Where: Barbican Hall, Barbican, Silk Street, London EC2Y 8DS
£: Tickets cost £17.50 – £22.50
What is it?
When Fabio Frizzi took to the stage at London’s Union Chapel, on Halloween last year, to present Frizzi 2 Fulci, it marked a significant moment in the Italian composer’s career. There he was, at the age of 62, performing in the capital for the very first time. Cementing a lifelong love affair with the country’s musical landscape that began for Frizzi with the Beatles.
Now, Fabio Frizzi returns for his second Halloween. The pristine acoustics at the Barbican will play host to an even more spectacular night of Frizzi 2 Fulci. Frizzi is promising to go even deeper into his repertoire with new sequences and even more dynamic projections.
Italian film soundtracks and in particular horror scores are their own art form. From the early 1960s through to the mid 1980s, Italy was home to some of the finest soundtrack artists to have graced the genre. With names like Ennio Morricone, Bruno Nicolai, Berto Pisano, Gianni Ferrio, Riz Ortolani and Alessandro Alessandroni. Fabio Frizzi would join that illustrious list of composers after cementing his reputation as one of the undisputed masters of Italian horror soundtracks.
Frizzi is best known for his scores to the Italian film director Lucio Fulci’s seminal late 1970s and early 1980s blood-soaked epics, such as Sette Note In Nero (Seven Notes In Black), The Beyond, Zombie Flesh Eaters, and City Of The Living Dead.
Frizzi’s progressive, dark, brooding scores added a sonic richness to Fulci’s dreamlike visuals. They sound as disturbingly brilliant today as they did when first released. Other notable Frizzi original scores include Contraband, Four Of The Apocalypse and another Fulci collaboration, the spaghetti western Silver Saddle.
Fabio Frizzi’s soundtracks are very influential and hugely respected works. Numerous musicians ranging from Boards Of Canada and Wu Tang’s RZA, through to the new synth breed of Umberto and Zombi have cited him as a major influence. Frizzi’s catalogue remains a popular source of samples for US hip-hop producers. Quentin Tarantino is a long-term admirer and insisted on using Seven Notes In Black for Kill Bill Vol 1.
For his return to the capital, a highly enthused Frizzi said, “A very important commitment is once again tied to the city and people of London, this year at the Barbican for a very special Halloween. Where Frizzi 2 Fulci will be presented in a new version, within a first class arts venue that really excites myself and the whole band. In a sense coming back to London will be like going home to where it all began, but the responsibility will be even larger. And I’m going to take with me on stage at the Barbican something absolutely extraordinary.”
More info: www.barbican.org.uk