Barði Jóhannsson


Barði Jóhannsson is an Icelandic musician, composer, writer, TV show host, clothing designer and film director. He is mostly known for his work with the groups Bang Gang, Lady & Bird and Starwalker, a collaboration with Jean-Benoît Dunckel.
In addition to these musical outlets, Barði has been involved in a number of other audio-visual projects. Most significantly, he has written music for commercials and for the National Theatre of Iceland and Centre Dramatique d'Orleans. He has appeared at the Festival Aix En Provence and he co-produced and co-directed short films.
Barði has also written scores for movies and documentaries, such as Haxan and Óskar Jónasson’s Reykjavik Rotterdam, which won Best Original Film Score at the Icelandic Edda Film awards and was nominated for the Scandinavian Film Music Awards at Giff Film Festival. He wrote the score for the film Would You Rather with Daniel Hunt, directed by David Guy Levy and the score for the film :fr:De toutes nos forces|De Toutes Nos Forces or e. The Finishers directed by Nils Tavernier.
Barði has worked with a lot of artists during his career. His co-writing credits include artists such as : Keren Ann, Anthony Gonzales, JB Dunckel, Daniel Hunt, Helen Marnie, Phoebe Killdeer, Sia Furler, Anggun and many more.

Early life

Barði started playing music at a young age, he studied the piano and guitar and had a track included on a children's album. He met the singer and musician Esther Talia Casey in his teens. She became the lead singer on the first album of his most notorious band, Bang Gang. Barði and his friend Henrik Baldvin Björnsson started Bang Gang, initially making surf rock music. Two years later, in 1996, Barði took the name for his own project.

Bang Gang

Bang Gang is a musical project of Barði Jóhannsson formed in 1996.

Lady & Bird

Lady & Bird is a collaboration between Keren Ann Zeidel and Barði Jóhannsson. They have released two albums and played special concerts with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra in Haskolabio, Orchestre Lamoureux in Salle Pleyel and a choir and harpist at the American Church in Paris. In 2011, Lady & Bird had a premier of their first opera, Red Waters in the French opera house :fr:Théâtre des Arts de Rouen|Opéra de Rouen Normandie.

Starwalker

Starwalker is an electro-pop supergroup of the electro-pop icons, Jean-Benoit Dunckel and the Icelandic composer Bardi Johannsson. The title Starwalker – suitably spatial and curious – is an umbrella term for the duo’s new work together. Their singles include "Bad Weather", "Blue Hawaii" and "Losers Can Win EP". A full-length self-titled album was released in April 2016.

Discography

Albums
Singles
Feature film soundtracks
Music for documentaries
Music for TV series
Music for plays
Short films
Books
Other work