The second event of the DEI SUONI I PASSI 2023 project takes place in the external Courtyard of the Castle of Barberino with Paolo Angeli, a Sardinian musician known for his unique prepared guitar: a hybrid orchestra of an instrument with strings going in all directions, foot-pedal-controlled motorised propellers and hammers to create shimmering drones and bass-lines as he bows, strikes, plucks and strums while producing rhythmic atmospherics by treading on a plastic bag and adjusting tunings on the fly.
With this singular instrument he improvises and composes unclassifiable music, suspended between traditional music of Sardinia, free jazz, flamenco, arabic suggestions, post-folk and pre-everything else, and came back in Sardinia with his voice in to the furrows of tradition.

Pat Metheny, who wanted one of his prepared Sardinian guitars, said of him: In my opinion, Paolo Angeli, with his innovations in design for our instrument, has developed a significant new direction for the guitar. When I first heard him play his guitar, it quickly became clear to me that the implications of what he and his instrument offered were both intriguing and important. His solo concert was impressive not only for the unique sound he manifested, but also for the evocation of pure creative energy.

DEI SUONI I PASSI, a project that was born in 2018 from an idea of Fondazione Fabbrica Europa and Associazione Musica e Nuvole, is focused on the relationship between music and the environment and aims to tell, discover and connect the territories from Florence up to the Tuscan Apennines, passing through the Via degli Dei.
The 2023 edition is organized with the support of Regione Toscana, Città Metropolitana di Firenze and Unione dei Comuni del Mugello.
Paolo Angeli’s concert is in collaboration with Catalyst.

[photo: Nanni Angeli, detail]