Christopher Yohmei Blasdel
クリストファー遙盟
Shakuhachi & Estudioso
yohmei@gol.com
www.yohmei.com
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Shakuhachi Performer, Writer, Lecturer on Japanese/Asian Music Christopher Blasdel came from the US to Japan as an undergraduate student and began studies of Japanese music with Japan’s Living National Treasure Goro Yamaguchi in 1972. He continued with the master until his death in 1999. In 1982, Blasdel received his MFA in ethnomusicology from Tokyo University of the Arts. In 1984 he received a teaching license and was conferred a professional name (Yohmei) from Yamaguchi—one of only two non-Japanese to be recognized by Yamaguchi. Blasdel performs around the world and has taught or lectured at Earlham College (Indiana), Chulalongkorn University (Bangkok, Thailand), Texas A&M University (College Station, Texas), University of Washington (Seattle), Charles University (Prague), Cal Arts, International Christian University (Tokyo), Temple University (Tokyo) and many others. His discography includes Striking Light, Striking Dark, a collaboration with vocalist Sasha Bogdanowitsch. He also collaborated on the CD Navarasa with Bay Area jazz bassist Mark Izu, (Navarasa), the Seattle-based composer Byron Au Yong (Breath Play). Zen Reveries is a collaboration with the famed Japanese electronic musician Uehara Kazuo, and Night of the Garuda includes duets with the ryūteki (Shiba Sukeyasu), shō (Miyata Mayumi), shamisen (Hirai Sumiko) and oud (Hamsa el Din). All of the above CDs are available on Spotify, Amazon, Apple Music, etc. Blasdel has also composed and performed music for NHK documentaries and various films. He has also collaborated with various dancers, such as Kazuo Ohno and son Yoshito Ohno, Akira Kasai, Takao Kawaguchi and Kota Yamazaki. Blasdel authored one of the very first comprehensive instructional and historical guides to the shakuhachi, entitled The Shakuhachi, A Manual for Learning (now available on Amazon Kindle, it was originally published in 1986 and re-published in 2008 by Printed Matter Press). Also available on Kindle books is The Single Tone—A Personal Journey through Shakuhachi Music, a semi-autographical book which details his experiences learning and playing the shakuhachi in Japan and around the world. Blasdel's various essays, both published and unpublished, can be seen at his website: www.yohmei.com/writings. Blasdel co-organized the World Shakuhachi Festival ’98 (Boulder, Colorado) and was a member of the executive committee for many of the subsequent World Shakuhachi Festivals. Presently, he is an adjunct lecturer at the University of Hawai’i, Mānoa. Blasdel holds a 5th degree black belt in Aikido.
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Profesores Estudiantes
Kyle Chōmei Helou 1973 - |
Álbumes
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Heart of Bamboo Poetry and music in the zen tradition. |
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Night of the Garuda |
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Striking Light, Striking Dark The music on this CD consists of poetry set to original compositions by the phenomenal singer Sasha Bogdanowitsch and shakuhachi master Christopher Yohmei Blasdel. |
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Voices from Afar - Voices From Within Shakuhachi. koto, shamisen, oud and voice. |
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Watching the Waves Shakuhachi accompanies poetry with traditional Japanese and zen Buddhist themes. Classical and modern poems with honkyoku. |
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Zen Reveries |
Pistas Grabadas
Compuesto o Arreglado
| Shakuhachi Obras | |||
| Título | Kanji | Año | Título Alternativo |
| Night of the Garuda | |||
| Song of Atitlan, The | |||
| Yearnings | 憧憬 |
1986 |
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| Dorian Dance | ドーリア風の舞 |
1987 |
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| Gates of Heaven and Earth, The | 乾坤関 |
1988 |
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| Shadow of the Rose, The | 薔薇の影で |
1989 |
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| Worthless Shakuhachi, Five Songs from the Kanginshu | 篇ないものは、尺八ぢや J 閑吟集より五つの謡 |
1989 |
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| Another Kind of Dream | 1996 |
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| Gendai Choshi | 1996 |
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| Morning Becomes Electric | 1996 |
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| Pale Lights | 1996 |
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| Replay | 1996 |
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| Zen Mondoh | 1996 |
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| All of It | 2015 |
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| Elegy | 2015 |
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| How Could We Forget? | 2015 |
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| Ish Province Work Song | 2015 |
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| Oracular | 2015 |
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| Peacock Feather | 2015 |
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| Saltarello | 2015 |
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| Solstice | 2015 |
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| The Art of Literary Translation | 2015 |
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| The Search | 2015 |
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| Unity | 2015 |
Publicaciones
| Título | Kanji | Editorial | Año | Páginas | Idioma |
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| Asahi Falls--Mendicant Shakuhachi Monks and the Izu Peninsula |
On website www.yohmei.com | 2015 | 10 | English | |
| Shakuhachi odessei [Shakuhachi Odyssey] |
Bungei Spring | 2000 | 336-360 | ||
| The Shakuhachi: A Manual for Learning. (With Yuko Kamisango) |
Tokyo: Ongaku no Tomo Sha | 1988 | |||
| The Shakuhachi: Aesthetics of a Single Tone |
Japan Quarterly 31, no. 2 | 1984 | 214-217 | ||
| The Single Tone - A Personal Journey into Shakuhachi Music |
Printed Matter Press | 2005 | 167 | English |