British guitarist, multi-instrumentalist and composer Fred Frith returns
to Prague as part of his 75th birthday tour!
At the age of five, he began to learn to play the violin and subsequently played in the school orchestra. At thirteen he switched to guitar and not long after that he formed his first band. Later he devoted himself to the study of literature, but alongside his studies he was active in the avant-garde group Henry Cow from 1968; he played with the group until its break-up in 1978. After its break-up he founded the Art Bears. When the Art Bears performed at the Prague Jazz Days in Lucerna in 1979, the life of many a Czech rock experimentalist and audience member changed – Frith and co. performed something that, thanks to the information barrier embodied by the Iron Curtain, had never been heard in the Czech Republic before. Since then, one of the most hard-working contemporary musicians, Fred Frith, has returned to the Czech lands repeatedly. Iva Bittová and Pavel Fajt are among his hundreds of musical collaborators. He has also collaborated with Robert Wyaett, Mike Patton, Bill Laswell and composer and saxophonist John Zorn, with whom he has recorded many albums. Frith is featured in the famous film Step Across the Border, which according to Cahiers du Cinéma is one of the 100 most influential films of all time.
