Francis Kuipers

Francis Kuipers (born 1941 in Woking, United Kingdom), also known as Superguitar, is a British-Dutch composer, guitarist and ethno-musicologist domiciled in Italy. In the 1960s he began creating a unique archive of music and sounds, as well as making field recordings in Australasia, Africa, the Seychelles, India and Nepal, the Philippines and North America. He has completed numerous solo tours and played in duos with Antonello Salis, Massimo Urbani, Luis Agudo, Enrico Micheletti, Joe Garceau, Janet Smith, and Champion Jack Dupree, amongst others. In the 1980s he was guitarist for Beat Generation poet Gregory Corso. In Italy he is best known for his guest appearance on the tour of Francesco de Gregori in 1989, and for his many performances at the Folkstudio of Rome. From 1995 to 1998 he directed the department of Music and Sound at Fabrica, the multi-media research center founded by Luciano Benetton and Oliviero Toscani at Treviso. He has collaborated with Godfrey Reggio on the films Anima Mundi, Evidence, Naqoykatsi with the music of Philip Glass and has composed the original music scores for Mary, Napoli Napoli Napoli, Go Go Tales with the voice of Grace Jones, and 4:44 The Last Day on Earth directed by Abel Ferrara.