Prepared Sardinian Guitar

On 1993, he was fulgurated by the encounter with Giovanni Scanu, the old guitar player from Sardinia, who died at the age of 95 and from whom he learnt the forms and the modules of the ‘canto a chitarra gallurese e logudorese’. From this ‘fighting meeting’ between extra-cultivated avant-garde and popular tradition, between 1993 and 1996, came his Sardinian prepared-guitar: an orchestra-instrument with 18 cords, an hybrid between guitar, baritone, violoncello and drums, gifted with hammers, pedals, some propellers at variable speed. With this singular instrument, constructed by the craftsman Francesco Concas in collaboration with Romano Scanferla,  Paolo elaborates, improvises and composes unclassifiable music, suspended between free jazz, folk noise and minimal pop. 

 A Guitar for Pat Metheny

“In my opinion, Paolo Angeli has developed a significant new direction for the guitar with his innovations in design for our instrument. When I first heard him play his guitar, it was clear to me that the implications of what he and his instrument were offering were challenging and important. His solo concert was impressive not only for the unique sounds that he was manifesting, but also for the raw creative energy that it invoked. I admire Paolo on many levels, and feel excited to have some involvement in the ongoing research that has resulted in two new instruments under his auspices, one of which I am thrilled to be the owner of. I feel that Paolo’s design innovations offer many opportunities for the other guitarists to find their own doorways into music “vis a vis his” instruments and look forward to spending time with my own “paolo angeli” instrument, looking for my own pathways into the world of sound that this unique instrument offers”. Pat Metheny

In 2003, on request by Pat Metheny, he started the project of a new model of his Sardinian prepared guitar; in the Liuteria Stanzani it was two guitars that were born, one of which was adopted by the American musician and used in Orchestrion Tour.

Paolo e Pat (Liuteria Stanzani, Bologna 2003) – Thanks to Francesco Concas, Luca e Giancarlo Stanzani, Studio MTA