Antonio Forcione is an Italian virtuoso guitarist who started his musical career at the age of 13 when he toured Italy with his band playing guitar, mandolin and drums. He then studied art at Ancona and music in Rome before leaving for London where he hoped to find inspiration. Initially he busked as he couldn’t speak English then within two months he was spotted, played a slot on BBC2 and was asked to join the group Barclay James Harvest on their European tour. He has won “Best spirit of the Fringe” at the Edinburgh fringe festival and has performed with and opened for several artists including Phil Collins and Jools Holland.
Antonio Forcione is another one of these annoyingly talented musicians who manage to take their instrument of choice to a level only surpass able by the occasional musical genius. He plays the guitar and does his own percussion by tapping and slapping the body of the guitar as he plays. Much like the style of Tommy Emanuel.
This album was released in 2003 and was the eleventh of 13 albums that he has released.
The first track, “Touch Wood”, pretty much sums up Antonio Forciones abilities. His acoustic guitar is the only instrument used on the track and he uses it for guitar, bass and percussion sounds simultaneously. This song is a little cheesy but technically brilliant.
“Tarantella” is a traditional dance in which couples whirl around. It is associated with the Tarantula spider in Southern Italy and when bitten by the spider you had to dance the most joyous dance ever or you died. So, I’m assuming that the second song is about the dance. There are four other musicians collaborating on this track including Jenny Adejayan on Cello, Giorgio Serci on nylon strung guitar, Adriano Pinto on percussion and Enzo Zirilli playing the cajón. Cajón is Spanish for crate, box or drawer and the instrument is essentially a large box made from plywood that you hit with your hands to produce a beat.
The song itself opens on a delicate, traditional sounding guitar lick but after a couple of bars focuses mainly on the Cello. The guitar of Forcione and the cello of Adejayan play off each other imitating and bettering each others performances.
The third song “Mirror Mirror” is the first on the album to include vocals and these are sung, and written, by Sabina Sciubba. Her voice is soft, almost as if she were singing a lullaby. The accompanying guitar is simple, finger picked music that puts emphasis on the vocals and often uses artificial harmonics to match her soft voice.
“Alhambra” is Arabic for “The Red” and is a palace in Granada in Southern Spain that was the house and court of Muslim Kings in Spain. The song includes traditional Arabic/Spanish vocals from a chap called Diego el Cigala. The vocals have a Spanish voice but an Arabic, wailing feel to them. Again the music focuses mainly around the cello and guitar but this time they certainly have an Arabic quality about them. The CD also includes a video on an interactive CD ROM of this track.
“Sunstep” is the first track to include a bass guitar and is a nice happy song! I suppose that’s why it’s called sunstep! This song is a jazzy little number that makes you bop your head and tap your foot. This is the sort of track that would be ideal if you were sitting sipping a cocktail during a warm evening somewhere on the coast of Spain…
Track number six, “Gigolo”, has a wonderful, slow bass line that is played on cello and an incredibly fast guitar lick. It makes me think of Salsa dancing or the Tango where the couple make the most of the space they have and are quite flamboyant.
“Tango suite / Libertango” is running on a similar vein top the last track where it uses a slow bass line and quick guitar licks that make you envisage couples dancing into the night in a vast ball room. This is the longest track on the album at 7 minutes and 8 seconds.
The eighth track, “For Vic”, opens with a duel of guitars between Antonio Forcione and Giorgio Serci and turns into a wonderful, fast paced cascade of notes from both guitars. The guitar playing is emphasised beautifully by simple percussion that is being played with brushes. This is my personal favourite track of the album.
“Watercolour” is the shortest track on the album at 1 minute 50 seconds and is a slow, very sad sounding song that brings you back down after the fast pace of “For Vic” but is over before you know it…
“Watercolour” sets up “Nostalgia” perfectly as it is another somber song but one that reminds you of good memories. It feels like you’re looking back at your childhood… I guess that’s why it’s been titled “Nostalgia”.
The eleventh song “Scrambled Eggs” is a nice happy song that includes mad vocals from Josue Ferreira from Brazil and is presumably sung in Portuguese. It is a fast paced song that again includes Enzo Zirilli playing his cajón (or box) and is a lot of fun.
The final song of the album is called “Mirror” and is identical to “Mirror Mirror” but doesn’t include the vocals. Just Antonio Forcione on his guitar. I suppose he did this to remind you that it is his album and that he should have the last moments in the spotlight… It is a beautiful little piece with, or without the lyrics and ends the album nicely.
Produced by Mootmethod and Voxpops Recorded at Red Kite Studio On the Naim Record Label
The accompanying booklet has pictures of all the musicians and drawings by Antonio Forcione.
This album isn’t for everyone as it is mostly an instrumental album and focuses on many different traditional sounds and styles taken from all over the world. When you listen to the album you can hear the sounds of Spain, Italy, Brazil and traditional Arabic music. Not to mention a whole host of different instruments and musicians.
I can’t really fault this album. The tracks flow together nicely, the songs are all beautifully written, composed and recorded and there isn’t a weak track on the album. In fact, I think they all compliment each other nicely. Unfortunately I can’t compare this to any of his other albums as I don’t own any others!
If you enjoy finger picked guitar stuff, virtuoso musicians, traditional music, cello or just something completely different then I highly recommend this album. If you are into Beyonce or the Killers then I wouldn’t bother!
This product has not yet been reviewed. 
