Damon Albarn Olympic Ceremony Reports

Blur singer Damon Albarn could be about to be named as the artistic director of the London Olympics opening ceremony according to reports.

Damon Albarn has moved on considerably from the Britpop era. While once his songwriting was dominated by kitchen sink realism and nods to working class culture, Albarn has moved into spectacular new areas.

A collaboration with the designer Jamie Hewlett, last year's opera 'Monkey: Journey To The West' was a huge success. Blending astonishing visuals and dance routines with Damon Albarn's songwriting the show was praised by fans and critics.

Through his experience in developing set pieces such as this, Damon Albarn could be set to be named as the artistic director of the London Olympics opening ceremony.

British broadsheet The Independent reports that the Blur and Gorillaz singer has had preliminary discussions with the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (Locog).

Damon Albarn is not the only front runner for the job, with director Stephen Daldry also reported to have been asked about the position.

Speaking in The Independent a Locog spokesperson refused to be drawn on the identity of the artistic director. "It is complete speculation and we are still months away from making appointments" they stated.

However a repeat of the spectacular scenes at the Chinese Olympics in 2008 have been ruled out. "I doubt we will have 20,000 people doing things in unison in our opening ceremony," Paul Deighton, chief executive of Locog said.

"That's just fine. That's the beauty of contrast."