Datasheet

It’s been a long
musical journey for
Antonio. From
entertaining the locals
playing Spanish guitar
on the Adriatic coast,
via busking in London,
to a position today as
a leading international
jazz musician.
Antonio
According to Italian-born Forcione the
acoustic guitar is part of his DNA. While
other guitarists may have a casual
relationship with the instrument,
Forcione’s love of the wooden box with
strings in all of its various cultural guises
goes much deeper. “There’s something
about that vibration in your bones when
you’re playing it. It belongs to my nature.
When you go to some place like Turkey
you see some amazing players there but
nobody’s ever heard of them, why aren’t
they up there with the American jazz
guitarists? There’s a huge gap between
this kind of music and what’s going on in
the so-called western World. There’s far
too much pop and rock and far too little
of things that refer to roots. I think there’s
a lot more to discover here in Europe.
That’s what I’m realising more and more
and I’m keen on exploring that.”
“In Africa too,” he continues. “The
rhythms, tempos, the way they play. I
adore Salif Keita, the beautiful
irregularities and the way they express
themselves. It’s not manufactured. It’s a
line that’s not so straight. The way they
play sometimes is slightly out of rhythm for
a little bit then going back to it. That’s
fascinating. We’re so bad here we’ve
learnt every bass, drum and snare is so
While other guitarists may have a casual relationship with the instrument, Forcione’s love of the wooden box with strings in all of its various cultural guises goes much deeper.
precise. If someone’s not that precise for
us here it’s becoming wrong. But that’s a
dangerous thing. It’s not wrong. That’s
human. And I’m more and more
interested in that aspect and that’s why I
keep pursuing people who play with
their hands with no loops. It’s all to do
with communicating and making it
happen, because you’re dealing within
your self and with your own limitations.”
From the age of 11, Forcione was
entertaining his local community playing
mazurkas, tangos and waltzes on Spanish
guitar with his two accordion-playing
uncles in the streets of the village on the
Adriatic coast in which he was brought
up. To the constant irritation of his jazz
guitar tutor, he kept turning up to lessons
with his acoustic instead of electric “He
always told me off but I just found it was
more Latin and the sound just moved me
more,” Antonio says.
In 1983 he moved to London and started
busking in Covent Garden because he
didn’t know enough English to be able
to get a gig in a pub. However, it wasn’t
long before he was thrilling the passing
crowds, and went on to win the Time
Out Street Entertainers competition in an
acoustic guitar duo playing the music,
among others, of two of his jazz heroes
John McLaughlin and Django Reinhardt.
Around this time Forcione was
approached with an offer to open for
“progressive” band Barclay James
TWELVE • news summer 2006
naim news summer 16pg 13/6/70 12:35 AM Page 12