Manu Delago – Grammy nominee, composer, innovator and acclaimed percussionist.
In between collaborating and performing with Björk, The Cinematic Orchestra and Anoushka Shankar, the prodigious Hang player and percussionist Manu Delago will be touring Australia in 2025 with his 6 piece multi-instrumentalist band.
Manu Delago’s solo piece “Mono Desire” was the most popular Hang video on the internet with over five million views and charted in the Top 30 music videos on YouTube. Manu Delago has also collaborated with various genre-leading artists. He appeared as a guest on two albums of the Psy-Trance producers Shpongle and performed on various occasions. In 2011 he recorded for Björk’s Biophilia album and has since been her touring drummer and percussionist, playing four world tours with the Icelandic singer.
In 2013, he started performing and writing music with the sitar-player Anoushka Shankar. For his work on her album ‘Land of Gold’ Manu Delago earned a Grammy nomination. The versatile percussionist has also been a touring member of The Cinematic Orchestra and Olafur Arnalds. In 2019, Circadian was recorded and toured with an ensemble of nine musicians. The music is based around sleep cycles and the theme which further inspired the 7.5 hours long rework album Nightliner on which he collaborated with artists like Hugar, Kelly Moran and Brandt Brauer Frick.
After years of touring, Manu felt it was important to do his bit towards sustainability by launching the carbon-neutral Recycling Tour in 2023, performing venues across Germany and Austria, accessed only by bicycles. Manu’s album, Environ Me, was constructed using his signature percussive skills as well as electronic manipulation and sounds recorded directly from an array of natural sources, the LP is a dynamic and exploration which harnesses the best of his adventurous spirit and singular vision as a human being and as an artist.
In 2024 Manu has teamed up with vocal ensemble Mad About Lemon to craft a profound and distinct new album Snow from Yesterday and together they will be performing the album throughout Europe in 2024 and internationally in 2025.
Manu Delago is famous for his dynamic and surprising live shows. On the upcoming tour he’ll be joined by the three singers of Mad About Lemon and Clemens Rofner on bass and synths. Everyone on stage not only covers various acoustic and electronic instruments, but also contributes shapes and colours to visual artworks developing live with the music. Snow From Yesterday travels far, across endless oceanic expanses, and thousands of years, telling stories that aim to help the listener to see themselves as part of a larger body. After all, all rivers lead to the sea.
More about Manu:
As Hang player and percussionist, Manu Delago has performed in prestigious venues on six continents, including the Royal Albert Hall, Royal Festival Hall and Barbican in London, Carnegie Hall in New York, the Sydney Opera House and the Fuji Rock Festival in Japan. Furthermore, Manu Delago has performed and recorded as soloist with the London Symphony Orchestra, Metropole Orkest, Aurora Orchestra, Munich Chamber Orchestra and the Zurich Chamber Orchestra.
Collaborations:
REVIEWS / TESTIMONIALS
“A man with a head full of ideas.”
Songlines
“A masterful and sensitive musician.”
The Telegraph
“What a non-stop affair of creativity, surprise, beauty, harmony, wit, art, invention, energy, entertainment.”
Amanda Yensa Manor (Author & Journalist)
“Ridiculously deft electro-acoustic percussionist.”
Toronto Star
“The world’s leading hang player.”
Financial Times
“To use words like spellbinding and mesmerising don’t do justice to the sounds he created.”
Confluence
“Very very melodic, great beats, great soundscapes, really interesting songwriting…a beautiful record… comes highly recommended from me.”
Jamie Cullum, BBC R2
“Party time: drummer Manu Delago’s orgiastic blast of percussion”
Rolling Stone
“Amazing percussionist and Hang player.”
Björk
“Intriguingly beautiful… A mercurial sound indeed.”
DJ Mag
“Captivating and compelling.”
i-D
“An incredible musician in everything he plays.”
Nitin Sawhney
“A legend in the making.”
The Ransom Note
“Sounds sumptuous on record.”
AAA Music
“What a hypnotic sound.”
Claire Martin (BBC R3)