Born in 1970 in an extremely stimulating musical environment, Paolo Angeli grew up in Palau, a small port in northern Sardinia, which looks out on the twelve islands of the Maddalena archipelago, a rugged scenic area of turquoise lagoons, national parks and pristine beaches.

Paolo started to play guitar when he was nine. The guitar and the voice of his father (his first mentor), the rock bands of the village, his experience at concerts in village squares, and carnival evenings, all pointed him in a direction that eschewed stylistic barriers in music.

In 1989, he moved to Bologna and started to play with various contemporary music ensembles, practicing collective composition and improvisation, breaking down the borders between musical genres, and playing in the main European festivals of innovative music. In 1993, he met Giovanni Scanu, a legendary Sardinian guitar player who died at the age of 95. Giovanni taught him the forms and the components of the canto a chitarra gallurese e logudorese, old songs in the Sardinian dialects of Gallurese and Logudorese, traditionally accompanied by guitar.

From this clash between avant-garde and popular tradition came his Sardinian prepared-guitar: a unique instrument with 18 strings-a hybrid between baritone guitar, cello and drums, replete with hammers, pedals, and variable pitch propellers.

He has collaborated with Pat Metheny (who uses Angeli's guitar in Orchestrion), Fred Frith, Hamid Drake, Iva Bittova, Butch Morris, Ned Rothenberg, Jon Rose, Antonello Salis, Evan Parker, Takumi Fukushima, Louis Sclavis, and Paolo Fresu, among others.