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Greetings from the sunny island of Singapore! This blog is dedicated to the latest news, events and interesting articles related to Maestro Guitars. Thank you for dropping by!

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Pictures from Musikmesse 2008, Frankfurt

Our Booth

Franco Morone entertaining the crowd

Even the kids love his music!

The Headway Shire King SK120 sure has its fans

Franco jamming at the AER Booth with his EA-3

Franco performing at his record label Acoustic Music Records

A jam session with Richard Gilewitz at the SHUBB booth

Hozen with Richard Gilewitz, a great acoustic fingerstyle player

Our good friend Gary from SHUBB

Serge, another good friend of ours from STAGG


An afternoon coffee chill out with Steve White

Musikmesse 2008 was a great success with fantastic performances by Franco Morone, visits from various interested distributors and dealers and a sold-out booth at the end. We would like to thank all the friends who visited, all the wonderful music from visiting musicians and everyone else around the world who made it possible for us to exhibit at Frankfurt for the 3rd consecutive year. Thanks for all the great company, good food, great drinks and much fun and laughter. We hope to see you again next year!

Before I end this post, I would like to leave some FOOD for thought. If you have the chance, visit the Adolf Wagner restaurant at Sachsenhausen and savour their great food with a jug of home made Apple Wine straight from the barrel. Here a sample of what you will get:

Ciao!

Musikmesse 2008, Frankfurt, Hall 3.1 Booth J88

Once again, Maestro Guitars is proud to be exhibiting at Musikmesse 2008 as the one and only Singapore representative. For those who do not know, Musikmesse is an annual international music fair organised by musicians for musicians. It is held in Frankfurt, Germany at their big fairground, MesseFrankfurt, which is about the size of our Singapore Expo, except that each hall has 2 - 3 levels. With 10 halls, that makes it a total of close to 30 exhibition halls filled with musical instruments, literature, professional sound and lighting equipment from all over the world.

The fair is not your usual booth to booth exhibition. Its an annual festival and a tribute to music. There are plenty of manufacturers and product services as well as out-of-the-world type of instruments that are totally mind-boggling and makes you wonder how much you really know about music. To manufacturers and trade buyers, this is the place to be for business networking.

To the musicians, this is the place where it is an eye-opener. Tons of events on the schedule packed back to back in a short span of 4 days, you will be wondering how to juggle between visiting every booth and trying to watch every single performance. Some highlights for this year include performances by Kerry King (Slayer), a drumming competition by MAPEX consisting of many young fantastic drummers from Europe, and the most anticipated of them all, a performance by Slash (Guns & Roses, Velvet Revolver) himself at the Gibson booth.

Maestro Guitars will be exhibiting in Hall 3.1, Booth J88. Hall 3.1 is the hall where all acoustic instrument manufacturers gather. Here's a sneak preview of our booth design (minus the guitars).

This year, we are featuring a well-known Italian blues, jazz and celtic guitarist, Franco Morone. He will be using a Maestro EA-3 equipped with B-Band A3T pickup. Below is a writeup about him:

One of the top names of the international guitar scene, Franco Morone is considered as the Italian poet of acoustic guitar.His melodies of great charm touch at first hearing, also thanks to hisrenderings. What surprises in his works is the beauty of both original tunes and popular themes, which revive a second youth through his fingers.

For his research work in the teaching field, today Franco Morone is a point of reference for many guitarists and amateurs attending his workshops in Italy and abroad.He regularly performs in Europe, USA and Japan, and he is a protagonist ofqualified international festivals.

“... songs are so clear and filled with energy that listening is pure delight."
Bestellen - Germany

"When Franco Morone is playing on stage, you can feel a deep intensity. Mostly his eyes closed, the artist is 100 % within his music. Here´s a master at work, here it is, where magic happens. Each note he plays is important, in each note there´s a feeling of "italianitá" - of mediterranean lightness and poetry garnished with rich ornaments. Franco is a wanderer between musical styles - celtic sounds, jazz, blues & much more - which he masters entirely and perfectly. A real jewel is his latest CD production - "Italian Fingerstyle", a trip back to his musical and native roots."
Stephen Rekas - Mel Bay

"Franco Morone captures the listener in a wide variety of styles and excels in creating fantastic rich moods in his modern approach to fingerstyle guitar"
Henk te Veldhuis - Bridge Guitar Review - Holland

“The Italian musician plays with the discreet charm of the true virtuoso: The slightly Mediterranean be gives to his mix of Leo Kottke's soundtracks for imaginary westerns and the filigree meditations from Windham Hill's heyday relax the listener as would a ride in an open convertible."
Audio - Germany

"In the manner of John Renbourn, he has the exceceptional ability ...maintaining a confortable fluency ...delicate labirynths of conterpoint, deftly esecuted with a lush, warm tone and lyrical phrasing. Rather than trying to blow you away, Franco's approach is to invite the listener into the hearth of each song's architecture with a gentle virtuosity"
Tim Sparks - Fingerstyle Guitar - USA

"Franco is not only an excellent and worldwide renowned artist; his numerous publications and workshop series prove that he is also a great teacher."
Marcus Doneus - Austria

“'The South Wind' is important and meaningful as a whole, and represents the best collection of Irish music for guitar to be issued in many years."
Thomas Kleemaier - Concerto- Austria

"This is the most impressive book with consistently excellent arrangements"
Alex Moffatt - Irish Music - Ireland

"Morone has one of most identifiable sounds of anyone playing fingerstyle guitar today."
Teja Gerken - Acoustic Guitar - USA

"Franco is ablee to express centuries of music and many styles on the steel string guitar and his superb cds are souvenirs of his artistry."
Gaetano Bevilacqua - www.acousticguitarforums.org - Australia

"Morone's intonation is perfect, and althought his chops are monstrous,they never distract from the music. If you dig Michael Hedges, you'll love Running Home."
Jude Gold - Guitar Player - USA

"Running Home is a welcome addition to the world of remarkable fingerstyle guitar recordings"
Robby Tompson - Fingerstyle Guitar - USA

" Italian Fingerstyle is an extraordinary visiting card of our popular and traditional music "
Enrico Sacchi - Folk Bullettin - Italy

"a delighfully charming album, breezy and easy like a mediterranean summer evening"
Andreas Shülz - Akustik Gitarre - Germany

"Morone's synthesis of folklore and passion produce guitar music of incredible power"
Thomas Rölling - Tageblatt - Germany

"The first time we heard Franco Morone in concert we felt the emotion to be in front to an Epiphany of beauty"
Francesco Caltagirone - "L'isola che non c'era" - Italy

"The complex polyphonie , the clearness of the harmonic constructions, the lightness of the sound shows a mature and innovative musician .. fully grace and light travellings"
Les Cahiers de la Guitare et de la Musique

"- France"Few performers delight so well like Morone.. the poet of the guitar "
P.G. - Acordes de Guitarista - Spain

"Morone's arrangements and sensitive guitar style don't need voices to communicates the emotions and mood of the pieces and his playing is so fully-bodied...always fresh"
Michael Hingston " - Folk Roots - USA

"Hi Franco, congratulations! One of the best interviews I've read in a long while on Akustik Gitarre. Very illuminating...All the best"
Steve Elliott. www.acousticguitarworkshop.com - Germany

"I had the good fortune of hearing this artist for the first time. What an amazing performance! Franco plays solo acoustic guitar in a variety of styles. He has impeccable "feel", and the ability to play lush chord arrangements and melody at the same time"
Randy Omel - www.randomsparks.com - USA

Some Live Appearances
Folkest - Spilimbergo - Italy
Open Strings - Germany
Chet Atkins A. Convention - Nashville - Usa
Soave Guitar Festival - Italy
Zagreb Guitar Summit - Croatia
20° Festival Internazionale della Chitarra - Italy
International Guitar Night - Germany
All Star Guitar Night - Nashville - Usa
International Guitar Meeting - Sarzana - Italy
Consolato Italia/Dortmund - Germany
The Kirkmichael International Guitar Festival -Scotland
Chitarre dal mondo - Teatro della Corte - Italy
International Guitar Tour - Japan
KVMR Celtic Festival - California - Usa
Bormio Guitar International Meeting - Italy
Intenational Guitar Tour - Hungary
Consolato Italiano Houston - Texas - Usa
Schondorf Guitar Festival - Germany
Italian Guitar Festival - Linz - Austria
All Star Guitar Night - Opatja - Croatia
Festival Villa Celimontana - Roma - Italy
Healdsburg Guitar Festival - California - Usa
The Acoustic Strings Festival - Raalte - Holland

See you in Frankfurt this year!