Okapi | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Background information | |
| Origin | Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Genres | |
| Years active | 2012–present |
| Members | Scott Mitchell Gorski, Lindsey Paige Miller |
| Website | Okapi |
Okapi is an American musical duo composed of Woodstock, Illinois native Scott Mitchell Gorski (upright bass, vocals) and Columbia, Missouri native Lindsey Paige Miller (cello), based in Asheville, North Carolina. [1]
The two met and began performing in Chicago, IL in 2012, but have called Appalachia home since moving there in 2017. [2]
Okapi's music draws from a wide variety of sonic influences, including elements of experimental music, avant-garde music, folk music, chamber music, classical music, art rock, post-rock, progressive rock, experimental rock, jazz, lied, ballad, sprechgesang, appalachian music, tango music, and world music, with Gorski's existential lyrics providing an explicit backdrop for their carefully woven pieces. [3]
Hailing from differing musical backgrounds but sharing a passion for unique approaches to songwriting, craftsmanship, and structure, they began formulating candid, cathartic, and intentionally intricate orchestrations rooted in honesty and rawness. Carrying evocative works abundant with descriptive lyrical paintings, they present ideas both intimately and aggressively, hoping to stimulate a universal confrontation with our absurd reality. They aspire to challenge others’ perceptions through promoting consciousness, healthy growth, and individual empowerment.
Okapi was selected to perform at the 2022 Big Ears experimental festival alongside illustrious performers such as John Zorn, Patti Smith and Animal Collective. [4]
Okapi was featured in The Wire (magazine)'s "The Wire Tapper" (No. 63), a series of CD anthologies of new underground music that The Wire staff compiles three times a year. A track of theirs was selected to be included with The Wire Magazine's Issue No. 477. [5]
In October, 2019 Okapi collaborated with Luke H. Walker on his play The Wake of Dick Johnson, composing the score for the third run of the play at Performance Space 122 in New York City. A review of the play by Broadwayworld.com lauded their "chilling" performance, citing the band's unmistakable talent and eerie sounds. Broadwayworld wrote, "Throughout the play, the two perform with both a creepy rawness changing the tempo as quick as Dick's moods." [6]
The duo has been awarded grants for music and art by such organizations as Jazz Foundation of America, MusiCares Foundation, and Toe River Arts.
The double bass, also known as the upright bass, the acoustic bass, the bull fiddle, or simply the bass, is the largest and lowest-pitched chordophone in the modern symphony orchestra. It has four or five strings, and its construction is in between that of the gamba and the violin family.
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