“If light comes, I will strike it. If dark comes, I will strike it.”
(Kyotaku Denki)

Poetry set to music

Original compositions by Christopher Yohmei Blasdel, Shakuhachi, & Sasha Bogdanowitsch, Voice & World Instruments. 2015.

I bought this CD at the WSF 2018 in London last August and I was very curious to listen to it. “Original compositions by Christopher Yohmei Blasdel & Sasha Bogdanowitsch”, and “Poetry from Rainer Maria Rilke, Pablo Neruda, John Logan and Sam Hamill” was enough to intrigue me. I love poetry and I have been working myself for a long time about connecting music and words, in shows or with composers.

The first time I met Christopher Yohmei Blasdel was at the International Shakuhachi Festival in Prague in 2010 and got from him my first Kinko-ryū Chikumeisha shakuhachi lessons. How much I struggled on Hifumi Hachigaeschi no shirabe at that time! But the more you struggle, the deeper you remember the music! He was very patient with me and I enjoyed a lot his teaching, his playing during the concerts, and his Aikido-based workshops. His book “The Shakuhachi, A Manual of Learning” is a must to have in your shakuhachi books’ collection.
At the ISF Prague, I purchased his CD Visionary Tones and his book The Single Tone. Both are beautifully inspiring and I have a strong personal connection with the CD.

After a busy summer this year, one of the first things I did when I was back home was to listen to Christopher’s CD. I was immediately so captivated by its beauty and richness that I listened to it twice in a row, the first time listening “only” to the music, the second time while reading the texts I found on Christopher’s website (I am not an English native speaker).
Each piece is a little jewel.
Each piece takes you to its own world.
The connection between music and poetry is beautifully executed with high precision. Music and words enhance each other, reaching a new dimension.
It is so inspired and inspiring.

Below are some personal impressions about this very special CD. I hope this post will make you curious enough to listen to it (and guess what? You can also listen to it on Spotify!). Continue reading Striking Light, Striking Dark →