Steel Guitar at the Film Archive
The summer of fantastic (indoor!!) events continues at the New Zealand Film
Archive. Presented in Association with Happy a screening of F.W Murnau’s
1931 silent Film Tabu with a live Soundtrack by International musical explorer Mike Cooper will take place in the Film Archive Pelorous Trust
Media Theatre on February 18 at 8pm.
Tabu is the final film of legendary German director F.W Murnau, who died in an auto accident before the film premiered. Shot
on location in Tahiti towards the end of the silent era, the dazzling cinematography that won Floyd Crosby an Academy
Award is no less glorious today.
For the past 40 years Mike Cooper has been performing and recording, solo and in a number of inspired groupings and a
variety of genres. Initially a folk-blues guitarist and singer songwriter his work has diversified to include improvised
and electronic music, live music for silent films, radio art and sound installations.
He is also a film and video maker, collector of Hawaiian shirts and appears on
more than 60 records to date. Says Cooper “I first saw Tabu one afternoon on Italian television, at the time I was involved in researching and playing Hawaiian music, and the film
seemed to be a perfect context for some acoustic steel guitar licks”.
Originally presented in 1995 at the Brunswick Music festival in Melbourne the “Soundtrack” was an enormous success and
one which the Film Archive hopes will be echoed in Wellington.