For the past 40 years Mike Cooper has been an international musical explorer, performing and recording, solo and in a number of inspired groupings and a variety of genres. Initially a folk-blues guitarist and singer songwriter his work has diversified to include improvised and electronic music, live music for silent films, radio art and sound installations. He is also a music journalist, writing features for magazines, particularly on Pacific music and musicians, a visual artist, film and video maker, collector of Hawaiian shirts and appears on more than 60 records to date.

For Across Asia Film Festival Mike Cooper will plays on Legong: Dance of the Virgins (1935) was one of the last feature films shot using the two-color Technicolor process, and one of the last silent films from the silent era.