Shakuhachi master Christopher Yohmei Blasdel, together with Sasha Bogdanowitsch in Striking Light Duo, released their second album An Ocean of Time. The album was very positively reviewed by PitchPerfect.
The thoughtful blend of text, texture, and tone, together with a variety of instruments played by Bogdanowitsch, was deeply appreciated by Jamie Funk from PitchPerfect. “I could feel the weight of long study and shared listening in every decision,” observed Funk. “The music stays slow, attentive, and deliberate, letting silence and sustain do much of the work.”
“This album is a tribute to late American poet Sam Hamill, and the real ’star’ of this album is his magnificent legacy of poetry that, even without musical accompaniment, is inherently musical in itself,” Blasdel told Music at Manoa News. “Taking a hint from ancient Japanese poetry that was recited to melody, Sam stressed that contemporary poetry also must, above all, be experienced as song.”
Blasdel began performing shakuhachi to Hamill’s poetry readings nearly forty years ago, in 1988. From then until Hamillʻs passing in 2018, the two artists collaborated numerous times.
“After his death, my long-time vocal collaborator Sasha Bogdanowitsch and I decided to create an album that showcased our favorite poems by Sam. We spent a few years composing, recording and mixing the music, all the while traveling between Hawaii, where I live, to Sasha’s studio in New York. The result is the album, An Ocean of Time, which is also the title of the album’s first cut. Sam’s heart-felt words come alive through Sasha’s brilliant singing, supported and enlivened by the tones of the shakuhachi.”
PitchPerfect is an online collaboration of music enthusiasts dedicated to giving honest opinions and guided descriptions enabling readers to determine what they may want to listen to next as well as providing the artists with an insight as to what a seasoned music geek really thinks about their music.
Find more recordings by Christopher Yohmei Blasdel on his BandCamp Link. Read the review and hear the album on PitchPerfect.