Andrea Centazzo

*2023 stock* "Gongs have been part of my life since 1970, when as Jazz Swiss School student in Bern (Switzerland), I had the lucky opportunity to visit the Paiste, Cymbal and Gongs factory. I was immediately fascinated by the sonic world of the gong and related metal percussion and I started dreaming a future that could possibly include those marvelous instruments. Few years later, while in New York on my first US trip, I found few Albums of Balinese Music in a small record store in the Greenwich Village. That music and the gongs inspired since my artistic career.

In 1975 another unique chance: UFIP, the Italian cymbal company hired me as gong and metal percussion designer. With UFIP I designed and produced a line of gongs, bells and metal sounding objects under the name of Ictus 75. The Icebell that I invented was later copied by all manufactures and became a popular instrument. Thanks to my collaboration with UFIP, I was one of the first drummers to integrate in the set a large array of gongs and metal percussion.

In 1984 I signed as top endorser with Paiste and I've be playing their wonderful gongs and cymbals since then. While integrating gongs in my solo performances and in my composer work, strangely enough, I never recorded and produced an album totally based on gongs. It took me 47 years, but finally after extensively traveling the Far East (and generally the World) and absorbing sounds and traditions, my gong music album is here." - Andrea Centazzo