The Space between Innocence and Experience
An Interview with the classical guitarist and composer Ganesh Del Vescovo
by Baret Magarian

There's something about the story of Ganesh Del Vescovo's life which comes from the realms of fiction. One could imagine a novelist inventing that life in a narrative which stresses serendipity, vast cultural contrasts and mystical experience. For these are the ingredients of that life. Over the course of several meetings with Del Vescovo I was given a glimpse into the nature of his almost monastic devotion to his art. As a classical guitarist, he has not only mastered his instrument but invented new techniques and even new instruments. As a composer his body of guitar music is notable for its limpid resonance, often creating a feeling of sublime detachment in the listener.
He is now based in Florence though he spent his formative years in an isolated area of the Abruzzo, a region of Italy that was, as he was growing up, the essence of the rustic and rural. There was, as he puts it, nothing there apart from the embrace of magnificent and stark landscapes. "No shops, no TV, no newspapers." He spent his formative years locked in this rural bubble, having no idea of the outside world or of outside culture. At school he played truant, preferring to ramble through the countryside like some Fellinian aberrant. At this time he seems to have developed a dexterity with all things manual, driving a car without a license, working in the fields, learning that his hands were his greatest asset. Then at the age of sixteen he transferred to Rome to live with his aunt, where he chanced upon a guitar with only one string. Something like a revelation took place...continue to read

Ganesh Del Vescovo at Rikhiapeeth
A remarkable experience at the Ashram of Paramahamsa Satyananda in Jharkhand – India in 1997
by Swami Uttarkashi

The episode that I am going to recount represents an important milestone in the long musical history of the guitarist-composer Ganesh Del Vescovo. It happened in Autumn-Winter 1997 in the ashram of Swami Satyananda Saraswati, in the Indian state of Jharkhand.
A huge crowd filled the hall. Everyone was seated on the floor and Swami Satyananda was sitting on a platform at the end of the hall together with Swami Niranjan. We, the Biswas family, had been able to get near to Paramahamsaji and we were sitting at his feet awaiting the satsang which he was scheduled to give. On the other hand Ganesh, who was travelling with us for the celebration of the Sat Chandi Maha Yajna and to see his spiritual master, had remained outside, crouching in a hidden corner near the quiet Christ Kutir to have a nice nap together with his guitar, which he used as a pillow. The trip to Rikhia had been very long and the jet lag had worn him out. But there was one unexpected element which consisted in the voice of authority of his Guru who thundered out through the microphones of the yoga hall, "Where is Ganesh? Where is he with his guitar? I want him here sitting in front of me. Right away, with his guitar!" Anusandhana, who was sitting next to me in the first row suddenly jumped to his feet and had to make a great effort to cross the crowd, which was so anxious to hear what the guru had to say...continue to read

Words of the guitarist and composer Alvaro Company
about Ganesh Del Vescovo

Meeting Ganesh was like encountering a "force of nature". The ten years of his studies with me were pervaded by an uncontrollable thirst for knowledge and untiring creative energy which could only be curbed by the sacred respect for an aim which he intuitively felt but still needed to define and attain. This untiring creative energy was nourished only by an awareness of a truth which he constantly pursued.

In time the rough stone which radiated hidden energies progressively revealed the adamantine form and substance which today constitute the strength and luminosity of his temperament as a musician.

Alvaro Company

Homage to Ganesh
By Kazuhito Yamashita and Keiko Fujiie

Although Ganesh Del Vescovo is one of our most treasured friends we see him rarely, living as we do so far from him.
He is strikingly different from the norm; this difference almost allows one to imagine him as having stepped out of the pages of a fairy tale or mythology.
Originally "Ganesh" is the name of the Hindu god of wisdom, who has the face of an elephant - his name was bestowed to him by a yogi. His family name of "Del Vescovo" is very rare in all of Italy and means 'of the bishop'.
He composes, plays instruments and listens to music naturally and unassumingly, with no attempt to show off his talents and learning.
His music conveys a sense of deep self-contained satisfaction - we believe that even flowers strain their ears to hear it.
He was born and brought up in a beautiful farm village in central Italy called Ronzano, unknown to any tourist. In his boyhood he walked around with a magpie perched on his shoulder, which flew down to him at a moment's notice, and he spent his days playing the guitar in a grassy plain filled with fireflies in the summer.
No where else have we encountered the generous riches that we found in his music. We don't know anyone else whose life is so immersed in the quiet joy of music.

Conversation with Ganesh Del Vescovo
by Poireinganba Thangjam (Len)

Italian Guitarist and Composer Ganesh Del Vescovo, today considered a virtuoso of the classical guitar, began his guitar studies as a self taught musician. An important meeting with Alvaro Company, a pupil of Andrès Segovia, brought him to follow Company's courses at the Luigi Cherubini Conservatory of Florence, where he graduated with full grades, cum laude and honourable mention "for his extraordinary skill in portraying the character and mood of the pieces performed."
Straight from the start Del Vescovo's activity as a composer developed hand in hand with the study of the instrument itself. He always felt free to experiment and explore new guitar techniques, and thus developed a very personal musical concept, partly inspired by his meeting with Indian classical music and musicians. He does not use the more formal aspects of this tradition, but his approach to music is close to the spirit, the aesthetic experience, and the strength of expression of this musical world...continue to read.