Home Personen Stücke Aufnahmen Bibliographie Schulen Wörterbuch Webseiten & Ereignisse Lehrer Tritt der ISS bei Einloggen

Christopher Yohmei Blasdel

クリストファー遙盟

Blasdel, Christopher Yohmei
Shakuhachi & Lehrer
yohmei@gol.com
www.yohmei.com

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 Blasdel's various essays, both published and unpublished, can be seen at his website: www.yohmei.com/writings.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.

Lehrer

Studenten

Alben

Heart of Bamboo Heart of Bamboo

Poetry and music in the zen tradition.

Night of the Garuda Night of the Garuda

Striking Light, Striking Dark 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.

Voices from Afar - Voices From Within Voices from Afar - Voices From Within

Shakuhachi. koto, shamisen, oud and voice.

Watching the Waves Watching the Waves

Shakuhachi accompanies poetry with traditional Japanese and zen Buddhist themes. Classical and modern poems with honkyoku.

Zen Reveries Zen Reveries

Aufgenommene Stücke

StückeKanjiLängeAlbumInstrument
All of It 04'26 Striking Light, Striking Dark Shakuhachi
Another Kind of Dream 10'43 Zen Reveries Shakuhachi
Play Button Dorian Dance ドーリア風の舞 09'53 Voices from Afar - Voices From Within Shakuhachi
Elegy 03'38 Striking Light, Striking Dark Shakuhachi
Play Button Gates of Heaven and Earth, The 乾坤関 08'12 Voices from Afar - Voices From Within Shakuhachi
Gendai Choshi 03'54 Zen Reveries Shakuhachi
Hi Fu Mi Hachigaeshi no Shirabe (Kinko Ryū) 一二三鉢返の調 Night of the Garuda Shakuhachi
How Could We Forget? 04'18 Striking Light, Striking Dark Shakuhachi
Ish Province Work Song 03'07 Striking Light, Striking Dark Shakuhachi
Kyorei (Don't know which version) 虚鈴 08'20 Striking Light, Striking Dark Shakuhachi
Mama no Kawa ままの川 Night of the Garuda Shakuhachi
Morning Becomes Electric 13'01 Zen Reveries Shakuhachi
Night of the Garuda Night of the Garuda Shakuhachi
Oracular 05'09 Striking Light, Striking Dark Shakuhachi
Pale Lights 10'40 Zen Reveries Shakuhachi
Peacock Feather 03'09 Striking Light, Striking Dark Shakuhachi
Replay 02'54 Zen Reveries Shakuhachi
Saltarello 04'19 Striking Light, Striking Dark Shakuhachi
Play Button Shadow of the Rose, The 薔薇の影で 10'20 Voices from Afar - Voices From Within Shakuhachi
Solstice 06'29 Striking Light, Striking Dark Shakuhachi
Song of Atitlan, The Night of the Garuda Shakuhachi
Play Button Storytelling on a Winter's Night 寒夜昔話 05'12 Voices from Afar - Voices From Within Shakuhachi
Play Button Tears of Heaven, The 天の涙 08'25 Voices from Afar - Voices From Within Shakuhachi
The Art of Literary Translation 03'03 Striking Light, Striking Dark Shakuhachi
The Search 06'56 Striking Light, Striking Dark Shakuhachi
Tsuki (Masumoto) “月” ー笙と尺八のためのー Night of the Garuda Shakuhachi
Unity 03'51 Striking Light, Striking Dark Shakuhachi
Play Button 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 18'53 Voices from Afar - Voices From Within Shakuhachi
Play Button Yearnings 憧憬 11'55 Voices from Afar - Voices From Within Shakuhachi
Zen Mondoh 09'07 Zen Reveries Shakuhachi

Komponiert oder Arrangiert

Shakuhachi Kompositionen
Titel Kanji Jahr Alternativer Titel
Night of the Garuda


Song of Atitlan, The


Yearnings 憧憬
1986

Dorian Dance ドーリア風の舞
1987

Gates of Heaven and Earth, The 乾坤関
1988

Shadow of the Rose, The 薔薇の影で
1989

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

Another Kind of Dream
1996

Gendai Choshi
1996

Morning Becomes Electric
1996

Pale Lights
1996

Replay
1996

Zen Mondoh
1996

All of It
2015

Elegy
2015

How Could We Forget?
2015

Ish Province Work Song
2015

Oracular
2015

Peacock Feather
2015

Saltarello
2015

Solstice
2015

The Art of Literary Translation
2015

The Search
2015

Unity
2015

Veröffentlichungen

Titel Kanji Veröffentlicher Jahr Seiten Sprache
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