Bruno Sanfilippo

Barcelona, Spain

Mare Nostrum

AmbientClassical

Behind the Music

At first, any creative process can be challenging and overwhelming. But, when such vivid stories as those in The Outlaw Ocean are being recreated and, in this case, stories so well written, any artistic inspiration can emerge. Immediately after immersing myself in the many tales and audiovisual material, I went into the studio — my head full of oceanic images and sensations — and tried to focus my tracks on the adrenaline-inducing search and pursuit of illegal boats.

In a way, this project teaches and strongly illuminates parts of the world and ourselves that otherwise go unnoticed. The vast sea holds extraordinary and shocking stories of unchecked behaviors, unfathomable horrors and also, at times, unbelievable beauty. As an artist, I want my music to touch listeners emotionally, inspiring them to imagine the many events that happen in international waters while we walk on solid land.

Bruno Sanfilippo
About Bruno Sanfilippo

Bruno Sanfilippo is a classically trained musician, producer and composer based in Barcelona who writes for strings, piano and electronics. He alternates between the exploration of minimalist piano concepts and electro-acoustic compositions, obsessively seeking out the new and the magical. In dreams, there is nothing too strange or wonderful, and Sanfilippo’s music comes from the same inexhaustible source. He began playing piano as a child, on an old Pleyel upright at his parents’ house in Buenos Aires. Although inspired by several different types of music, his early years were influenced by composers like Erik Satie and Claude Debussy, and contemporary musicians such as Arvo Pärt, Brian Eno and Harold Budd. 

In 1998, he started as a producer for ad21, a personal platform and label that has released the majority of his albums (2016’s “The Poet “was released by 1631 Recordings and Decca Publishing, while “Unity” came out on Russian label Dronarivm, in 2018). He has also collaborated on several projects with the labels 7K!, Moderna Records and Thesis. His Piano Textures series, started in 2007, is one of Sanfilippo’s most representative sets of recordings, but he has also gained wider recognition in modern music – a sample of one of his piano compositions formed the basis for Canadian rapper Drake’s seminal hit, “Started From The Bottom.” Sanfilippo regularly performs at various live and multimedia events and at festivals all over the world.

Winner of the 2021 Scripps Howard Award for Excellence in Innovation in Journalism

The Journalism behind the Music

All music in this project is based on The Outlaw Ocean, a New York Times Best-Selling book by Ian Urbina that chronicles lawlessness at sea around the world. This reporting touches on a diversity of abuses ranging from illegal and overfishing, arms trafficking at sea, human slavery, gun running, intentional dumping, murder of stowaways, thievery of ships and other topics.

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