Berlin Guitar Ensemble
Released: January 2002
Possible Records

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All tracks were recorded Live direct to stereo DAT. Acoustic performances were recorded using two microphones or a stereo one, electric ones went straight from the mixer to the DAT tape.Guillermo, Mariana, Juan and myself went through more than 50 tapes, and selecting takes was a hard task - too many good things for one CD ! Finally, we settled on these 29 pieces. The selection criteria was feel/music - audio was a secondary concern - and we included even noisy and unclean takes if the music was 'on'. The sound quality varied depending on what gear was used, the room/venue we were in, and the level of awareness of the team, etc. All in all, a selection was made of takes from 4 years of projects. The players involved were everything from complete beginners to professional guitarists.
Hernán Nuñez, Kiel, December 26th, 2001


"Villa Ruhe" is the name of the property where we held Courses and Projects in Germany between 1997 and 2000. It is located in the small town of Alfeld near Hannover. The house has an unusual history: it was built at the end of the 19th century by a gentleman who was trading with animals. More specifically, he imported exotic animals from all over the world and kept them in the spacious garden of Villa Ruhe to present them to buyers; these were the owners of zoological gardens in Germany. There are photos in the local museum documenting this period. This residence was designed to be large and spacious enough to accommodate the visitors.In recent times,Villa Ruhe was taken over by the municipality of Alfeld, and saved from deterioration. Today, it is uperbly restored and set up as a guest house.The house provided an environment for our residential projects, which was always appropriate and at times ideal.Silence visited, music came to life, groups were formed, new pieces were written, numerous performances were prepared. We would encircle out in front and either walk to one of the local hospitals or old people‘s homes, ordrive to a church, or a club, or a bar, or walk down to the charming medieval town center and play a summer festival on the market place, plugged-in. Back in Villa Ruhe, Michael Schille-Schumacher was the ever-friendly caretaker-co-ordinator, who added much to the general atmosphere of intentional action in the house.
Martin Schwutke, BuenosAires, December 19th, 2001.

During the last part of this four year adventure the tribe move to Italy, more accurately to a village called Sassoferrato on the high green hills looking toward the Adriatic Sea on the east side and toward the mountains of Umbria on the west side; the whole area still resonates and vibrates the main spiritual activities of the past centuries
Padre Filippo is a Franciscan monk who runs the place, the core of which is the monastery (originally from the 13th century), then the curch (from 16th to 18th century), then the actual convent where the monks live (nowadays almost only a home for elderly monks), and the former Seminary which, due to lack of vocation, is now converted into a guest house for groups (that's our place). There we held a large Guitar Craft Level 1-2 Course in January 2001, immediately followed by a BGE tour, to provide a selected group with information about professionally oriented gigs. Then we came back for a Summer Project during which we offered a first hand experience of public live performances to all the students attending. Most of the times people in the audience seemed to recognize a quality in our work, and the local community accepted and loved us.
Alessandro Bruno, Roma, December 22nd, 2001