Merchandise List and Contents:
CDs:
- Navarasa (2010 release, NEW): A genre bending collaboration between Christopher Yohmei (shakuhachi) and Mark Izu (acoustic bass, shô, sheng) Themes and improvisations on the Indian concepts of the nine basic human emotions.
Love
Joy
Sadness/compasion
Anger
Courage
Fear
Disgust
Wonder
Peace
- Breath Play (2007 release): Christopher Yohmei (shakuhachi) and composer/performer Byron Au Yong (piano, voice, drum, water, gong, er hu) perform a series of improvised music/sound art works that travel through intercultural, boundary-breaking, water-splashing terrain.
Water Whispers
San’ya
Elephant
BreathPlay
Cricket
Mist
- Visionary Tones (2004 release): Christopher Yohmei’s solo shakuhachi album, a two-set CD featuring traditional shakuhachi honkyoku of the Kinko Style and contemporary pieces influenced by the spirit of honkyoku.
Sôkaku Reibo (Song of the Cranes)
Yûgure no Kyoku (Evening Song)
Shigure, Kagerô, Katsuragi (Composed by Takahashi Yûji)
Sagariha no Kyoku (Song of the Falling Leaves)
Tsuki no Kyoku (Song of the Moon)
Byô (Composed by Hirose Ryohei)
- Bamboo Voice, Human Flute (2003 release). A collaboration between Christopher Yohmei on shakuhachi and Mika Kimula on voice, featuring old and new songs from the 20th century Japan.
Tamuke
The Nightengale
Fice Pieces Set to the Poems of Kaneko Misuzu
The Moon over the Ruined Castle
The Departing Boat
The Beach Plovers
Who Has Seen the Wind?
The Lord and the Bouncing Ball
Osaka Lullaby
Calligraphy for Voice and Bamboo
Storytelling on a Winter’s Night
Song of Atitlan
- Zen Reveries (1996 release): A collaboration with Christopher Yohmei (shakuhachi) and Kazuo Uehara (synthesizer). The quiet, refined tones of the shakuhachi blend mysteriously with sublimely synthesized sounds to create an album of inspirational serenity.
Another Kind of Dream
Gendai Chôshi
Pale Lghts
Morning Becomes Electric
Replay
Zen Mondoh
Books:
- The Single Tone—A Personal Journey into Shakuhachi Music (Printed Matter Press, 2005) This is the English translation of Christopher Yohmei’s award winning book, Shakuhachi Odyssey first published in Japanese in 2000. The Single Tone is the quintessential insider’s view of Japan’s culture and Music. Author Christopher Yohmei, a resident in Japan since 1972, writes about his experiences studying, teaching and performing the shakuhachi. He also demonstrates the universal appeal of the shakuhachi by performing it around the world: in the jungle of Guatemala, the ancient banquet halls of the Republic of Georgia, and the wind-swept Indian reservations of New Mexico.
- The Shakuhachi, A Manual for Learning (Printed Matter Press, 2008). Originally published in 1986 by Japan’s foremost music publisher, Ongaku no Tomo Press, this book was the first comprehensive English guide to learning the shakuhachi (Kinko Style). The book also contains a full history of the instrument, translated and adapted by Christopher Yohmei from the work of Kamisangô Yûkô, a recognized authority on Edo Period music. The book contains a practice CD and practice pieces designed to take the beginning student through the basics of shakuhachi playing. The Shakuhachi, A Manual for Learning has proven to be extremely popular and is the best selling shakuhachi manual to date.