It has been revealed that Damon Albarn is “a leading contender” for landing the job as artistic director for the 2012 Olympic Games opening ceremony in London.
According to a report in The Independent, the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) is having preliminary discussions with a number of people.Albarn had worked on the BBC’s coverage of the 2008 Beijing games, creating part of the soundtrack with artist Jamie Hewlett who did some animation.
We probably won’t hear for months as to whether or not Albarn scores the gig, but it sure as hell would be cool if he did!
In the past Albarn has been the frontman of seminal Britpop band Blur, the voice behind the cartoon characters of Gorillaz, appeared on countless side projects with other artists, has traveled to Mali and created an album called ‘Mali Music’ with local musicians, written an opera - in Mandarin and runs a bar in the Icelandic capital of Reykjavic. Artistic director of the Olympic Games probably wouldn’t be too much of a stretch for one of the most prolific artists the UK has produced in the last twenty years.
