Let me tell you the tale of an infamous guitar commonly known as ‘The Black Pearl’.
In the land of the rising sun, there was a time you could find some of the best master builders in the world. Some unknown magicians, able to turn a piece of wood into an instrument providing beautiful sounds. The Black Pearl was built in 1986 in Matsumoto, a Japanese town, surrounded by mountains. It was made to provide the fastest, the wildest, the loudest and the most powerful sound. Who controls the ears, controls the minds. Who controls The Black Pearl controls the airwaves.
For the uninitiated, we won’t go in the technical aspects, but the guitar is all black with chromes. Its darkness sets the tone and the chrome embellishments tell about the craftsmanship and attention to details. This is a beautiful machine of its own kind!
It’s said that the guitar was first seen on someone playing in the streets of Matsumoto. A handsome and mysterious man. A man in black, in impeccable style with long black hair. Someone no one had ever seen before. He was in town for 7 days and every time he was playing, he captured the minds of everyone in the city. Women were madly in love with him and men were fascinated by him. It is said that his guitar was singing while he was playing. He sounded like the song of the siren. No one could resist his music, and no one could resist his incantations.
After 7 days, he disappeared leaving the population lost, in distress. No one ever talked to him but he was communicating with all of them at once. He penetrated their spirit. He made them feel at peace, full of life and in love.
He disappeared like he was only a mirage. However his guitar was left in front of the Matsumoto Castle, known as the ‘Crow Castle’ due to its black exterior.

Many tried to play it but couldn’t master it. It was known to choose its owner. This is how it got its name: ‘Black Pearl’.
Many lost their minds, some died in strange circumstances… It was just a matter of time before the guitar was considered cursed and evil. It was then decided to destroy it and to burn it. A young woman who wanted to keep a piece of the mysterious man she once loved, decided to steal the guitar in order to protect it.
Knowing she couldn’t keep it long enough, an old Caribbean witch offered to help her and put a spell on the guitar in order to save it.
The guitar would be invisible to the inhabitants of Matsumo for 33 years and kept in a secret place, guarded by a middle aged virgin shaman. She was able to travel between the worlds of the dead, the spirits and the humans. It’s said that the guitar was hidden in each world for 11 years.
No one has ever seen the guitar since and no one ever heard about the story of the Black Pearl as it was forbidden to talk about it. It has remained a legend for decades, only known by a very few, as it has been passed through the decades, mainly by women, but it has never gone on the other side of the mountains.
Even though the story of the Black Pearl was known in witchcraft circles and in the world of the spirits, no one could be strong enough to break the 33 year spell. In black magic, the Black Pearl has been coveted because of its power to capture and control people’s minds. They could turn its power of love into one of the most evil tools of darkness, in order to control the 3 worlds.

The spell could only be broken by a man with long black hair, age 33, coming from a lineage of musicians. He would be able to find it, to play it and to be its master. In exchange for his life to heal the world, spreading love in every possible land on the planet. He would be servicing the Black Pearl for 1000 years, before being released from his sacred duty.

After 33 years, the guitar was back in the world of the living souls. That day was marked with a very bright dawn turning into a dark sky with storms and an earthquake. It lasted only a couple minutes before it suddenly all stopped and the sky turned red. A breach has been opened by black magic witches allowing spirits to come to earth, in order to take the guitar and own its power.
The shaman was waiting for that day to come and was prepared. She’s been traveling the world for 33 years to find this young man who could be the one to break the curse and to serve the guitar.
She’s found a great candidate in the city of London in England, where she’s been following a child becoming a great artist, for three decades. He has a strong musician genealogy. In his family tree, you could find an Italian violinist, a Spanish master luthier and an Arab oud player.
Like Brian Jones, he was fascinated by all kinds of instruments and had a natural ability to play them.
He was evolving in the underground scene, mainly playing at Chislehurst Caves in the Borough of Bromley, or little gigs in Camden and East London.
He was a charming young man with long black hair and beautifully well dressed. When he turned 33, the Japanese shaman convinced him to travel with her to Matsumo. On the day the spell would be lifted and someone could finally play the Black Pearl again, he would have his chance. It was her bet that he was the one.
The shaman would have to bring back the guitar on a crossroad with one tree only. It will have to be played under the tree at sunset. When the shaman brought the Black Pearl to light for the first time in 33 years, the atmosphere suddenly felt heavy and dramatic.
When the young man played the guitar, it was an instant connection. The Black Pearl deployed all of its power, and it was singing again like 33 years ago when that mysterious man took over Matsumo for 7 days. But when you are familiar with music myths, you know that when you play at a crossroad, the devil might appear to offer you a deal.
For the Black Pearl, the devil came at the crossroads in person, but instead of offering a deal to the young Londoner to sell his soul, he snatched away his soul from his body to put it in the guitar. His goal was to own the guitar and its chosen player, in order to rule over the 3 worlds for eternity.
The experimented shaman expected something evil to happen and she was joined by the daughter of the late Caribbean witch who put the spell on the guitar. They both called her spirit to use her master power from the world of the dead, against the devil. She put the soul of the young man back in his body and took all the magic out of the Black Pearl. Out of its immense power, it was now just a regular old guitar that hadn’t been played for 33 years.
They decided to put the Black Pearl in a box and to throw it in the ocean in hope to be hidden in the depth of the waters, until the end of times.
However destiny has a weird way to play out humans’ plans. One year ago, an enchained black box was seen in the North Sea, floating at the same place for 7 days, between England and France. The sea decided then to land the box on the coasts of a small French town. It was under a heavy sky, at sunset, that a depressed and drunk man, alone in the sand, discovered that enchained black box, spit out of the depth of the earth.
The man took it out of the sea, broke the chains and discovered the beautiful, shiny Black Pearl. He was fascinated, it was a sign from destiny. It could be a miracle from God himself to put his life back together. He was obsessed. He tried to play the guitar and he quickly started to show signs of madness just like the men who played it, 36 years ago in Matsumoto. The man was last seen in a wood, scared, hearing voices, screaming and running away. He was later found hanged on the biggest tree of the wood. It is known as the « evil tree » according to local myths.
The witnesses said they saw a huge bright light in the middle of the night, coming out of the evil tree. It was followed with a loud guitar riff. A mysterious man dressed in black with long black hair, was, then, seen, coming out of the wood and walking with the black guitar on his back, disappearing on the railway.

Now we are left with more questions than answers.
The dark forces have made a lot of allies on earth since the Matsumoto breach. Now that the guitar has reappeared, it can be the ultimate piece of their master plan to have the 3 words under their heel. As long as we don’t know who this man is, anything can happen.
However, we, sure, know that if you ever see the Black Pearl played by a handsome man with long black hair, maybe he’s the one who linked his soul to the guitar for 1000 years to heal the world.
In any other circumstances, you better run!

To be continued… Maybe.