Here’s one to place in the ‘why has no one ever done this before?’ file – Andy Summers is set to launch a documentary series about the guitar and its place in the different cultures of the world.
Entitled Global Guitar, it will see the ex-Police man travel the world, examining the impact both the acoustic and electric versions of the instrument have had on the world’s music, as well as meeting musicians united by their love of the guitar.
Summers is actually the co-producer of the series, alongside Bill Borden, who produced High School Musical and Mark Dziak who was the man behind US reality gameshow Race To The Center Of The Earth.
In a statement, Summers explained: “This comes from a deeply authentic and personal space – an extension of something I’ve been doing my entire adult life. I’ve always been interested in the music of other cultures, and the guitar in particular.”
“It is absolutely the pre-eminent instrument in the world. Every culture has accessed it and made something of their own of it. It’s a very evolving instrument that just never seems to stop.”
That said, the series has yet to be commissioned, let alone made. But in an era when TV schedules are drowning in deadly dull celebrity travelogues (surely we’re not far off now from actually seeing Youth Hostelling with Chris Eubank?), this actually sounds like one that will be worth watching.
“We believe in the project and in Andy’s authentic vision,” Borden said. “This is a series that we feel needs to be made – something that has not made it to screen the way we are approaching it. We are confident it will find its way to interested audiences around the globe.”
All things being equal filming will start on the project next February. Hopefully by then someone will have picked it up.
