Beppe Gambetta (born 1955) is an Italian acoustic guitarist and singer. A native of

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian ce ...

, he is a composer, teacher, author, and researcher of traditional music and instruments.

Music career

In 1977, Gambetta founded Red Wine, an Italian bluegrass band. He wrote the first Italian instructional book on

flatpicking Flatpicking (or simply picking) is the technique of striking the strings of a guitar with a pick (also called a plectrum) held between the thumb and one or two fingers. It can be contrasted to fingerstyle guitar, which is playing with indi ...

. His flatpicking style is similar to

Doc Watson Arthel Lane "Doc" Watson (March 3, 1923 – May 29, 2012) was an American guitarist, songwriter, and singer of bluegrass, folk, country, blues, and gospel music. Watson won seven Grammy awards as well as a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. W ...

's and Moravian folk music. This style is characterized by flashy licks, intricate cross-picking patterns,

open tunings Guitar tunings are the assignment of pitches to the open strings of guitars, including acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and classical guitars. Tunings are described by the particular pitches that are made by notes in Western music. B ...

, and fluid slides up and down the neck of the guitar. Although Beppe lives in Genoa, he travels throughout North America every year. He has performed in the

Walnut Valley Festival The Walnut Valley Festival is an acoustic music festival held annually in Winfield, Kansas, United States. The main genre of music is bluegrass, but a wide variety of other acoustic styles are represented. The festival is held on the Wednesday ...

in Winfield, Kansas, MerleFest in North Carolina, the

Kerrville Folk Festival The Kerrville Folk Festival is a music festival held for 18 consecutive days in the late spring/early summer at Quiet Valley Ranch near Kerrville, Texas. The Kerrville Folk Festival was founded in 1972 by the husband-wife team of Rod Kennedy an ...

in Texas and festivals in

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...

and

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

. He has appeared on the radio programs ''

All Things Considered ''All Things Considered'' (''ATC'') is the flagship news program on the American network National Public Radio (NPR). It was the first news program on NPR, premiering on May 3, 1971. It is broadcast live on NPR affiliated stations in the United ...

'' and ''

eTown eTown is a 501c3 non-profit broadcast organization. Based in Boulder, Colorado, eTown is a nationally syndicated multimedia, podcasting and events production company. The eTown radio broadcast can be heard on National Public Radio, community r ...

''. Beppe has performed with

David Grisman David Grisman (born March 23, 1945) is an American mandolinist. His music combines bluegrass, folk, and jazz in a genre he calls "Dawg music". He founded the record label Acoustic Disc, which issues his recordings and those of other acoustic mu ...

Gene Parsons Gene Victor Parsons (born September 4, 1944, in Morongo Valley, California) is an American drummer, banjo player, guitarist, singer-songwriter, and engineer, best known for his work with the Byrds from 1968 to 1972. Parsons has also released sol ...

, Doc Watson, Norman Blake and the band Men of Steel, which comprises

Dan Crary Dan Crary ''(aka Deacon Dan Crary)'' was born September 29, 1939 in Kansas City, Kansas and is an American bluegrass guitarist. He helped re-establish flatpicked guitar as a prominent soloing bluegrass instrument. Crary is an innovator of the flat ...

, Tony McManus, and Don Ross. He toured with banjo player

Tony Trischka Anthony Cattell Trischka (born January 16, 1949) is an American five-string banjo player. Sandra Brennan wrote of him in 2021: "One of the most influential modern banjoists, both in several forms of bluegrass music and occasionally in jazz and ...

and released the accompanying live album ''Alone and Together''. In 2015, Gambetta embarked on a brief tour with cellist

Rushad Eggleston Rushad Robert Eggleston (born September 30, 1979) is an American cellist, composer, jazz vocalist, & performer. Eggleston's music can be eccentric, with many references to fantasy and goblins. Eggleston is known for inventing words, and for hi ...

. Gambetta recorded the album ''

Traversata ''Traversata'' is an album by American mandolinist David Grisman, Italian mandolinist Carlo Aonzo, and Italian guitarist Beppe Gambetta, playing guitar, mandolin, and the 14-string harp guitar. The album comprises Italian-American instrumental ...

: Italian Music in America'' (

Acoustic Disc David Grisman (born March 23, 1945) is an American mandolinist. His music combines bluegrass, folk, and jazz in a genre he calls "Dawg music". He founded the record label Acoustic Disc, which issues his recordings and those of other acoustic mu ...

, 2001) with mandolinist David Grisman and mandolinist

Carlo Aonzo Carlo is a given name. It is an Italian form of Charles. It can refer to: *Carlo (name) *Monte Carlo *Carlingford, New South Wales, a suburb in north-west Sydney, New South Wales, Australia *A satirical song written by Dafydd Iwan about Prince Char ...

. On the album, he used a 14-string

harp guitar The harp guitar is a guitar-based stringed instrument generally defined as a "guitar, in any of its accepted forms, with any number of additional unstopped strings that can accommodate individual plucking." The word "harp" is used in reference to ...

custom made for him by Italian luthier Antonello Saccu.

Reception

Beppe has been called a "virtual United Nations of influences: Italian, Ukrainian, Appalachian, Sardinian, Celtic".Pattison, Kermit B. "Italian Spices: Beppe Gambetta Adds New Flavors to American Flatpicking". ''Acoustic Guitar''. November 1997, p. 74. He has been described by ''The Huffington Post'' as one of the "best flatpickers anywhere."

Discography

* ''Dialogs'' (Hi, Folks!, 1988) * ''Alone & Together'' with

(Brambus, 1991) * ''Good News from Home'' (Green Linnet, 1995) * ''Serenata'' (Acoustic Music, 1997) * ''Synergia'' (Felmay, 2001) * ''

'' (Acoustic Disc, 2001) * ''Blu Di Genova'' (Felmay, 2002) * ''Slade Stomp'' (Gadfly, 2006) * ''Rendez-vous'' (Gadfly, 2008) * ''Live at Teatro Della Corte'' (Gadfly, 2010) * ''Round Trip'' (Borealis, 2015) * ''Short Stories'' (Borealis, 2017)

References

External links

Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gambetta, Beppe 1955 births Living people Italian guitarists Italian male guitarists Italian bluegrass musicians Musicians from Genoa Brambus Records artists