Bebe Barron

Birth : 1926-06-16, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

Death : 2008-04-20

History

Bebe Barron (June 16, 1926 – April 20, 2008) was an American pioneer in the field of electronic music. She is credited, along with her husband and creative partner Louis Barron, with writing the first electronic music for magnetic tape, and the first entirely electronic film score for the MGM movie Forbidden Planet.

Movies

Sisters with Transistors
Self (archive footage)
Think of early electronic music and you’ll likely see men pushing buttons, knobs, and boundaries. While electronic music is often perceived as a boys' club, the truth is that from the very beginning women have been integral in inventing the devices, techniques and tropes that would define the shape of sound for years to come.
Amazing! Exploring the Far Reaches of Forbidden Planet
Self
A documentary about the making of, and legacy of, the Forbidden Planet movie.
OHM+ : The Early Gurus Of Electronic Music : 1948-1980
Herself
Over two hours of rare performances, interviews, animations, and experimental video. Milton Babbit's discussion of the difficulties of working with archaic synthesizers in the Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center in the 1950s and 60s is a firm reminder of just how foreign electronic sounds were to even the academic community only 40 years ago. Likewise, Paul Lansky's private lesson with theremin inventor Leon Theremin is an example of how non-user friendly electronic musical instruments could be, even to people who should have the best sense of how to approach them.
Space Boy
Music
Unofficial sequel to Curtis Harrington's Queen of Blood (1966). Drums and orchestration are rumoured to be by Frank Zappa.
Bridges-Go-Round
Music
New York City's various bridges transform into an urban jungle (jazz version) or an alien landscape (electro-acoustic version).
Forbidden Planet
Original Music Composer
Starship C57D travels to planet Altair 4 in search of the crew of spaceship "Bellerophon," a scientific expedition that has been missing for 20 years, only to find themselves unwelcome by the expedition's lone survivor and warned of destruction by an invisible force if they don't turn back immediately.
A Moment in Love
Music
A couple in love interacts across a multitude of environments.
Bullfight
Music
Anna Sokolow’s choreographed reinterpretation of a bullfight. Sokolow plays the matador, an audience member, and the doomed animal.
Bells of Atlantis
Music
A perfect fusion of poetry and film, with dense layered imagery and music from electro pioneers Louise and Bebe Barron. The writer Anaïs Nin provides dialogue from her novella “House of Incest” and appears adrift in the undersea realm of Atlantis before ascending to dry land.