Paolo Angeli We celebrate the release of VINTI ‘E MAJU, an album created by two outstanding representatives of Sardinian music: the traditional one, expressed by Tenore Murales de Orgosolo, and the contemporary one, rooted in Paolo Angeli’s Gallurese singing. Recorded in Sitges (Spain) at Dave Bianchi’s Silo Studio and mastered in Cagliari by Marti Jane Robertson, the album – performed solo, without overdubs and without the aid of a looper – is a dialogue between Angeli and the new guitar (made in the Micheluttis lutherie and developed by Oran Guitars). The suite – which pulsates for over 46 minutes, tracing new musical routes and evoking sounds that Angeli has accustomed us to over time – captures a moment of great creativity by the musician from Gallura, fresh from an exciting tour of 16 concerts in 19 days in the United States. Lema (in Spanish motto or slogan) is a direct synthesis, capable of incorporating the complexity of a musical thought without barriers between genres, in which Paolo Angeli develops his thirty years of cohabitation with the prepared Sardinian guitar. TRA LE RIGHE – a 19-minute suite, which evokes a post-rock poetics, inlaid with a transfigured memory and interpreted in a contemporary key – is available in HD digital version, in 10″ vinyl format and in a deluxe edition, a soundtrack commissioned by the Nivola Museum for the exhibition “Il Libro degli altri” by Isidro Ferrer: a fantastic four-color book with the work of the great Spanish artist Isidro Ferrer that dialogues with the imaginative music of Paolo Angeli. Please support AnMa productions in our Official Store! Paolo Angeli is considered one of the most important innovators on the international music scene. Since the mid-1990s, he has embraced influences from free jazz, folk noise, minimal pop, contemporary flamenco, Arabic music, and post-rock, reachin at a synthesis language that brings Sardinian traditional music into the contemporary world. Improvisation is the driving force behind Paolo Angeli’s 30-year career, not only as a means of connecting and developing compositional structures but also as a practice of communication among musicians from diverse latitudes and musical cultures. His journey reached a milestone in 2018 with a performance at Carnegie Hall in New York, cementing his place among the world’s leading “innovators with roots” and defining a groundbreaking path for Mediterranean avant-garde music. Paolo Angeli has released 13 solo albums and contributed to over 50 records. Since 2005, he lives in Spain and regularly tours the most prestigious festivals and theaters across all continents. He has improvised and collaborated with hundreds of musicians, including Pat Metheny – who has used a replica of Paolo Angeli’s Guitar since 2003- Fred Frith, Iva Bittová, Hamid Drake, Evan Parker, Antonello Salis, Jon Rose, Iosonouncane, and many others. Anyone who has attended a solo performance by the Sardinian musician – often presented as a single-act piece – knows they are witnessing a Homeric musical journey. It is a voyage of departures and arrivals, where composition and improvisation weave a narrative filled with haunting melodies and concrete sounds that evoke soundscapes ranging from post-industrial to those deeply connected to nature. At the heart of the concert is the prepared Sardinian guitar, conceived by Paolo Angeli between 1993 and 1996 and perfected over 30 years through three prototypes. Thanks to his innovative approach – ranging from avant-rock walls of sound, desert-like adagios, flamenco compás, Middle Eastern phrasings, and echoes of minimalism – Paolo Angeli has forged a hybrid musical poetics that has allowed him to authoritatively renew the language of contemporary guitar playing. Building upon this instrumental foundation, the musician reaches moments of deep pathos with melismatic vocal passages, an expression of Sardinia’s most ancient traditions. Plenty of critics have suggested that the age of guitar music is over, but they must be thinking of somebody besides Paolo Angeli. The Sardinian musician, vocalist, and ethnomusicologist might be one of the world’s most innovative guitarists, judging not just by his experimental compositions but also by the instrument he’s created to play them: a prepared chiterra sarda “…When I saw a video of Angeli playing his monster guitar, my jaw dropped. Watch, listen, and be amazed…” Bob Boilen NPR “…The Sardinian Prepared Guitar is like no other instrument you’re likely to have ever seen (…) this dramatically spliced, sonically omnivorous creation gives the listener the impression of an orchestra…” Glenn Kimpton – Songlines “…A 40-ish minute solo set in a venue with 1,450 capacity (…) It was clear that the supportive and warm Montreal audience had taken him to their hearts…” Sebastian Scotney London Jazz News “…Paolo Angeli is one of jazz’s best-kept secrets. The Sardinian guitarist (of sorts) has the ability to conjure incomparably beautiful multi-layered music, all from just one instrument…” Jez Nelson – BBC radio 3 “…Só a chance de ouvir um instrumento como a guitarra sardenha (processada) de Paolo Angeli já valeria uma viagem ao Mediterrâneo…” Arthur Nestrovsky – Folha de S.Paulo “…Angeli performs some of the 21st century’s most inventive — yet listenable — music for “extended technique…” Sam Prestianni – SF WEEKLY “…It is probably fair to say that few in the audience had seen anything like this before…” Mark Sullivan – All About Jazz “…Paolo Angeli e Ornette Coleman rischiarano il cielo della Sardegna…” Giampiero Cane – Il Manifesto “..Speaking of punk and jazz, there’s Paolo Angeli. Sardinia’s madly imaginative master of the guitar…” Anastasia Tsioulcas NPR “…To say that Paolo Angeli plays the guitar is kinda like saying that Frank Lloyd Wright built houses…” WNYC “…The gorgeous tonal hints of Angeli’s compositions, the soaring quality of the massed buzzing strings, the percussive fusillades (…) all aim directly for the heart and the gut…” Stewart Lee – The Sunday Times “…In my opinion, Paolo Angeli has developed a significant new direction for the guitar…” Pat Metheny “…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…” Pat Metheny “…en los sesenta escuchaba a los guitarristas de blues y folk, luego he seguido escuchando a otros guitarristas, como Paolo Angeli…” Fred Frith “…the remarkable effects guitar of Sardinian Paolo Angeli (suggesting everything from African drumming or Moroccan castanets to fiddle solos) offered other compelling overtures to the festival…” John Fordham The Guardian “…It’s unconventional and it’s hardly traditional, but the music he makes with it echoes a long Sardinian musical legacy…” Hong Kong TV “…Atrás quedaba hora y media de experimentación sonora, en una arrolladora mixtura de sonidos centenarios y rabiosamente actuales, de vanguardia y canciones populares, de ecos del Mediterráneo…” Javier Menéndez Llamazares – El Diario Montañés “…superado el asombro ante su Frankenstein artesanal de madera y acero, la pregunta que se hace es otra. ¿Qué tocará esta vez Paolo? Porque además de inventor, el guitarrista de Cerdeña ante todo es un músico audaz….” Roger Roca – El Periodico “…A veces, el lenguaje se queda corto para expresar la intensidad de las cosas que describe…La descripción es rigurosa pero no hace justicia a la experiencia de verlo y oírlo en directo…” Roger Roca – El periodico “…The sounds might be anywhere from strummy, lyre or zither-like, or a plucked guitar, scrapey-like a bowed cello, or drummy – struck like hammers on a piano – all coming from one instrument….” John Schaefer WNYC “…Visionary, multilayered and challenging, Angeli’s music really Sardinian traditional modes, ambient, free improvisation, post-rock and much more…” Ciro De Rosa – Songlines “…I saw Angeli perform at Rich Mix in London a few years ago and, frankly, I was astounded by and totally drawn to his utter artistry. Paolo Angeli and his guitar, what an extraordinary sound!… “ Lopa Kothari – BBC3 “…it had me dreaming that night. I mean, I am very impressed with Paolo as a thinker, as a conceptualist, as a musician, and as a singer…” David Murray Paolo Angeli solo – LEMA INESTABLE – VALENCIA (ES)
VINTI ‘E MAJU
PAOLO ANGELI & TENORE MURALES DE ORGOSOLO
Read more!
LEMA
May 9, 2025 is out LEMA, the last Paolo Angeli’s album
Pre-order now!
TRA LE RIGHE
Soundtrack for Il Libro degli Altri (Isidro Ferrer)
Buy It Now!
Enjoy listening!
Paolo Angeli :: Bio
Originally from Palau (at the northern tip of Sardinia), he grew up with his gaze turned toward the sea.
Starting from the traditional instrument, thanks to a decade-long apprenticeship with master Giovanni Scanu and the influences of 20th-century avant-garde visionaries, he created the prepared Sardinian guitar, a true orchestra-instrument.
The Sardinian prepared guitar
This orchestra-instrument, a hybrid between a baritone guitar, a cello, and a drum set, currently features 25 strings, piano-like hammers, propellers for creating drone sounds, movable bridges, and various attachments—evoking the sounds of a harp, electric kalimbas, kora, and sitar. It is played using plucking, a bow, and percussive techniques.
DISCOGRAPHY
Paolo Angeli
Sardinian prepared guitar, voice
Chicago Reader – Jamie Ludwig
CONCERTS
UPCOMING DATES
11 NOV
NEWSLETTER
