David Teie, an US composer and cellist, prepares to play his cello during a interview to promote his new album "Music for Cats" at Lady Dinah's Cat Emporium in London on October 18, 2016. AFP / ADRIAN DENNIS
LONDON: An album created specifically for cats is being lapped up by humans too, and has topped two classical music charts.
Despite being allergic to cats, American cellist David Teie released 'Music for Cats', featuring five instrumental compositions, through the Universal Music label last week after raising more than $200,000 on crowdfunding website Kickstarter.
On the album, Teie's cello playing is accompanied by bird chirping and purring noises based on his theory, researched for two years, that mammals have an intuitive response to sounds present in their early development.
Teie is purring over the positive reception for his feline music, which has climbed to No. 1 on the iTunes Classical Music Chart and Amazon UK's Classical Orchestral Music Chart.
"Many of the cat owners have told me they find it pleasing for themselves, too, and so there's a kind of a shared experience for the cats and their cat owners," he said, after a live performance at a cat cafe in east London on Tuesday.
