On Saturday, February 21st, at Belgrade’s „Zappa Baza“, I had the chance to catch a live performance by Italian guitar virtuoso Luca Stricagnoli. He completely won over the crowd with his spontaneous interaction, natural charm, and above all, his extraordinary playing technique. Alone on stage, but surrounded by “multiple” guitars, he experiments with sound, blending his own custom tunings and scales with various effects. At moments, it genuinely felt like we were listening to a full symphony orchestra being performed on acoustic guitar(s).
After the show, I had the opportunity to meet him, and he kindly gave me his second album, “What If?” He’s currently preparing a new release, and so far he has six albums in discography.
“What If?”, turns out to be the album from which he performs a large portion of his live repertoire. It’s a mix of very uniquely arranged and reimagined covers alongside his own material, with the arrangements themselves playing a central storytelling role. The album features ten instrumental tracks, and for the average listener, his interpretations of songs like “Thriller,” “Sweet Child O’ Mine,” and “Misirlou” will likely stand out the most.
What truly sets him apart, though, is the way he combines left and right hand techniques, builds rhythmic sequences, weaves in colorful tonal passages, and uses tunings known only to him. The end result is an artist with a truly original, exceptionally original vision, and deeply inspired performance solutions.
There’s no doubt, that alongside all the albums he’s released so far, he’s an artist in constant creative ascent. If you haven’t yet had the chance to experience his guitar playing, this is a perfect opportunity to discover what this in last period Nashville-based musician has been crafting lately. With “What If?”, his second album, he threw wide open the doors to a creative career that continues to rise.
U subotu 21.02. u beogradskoj „Zappa Bazi“, imao sam prilike da uživo posmatram koncert italijanskog virtuoza na gitari Luce Stricagnolia, koji je prisutne u ovom klubu oduševio pre svega spontanom komunikacijom, prirodnim šarmom i nadasve vanserijskom izvođačkom tehnikom. Sam sa „više“ gitara, sa kojima zvučno eksperimentiše, kombinujući vlastite „štimove“ i skale sa dodatkom efekata, stvorili su kod auditorijuma utisak da povremeno pred sobom slušaju simfonijski orkestar na akustičnoj gitari (gitarama). Nakon završetka nastupa, upoznao sam se sa ovim muzičarem, koji mi je poklonio svoj drugi po redu CD, naziva „What If?“,inače očekuje realizaciju novog albuma, a do sada je uknjižio 6 izdanja.
„What If?“, pokazaće se je i album sa kojeg on „uživo“ izvodi možda i najveći broj numera iz generalnog opusa, koje predstvljaju kombinaciju vrlo specifično obrađenih i postavljenih covera i vlastitog materijala, gde aranžmani kreiraju posebnu priču i predstavljaju poseban segment. „What If?“ je album sa 10 instrumentalnih tema, gde će prosečnog konzumenta najviše pretpostavljam zaintersovati njegovo izvođačko viđenje pesama kao što su : „Thriller“, „Sweet Child O’ Mine“ ili „Misirlou“. Ali kombinacija tretiranja leve i desne ruke, oslanjanja na ritmičke sekvence,uplive različitih tonalnih koloritnih pasaža, uz pomenute samo njemu znane štimove, dovode do krajnjeg rezultata, da nam se predstavlja umetnik sa originalnom, izuzetno originalnom vizijom i nadasve nadahnutim izvođačkim rešenjima. Nema sumnje da pored svih albuma koje je do sada realizovao, on je artist koji je u konstantnom kreativnom usponu.. Ako do sada niste imali mogućnosti da se susretnete sa njegovim sviranjem gitare, evo dobre prilike da se upoznate sa onim što ovaj umetnik u poslednje vreme nastajen u Nashvillu, nudi. „What If?“, drugi album italijanskog gitariste tada je širom tvorio vrata kreativne karijere koja nastavlja svoju uzlaznu putanju.
feb 23 2026
LUCA STRICAGNOLI – „What If?“
(Candyrat Records) 2016.
CD/digital
Instrumental/various genres – ITALY
On Saturday, February 21st, at Belgrade’s „Zappa Baza“, I had the chance to catch a live performance by Italian guitar virtuoso Luca Stricagnoli. He completely won over the crowd with his spontaneous interaction, natural charm, and above all, his extraordinary playing technique. Alone on stage, but surrounded by “multiple” guitars, he experiments with sound, blending his own custom tunings and scales with various effects. At moments, it genuinely felt like we were listening to a full symphony orchestra being performed on acoustic guitar(s).
After the show, I had the opportunity to meet him, and he kindly gave me his second album, “What If?” He’s currently preparing a new release, and so far he has six albums in discography.
“What If?”, turns out to be the album from which he performs a large portion of his live repertoire. It’s a mix of very uniquely arranged and reimagined covers alongside his own material, with the arrangements themselves playing a central storytelling role. The album features ten instrumental tracks, and for the average listener, his interpretations of songs like “Thriller,” “Sweet Child O’ Mine,” and “Misirlou” will likely stand out the most.
What truly sets him apart, though, is the way he combines left and right hand techniques, builds rhythmic sequences, weaves in colorful tonal passages, and uses tunings known only to him. The end result is an artist with a truly original, exceptionally original vision, and deeply inspired performance solutions.
There’s no doubt, that alongside all the albums he’s released so far, he’s an artist in constant creative ascent. If you haven’t yet had the chance to experience his guitar playing, this is a perfect opportunity to discover what this in last period Nashville-based musician has been crafting lately. With “What If?”, his second album, he threw wide open the doors to a creative career that continues to rise.
lucastricagnoli.com
Serbian version :
U subotu 21.02. u beogradskoj „Zappa Bazi“, imao sam prilike da uživo posmatram koncert italijanskog virtuoza na gitari Luce Stricagnolia, koji je prisutne u ovom klubu oduševio pre svega spontanom komunikacijom, prirodnim šarmom i nadasve vanserijskom izvođačkom tehnikom. Sam sa „više“ gitara, sa kojima zvučno eksperimentiše, kombinujući vlastite „štimove“ i skale sa dodatkom efekata, stvorili su kod auditorijuma utisak da povremeno pred sobom slušaju simfonijski orkestar na akustičnoj gitari (gitarama). Nakon završetka nastupa, upoznao sam se sa ovim muzičarem, koji mi je poklonio svoj drugi po redu CD, naziva „What If?“,inače očekuje realizaciju novog albuma, a do sada je uknjižio 6 izdanja.
„What If?“, pokazaće se je i album sa kojeg on „uživo“ izvodi možda i najveći broj numera iz generalnog opusa, koje predstvljaju kombinaciju vrlo specifično obrađenih i postavljenih covera i vlastitog materijala, gde aranžmani kreiraju posebnu priču i predstavljaju poseban segment. „What If?“ je album sa 10 instrumentalnih tema, gde će prosečnog konzumenta najviše pretpostavljam zaintersovati njegovo izvođačko viđenje pesama kao što su : „Thriller“, „Sweet Child O’ Mine“ ili „Misirlou“. Ali kombinacija tretiranja leve i desne ruke, oslanjanja na ritmičke sekvence,uplive različitih tonalnih koloritnih pasaža, uz pomenute samo njemu znane štimove, dovode do krajnjeg rezultata, da nam se predstavlja umetnik sa originalnom, izuzetno originalnom vizijom i nadasve nadahnutim izvođačkim rešenjima. Nema sumnje da pored svih albuma koje je do sada realizovao, on je artist koji je u konstantnom kreativnom usponu.. Ako do sada niste imali mogućnosti da se susretnete sa njegovim sviranjem gitare, evo dobre prilike da se upoznate sa onim što ovaj umetnik u poslednje vreme nastajen u Nashvillu, nudi. „What If?“, drugi album italijanskog gitariste tada je širom tvorio vrata kreativne karijere koja nastavlja svoju uzlaznu putanju.
Objavio Branimir Lokner • International reviews • • Tags: Belgrade, Italy, Luca Stricagnoli, Nashville, What If?, Zappa Baza