MAR 13-16 | INNOVATIONS
Mar 13 - Mar 14, 2025
Joe Henderson Lab
Guitarist Paulo Angeli is a musical conjurer, an artist whose imaginative leaps defy gravity. A composer, ethnomusicologist and instrument builder who draws on his deep knowledge of traditional Sardinian music, he inhabits a timeless zone as a soil-rooted master and brash experimentalist. While suffused with Mediterranean cadences, Angeli’s original pieces encompass flamenco, jazz, Baroque, post-rock and new music. He plays a prepared Sardinian guitar of his own invention, a fantastical 18-string hybrid combining elements of guitar, cello and drums. A feast for the eyes as well as the ears, Angeli in full flight is an astounding sight, as he bows, strikes, hammers, plucks and strums an instrument with strings going in all directions and foot-pedal-controlled motorized propellers.
With sympathetic strings creating shimmering drones, he adjusts tunings on the fly to create exquisitely lapidary, orchestral music using electronic effects in real time (he eschews loopers, creating every sound in the moment). It’s not surprising that this singular musician has improvised and collaborated with masters such as Pat Metheny, Fred Frith, Evan Parker, Zeena Parkins, and Phillip Greenlief. Angeli’s music may be unclassifiable, but it takes no expertise to recognize its strange and extravagant beauty.
The innovative Sardinian guitarist and composer performs with his 18-string instrument combining elements of guitar, cello and drums.
Impressive not only for the unique sounds that he was manifesting, but also for the raw creative energy that it invoked
Pat Metheny
Impressive not only for the unique sounds that he was manifesting, but also for the raw creative energy that it invoked
Pat Metheny
Personnel
Paolo Angeli 18-string Sardinian guitar
Angeli's guitar playing is deftly virtuosic
BBC
Personnel
Paolo Angeli 18-string Sardinian guitar
Angeli's guitar playing is deftly virtuosic
BBC
Watch & Listen
Paolo Angeli
Baklawa
Paolo Angeli
Mare Lungo
Paolo Angeli
Baklawa
Paolo Angeli
Mare Lungo