Paolo Angeli
5 Questions

The Sound Explorer

A few days ago while listening to Uotha by Angeli Drake, I wondered how the very unique sounds of that evening were born, so I thought it best to ask one of the authors directly, namely Paolo Angeli. We corresponded via email and he kindly agreed to answer a few questions. The portrait that emerges is that of an eclectic explorer, a portrait that in my opinion is as interesting as his music.

1. Hi Paolo, first of all, thank you for agreeing to answer the questions of this mini-interview, especially because I know you are busy recording your latest album. Would you like to tell us about this new project to start with?

"Tessuti" is a particular project. After a decade spent in contact with the prepared Sardinian guitar, I felt the need to engage with compositions written by two musicians I particularly love: Bjork and Fred Frith. The Icelandic singer needs no introduction: her versatility is undeniable, the path she has outlined from Debut to Medulla is accompanied by an incredible openness towards avant-garde languages. Without straying from a Pop aesthetic, Bjork has successfully managed to combine experimentation and melody like few others.
Fred Frith is less known to the general public, a guru of improvised music and the avant-rock movement. Frith is probably the musician who has most influenced my artistic journey: the British musician is the equivalent of John Cage transposed into the guitar realm. I had the fortune to perform under his direction "Pacifica" - an album produced by John Zorn for Tzadik - and when I started working on his compositions, I did not imagine that within a few months I would begin playing with Frith in duo and quartet. My experimental work is directly connected to his constant attempt to develop the timbral imagination of the six-string world. "Tessuti" is therefore a creative response to the inputs received from these two extraordinary musicians where Tessuti constitutes the connections, the bonds, the intertwining, the pieces that connect the works of Frith and Bjork. It is a solo album produced in the studio after testing the repertoire live for a year. It will be recorded live without overdubs on 16 separate tracks. The technician will be Roberto Monari, the right-hand man of my productions since 1995.

2. In the live album Uotha, recorded at Sant'Anna Arresi, you play with Hamid Drake. How did the idea for this meeting come about and what did that experience leave you with?

Drake is a drummer spanning from free music to reggae. But you can find him collaborating with punk or hardcore musicians. The idea of collaboration arose casually: Hamid had already been invited by Basilio for the Sant’Anna Arresi Festival, and I knew his work. Hence the idea of proposing a free set, focused on improvised music. The magic of certain encounters is unusual. It arises from mutual respect and curiosity. Sometimes musicians nurture a narrow and compartmentalized idea of music. With Hamid, you can propose any musical solution: from noise to traditional Sardinian music. The space you can move in is free from prejudice and facilitates a creative and free approach. This is perceived by the audience, who love to listen to instrumentalists that take risks, play and shape music in real time. It is exciting for both the player and the listener. Sant'Anna facilitates these meetings because the very structure of the stage allows direct participation between the audience and the musician and triggers a bidirectional exchange.

3. Your instrument is the prepared Sardinian guitar. Can you explain exactly what it is and how you came to conceive it?

In 1993, I met the two key musicians of my creative journey: Giovanni Scanu and Fred Frith. The first was the oldest Sardinian guitarist - with whom I worked closely for nine years, learning to accompany that exhausting contest that is the Gara di Canto. From the meeting-clash between Sardinian tradition and European avant-garde experimentation, the prepared Sardinian guitar was born: a hybrid between sound sculpture, guitar, acoustic bass, cello, and drums; an orchestra instrument equipped with hammers like the piano (operated by bicycle cables attached to six pedals), a mechanical hand for the 8 transverse strings - which allows rhythm parts to be realized - 4 sitar strings mounted on a double bass bridge, 8 propellers to obtain the drones, 14 output lines.
The prepared Sardinian guitar probably would never have existed without the meeting with Francesco Concas. Starting in 1994, Francesco worked at CROM on the design and construction of mechanical accessories. In a later phase - thanks to the interest of Pat Metheny who wanted a twin copy of my instrument - Alberto Rainer and Stefano Visintin from the MTA studio developed the project for a new hammer system.
The heart of the instrument, however, remains the guitar built by Giancarlo and Luca Stanzani: the Stanzani luthiery is the axis around which my elaborate creations still revolve!

4. Reading your biography on your official website, we discover that you have lived numerous and different musical experiences and influences from rock to jazz, passing through ethnic and avant-garde. This path seems to have influenced your music to the point that it rebels against easy schematisms. But how would you define your music and why?

The music I play would be included in a creative cultural current that has roots both in free jazz, in British post-rock, and Sardinian tradition. My education owes a lot to Bologna, a city that in the 90s had enviable ferment. Bologna was a no man's land and in the institutional void that characterizes Italy, often arises a desire to create that has no protection and economic support. In these contexts - whether they are occupied centers or places linked to grassroots associations - ideas often sprout in direct connection with the most avant-garde branches of the great European capitals.
What music do I play? A music that owes a lot to Fred Frith as well as to Giovanni Scanu, as much to North American composers as to the holy week choruses of Cuglieri and Castelsardo. I am not interested in understanding what music I play and labeling it. It is a music that opens to the sound stimuli of everyday life, constantly influenced and exposed to directional changes. The CD Nita, The Angel on the Trapeze - a concept played by over 30 musicians - is my official declaration of surrender: I am not looking for the new language, I am looking for poetry, emotion, and I find it regardless of the genre that often triggers the Taboo: e.g. this is jazz, this is not...

5. To say goodbye, would you like to leave us with the title of an album that you particularly love and feel like recommending?

Little Things by the Norwegian singer Hanne Hukkelberg: songs, just a beautiful album of songs.