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CHRISTOPHER
YOHMEI BLASDEL, born in Texas, began
the shakuhachi and studies of Japanese music in 1972 with shakuhachi master,
Living National Treasure Goro
Yamaguchi. He received a teaching license and the professional
name "Yohmei" from Yamaguchi in 1984. At the same time, he completed graduate
work in ethnomusicology at Tokyo University of Fine Arts and Music. A permanent
resident of Japan, he has performed, taught and lectured throughout China,
Thailand, Europe, North America, Mexico, India, Malaysia and the former
Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. He was an executive director of the Boulder
World Shakuhachi Festival 1998 and is the artistic director of the Fukuoka
Gendai Hogaku Festival for contemporary Japanese music. His book, "A Shakuhachi
Oddyssey," written in Japanese, is published by Kawade Shobo Shinsha and
was awarded the prestigious Rennyo Award for non fiction.
In his musical activities, Blasdel maintains a balance between traditional shakuhachi music, modern compositions and cross-genre work with a great variety of well-known musicians, dancers, poets, and painters, both Western and Eastern. Blasdel presently performs, teaches, and records in Japan and around the world |
