Various Artists: European Primitive Guitar 1974-1987 (Vinyl 2xLP)
NTS presents European Primitive Guitar, a compilation of instrumental guitar compositions, mapping out European analogues of the American Primitive Guitar movement, spearheaded by John Fahey in the 1950s.
European Primitive Guitar spans works directly influenced by and responding to Fahey’s approach to composition, alongside works by artists that arrived at similar conclusions independently. The music is, at once, both starkly traditional and contemporary.
This is no more evident than with the opening song on the compilation, Spanish guitarist Albert Giménez’s 1982 composition 'Conte Xinès'. The song draws on numerous idioms of music - flamenco, jazz, ambient music, and guitar soli - within its shimmering arpeggios, culminating as a decidedly Spanish music that has collected the ephemera of the guitar’s travels before returning home.
The compilation also explores wider ideas around experimentalism happening in Europe during the time of this anthology. German composer Hans Reichel not only developed new ways of playing the instrument, but also new ways of building guitars - pushing the boundary of what a guitar could be and how it could sound.
- Albert Giménez - Conte Xinés (Spain, 1982)
- John Lawson - Time Will Say Nothing But I Told You So (UK, 1980)
- Roberto Menabo - Il Ritorno Dell'Enola Gay (Italy, 1985)
- Dominique - Aquarium (Spain, 1987)
- Maurizio Angeletti - Zen & The Stone Game (Italy, 1983)
- Hans Reichel - Could Be Nice Too (Germany, 1981)
- Mickeranno - Dai Vetri (Italy, 1985)
- Axel Schultheiss - Pas De Deux (Germany, 1985)
- Norman Teeling - Two Rainbows (Ireland, 1984)
- Bojan Drobež - Krog Na Vodi (Yugoslavia, 1986)
- Gereon Piller & Gerhard Krause - Blue Winter (Germany, 1979)
- Peter Finger - Second Love (Germany, 1974)
- Andy Bole - That Way (UK, 1986)
- Enrico Marcandalli - Il Divano Arancione (Italy, 1983)
- Dave Maddison - Phase Shift By Earth (UK, 1978)
- Martin Kolbe & Ralf Illenberger - Veits Tanz (Germany 1978)