On October 28 one of the biggest legends of the world jazz and guitar playing, Al Di Meola, comes to Bulgaria for the third time.

V.V.: Good evening, Mr. Al Di Meola! What are you up to?

A. D. M.: I’m preparing to come to Europe for a tour. Our first stop will be Italy.

V.V.: So basically, this is going to be your third show in Bulgaria. What memories do you keep from your previous two shows?

A. D. M.: I just remember that it was a wonderful trip. There seemed to be a lot of anticipation in the audience for our performance. In countries like Bulgaria people have been waiting for a long time to hear what we do, so it’s different than playing in the States or Germany where we play much more often. Many years go by and there is much more anticipation and desire to hear us and that makes it more interesting in a sense.

V.V.: You’ve been around for quite a while now. What is the biggest challenge for you today, professionally speaking, of course?

A. D. M.: The biggest challenge is to continue to find new and interesting ideas and projects that can continue my inspiration. In the future it would be great to find something always in the world music domain that has a kind of edge to it, something that hasn’t been heard before in the western part of the world. I’m always in search for inspiration and to continue in my composition direction, you know.

V.V.: Where do you search this inspiration? Are you searching other musicians to play with or just some exotic landscapes, let’s say?

A. D. M.: It could be exotic landscapes, it could be travelling, it could be in Bulgaria, let’s say, it could be wherever. At the moment I find someone or something… It could be something other than music that inspires me. It could be just watching a good movie. Something that moves you could be the beginning of something very nteresting.

V.V.: What is the best movie that you have seen recently?

A. D. M.: Let me think… Recently there hasn’t been anything that I can remember that has that great quality. But there have been some great performances by legendary actors like Robert De Niro. They can have tremendous… You see how much of the character and work goes into creating the end result. The effect is so overwhelming and so inspiring. When I see his revel of artistry, it gives me a sense of energy.

V.V.: You just gave me the inspiration for the next question. If I follow the cliche I will ask you “Mr Di Meola, if there is a movie about your life what the title would be?”, but this is not going to be my question. I would change it into the following: With you being one of the greatest guitarists of all times, and I am being completely serious and honest about what I’m saying, and we put you into the world of actors, who would be the closest equivalent to your achievements in terms of acting and everything?

A. D. M.: It’s almost too conceited of me to be the one to judge of who that may be, but there are people that I could aspire to be as great as and if they are correlated to the movie industry, that could be someone like Robert De Niro or John Voight. Denzel Washington has given performances that are amazing, that are just so powerful. Things like that in the acting world have been inspiring for me in my composition.

It could be a great painting, it could be a great artist that inspires me. It doesn’t have to be from the music world. But there are great musicians like Chick Corea that have pushed me to get deeper, to touch the emotion, but also present this challenging music that makes me wanna go deeper and wider. That enriches my aesthetic life.

V.V.: Talking about music, do you think that the guitar is the best instrument?

A. D. M.: Absolutely is the best instrument, only second to the voice. The voice is the most communicative because it involves a language of words and could tell the story with words and words are the most direct, perhaps. But the guitar is the most expressive instrument in terms not only in shaping the notes but also physically visible and you can see the notes being shaped by the flesh of the hand. This has a very profound and strong impact on the listener because it’s visual. That same type of thing does not exist with the piano or brass instruments or many other families of instruments. On the guitar you can play notes and melodies, but you can also play chords, which is not achievable with brass instruments. So you have all the things that you can possibly do – phrasing-wise, but you also have a visual connection and that makes it the most popular instrument in the world by far.

V.V.: Last question. What do you consider to be the most memorable moment in your life? I’m not talking about your career.

A. D. M.: The most memorable and profound moment has to be the birth of my first daughter and being right there. There’s nothing like that.