering electric cellist Carol Thorns, brings her production Red Cello Electrified to the UK for the first time, performing nightly from August 5 – 30 (not 17), 8:30pm , at C central, North Bridge.

Together with her VJ (Visual Jockey), Thorns transforms the traditional cello, taking it to a new level with an aurally and visually arresting multi-media performance. Audiences are carried through a series of surreal musical landscapes that incorporate aspects of World Music and Ambient Electronica whilst retaining the richness of the cello's classical origins.

Red Cello Electrified is based on Carol’s album 'Fireflies in the Rain', which received a 2010 South African Music Award nomination for Bes t Instrumental Album and has been met with rave reviews locally and internationally. This fresh and captivating performance has been well-received in India, the Middle East and in her native South Africa, where she is renowned as a pioneer in the genre of electric strings.

A Cum Laude Bachelor of Music graduate from Rhodes University in South Africa, Thorns has been performing for over a decade: solo, together with singer/songwriter Louise Carver and in her own band CODA, which blends electric strings with jazz sax, African vocals and a house DJ. She has shared the stage with many of South Africa’s top musicians including Arno Carstens and the Soweto String Quartet.

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Thorns has also appeared at many of South Africa’s top events, including numerous charity celebrity galas (Elton John Charity Ball), fashion shows (SA Fashion Week) and major concerts (Kirstenbosch Summer Concert Series), and comes to the festival fresh from a stage appearance with America’s Got Talent finalists, Nuttin’ but Stringz.

Her passionate performances are exciting, inventive, intriguing, moving – and always electrifying!

'Thorns has immense talent’ The Star (South Africa)

‘A deep affinity with nature and landscapes comes through in the music’ The Cape Argus

‘The combination of her solo performance, video, lights and music can be quite mesmerising’ The Citizen

For further information go to www.carolthorns.co.za