Ben Powell: Acoustic Meditations
Ben Powell is an inspired British guitar player and composer based in Bath. In this video he plays “Nightwalking Monteverde” a piece he wrote “after a romantic midnight stroll through the streets of Rome, past the illuminated fountains and bustling bars and coffee”, as stated by the youtube notes.
“At the tender age of 26, Ben stumbled across an album, so bewitching, that it change the course of his life. He downed tools, bought an acoustic guitar, and locked himself in a room with Solo by fingerstyle guitar legend Martin Taylor. Seven years later he emerged having rediscovered his childhood love of guitar and clutching a bunch of original guitar melodies which became Preliminaries (2010). The album has gone on to receive critical acclaim in the UK guitar press and is one of Acoustic Guitar (USA) magazine’s Essential Acoustic Album’s of 2010.
Prior to his wake up call, Ben was studying philosophy and travelling extensively throughout Asia and the Middle East. This existential and explorative period provides the foundation for his creative approach to the guitar. A passion for melody; for making the instrument sing so as to paint giant landscapes, meditative sunsets and romantic moonlit strolls. “I think of myself as a musical travel-writer whose journal contains notes rather than words”. Ben is no stranger to the extreme technical demands of contemporary fingerstyle guitar, but his emphasis is primarily on communicating a coherent musical vision. The result is, as Celine Keating describes Preliminaries, “a gorgeous meditation, at once ethereal and earthy”.“
More about his inspirations on his official website.
Many other interesting videos can be found in his youtube channel, including a rendition of Eric Clapton’s “Tears in Heaven“.
By Miche Archetto
Author: Robert Harris
What has happened to Ben Powell? I cannot find any news about him since 2016.
here’s a video he did April 2020
still playing his resonator guitar!!