The experimental music festival “Skaņu mežs’2024” will take place on October 4 and 5 at the “Hanzas perons” place, and guitarist Fred Frith will perform on the first night, LETA agency was informed by the organizers of the festival.
Frits, born in Great Britain in 1949, prepares the electric guitar in different ways and plays it horizontally. Even on his more experimental records, Frith chooses to emphasize his rock and folk roots in interesting ways. He has taught at Mills College in California and the Basel Academy of Music, and received an honorary doctorate from the University of Huddersfield.
Frit’s solo performance in “Skaņu meža’2024” is connected with the fact that his historical record “Guitar Solos” is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. To celebrate, Week-End Records has reissued Guitar Solos with a brand new record called Fifty, which showcases how his solo guitar language has evolved over fifty years.
Frith’s compositions have been performed by such ensembles as “Arditti Quartet”, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Glasgow Improvisation Orchestra and “Ensemble Modern”. Frith has collaborated with musicians such as Brian Eno, Chris Cutler, Bill Lasswell, Christian Marclay and John Zorn.
He is also very active in the field of free improvisation and has played with such former guests of “Forest of Sounds” as Evan Parker, Lotte Anker, Phil Minton and Anthony Braxton. The musician himself emphasizes that his interest in improvisation was obvious at the beginning of his career, but he often feels the desire to work in this context with musicians who have never considered themselves improvisers in the traditional sense. Frith currently lives and works in the USA.
The experimental electronic music duo “Autechre” and the abstract hip-hop duo “Armand Hammer” will also perform at the “Skaņu mežs” festival.
