Paolo Angeli plays at Jack London

Paolo Angeli, the guitarist, composer, ethnomusicologist, and instrument builder is often associated with traditional Sardinian music but nobody else is interpreting this music in the avant-garde way that he is! Angeli, the Sardinian sorcerer, conjures up beautiful, multi-layered music from his unique prepared 18 string 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. Electronic effects are utilized but no loops. 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. Angeli strums, bows, and hammers the instrument, and adds traditional Sardinian vocalizing, in a stunning solo performance of music from his latests albums NÍJAR, RADE, JAR’A, and 22.22 Free Radiohead. Since 1997, Angeli has played concerts with his modified guitar all over the world at some of the most important festivals and theaters. His 2018 - 2019 world tour started with an astonishing Carnegie Hall performance. He has also recorded more than 50 CDs and has collaborated with Pat Metheny (who uses Angeli’s guitar in Orchestrion), Fred Frith, Hamid Drake, Iva Bittová, Butch Morris, Ned Rothenberg, Jon Rose, Derek Gripper, Antonello Salis, Evan Parker, Takumi Fukushima, Louis Sclavis, and Paolo Fresu, among others. Angeli currently lives between Sardinia and Valencia, always facing the sea.

This show is sponsored by the Italian Cultural Institute of San Francisco