Redux: Shakuhachi & Poetry Collaboration
Kala is excited to host internationally renowned shakuhachi master Christopher Yohmei Blasdel and well-known California poet William O’Daly. The program will include William’s poetry accompanied by Christopher’s haunting Japanese shakuhachi music followed by a brief Q&A session.
William O’Daly was raised in the San Fernando Valley of California and attended the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), as an economics major, but before the end of his first year he turned to literature and the writing of poetry.
His most recent book of poems, The New Gods, was published by Beltway Editions in September 2022. Other books of poems include Yarrow and Smoke, Waterways (a collaboration with JS Graustein), and The Road to Isla Negra, all three published by Folded Word Press, and The Whale in the Web published by Copper Canyon Press. In March 2023, the Los Angeles Master Chorale included three poems from The New Gods and one from Water Ways in the world premiere of Reena Esmail’s "Malhaar: A Requiem for Water,” at the Walt Disney Concert Hall.
A National Endowment for the Arts Fellow, he was a finalist for the 2006 Quill Award in Poetry and, as a finalist, was profiled by NBC news correspondent Mike Leonard for The Today Show. In September 2021, he received the American Literary Award from the bilingual Korean American journal Miju Poetry and Poetics. A four-time Pushcart Prize nominee, his poems, translations, essays, and reviews have been published in numerous journals and as part of multimedia exhibits and performances. He has received national and regional honors for literary editing and instructional design and served on the national board of Poets Against War.
Christopher Yohmei Blasdel lived in Japan for over 40 years learning the shakuhachi bamboo flute and Japanese music. His shakuhachi teacher was Living National Treasure Goro Yamaguchi, from whom Christopher studied beginning in1972 until the master’s death in 1999. In 1982, Christopher completed an MFA degree in ethnomusicology from Tokyo University of the Art and was awarded shihan master ranking by Yamaguchi. In his musical activities, Christopher balances traditional shakuhachi music, modern compositions, improvisation and cross-genre work with musicians, dancers, poets, and visual artists. Poets he has collaborated with include John Logan, Kenneth Rexroth, Sam Hamill, Bill O’Daly and the Japanese poet Makoto Ōoka. His various CD albums can be found at Bandcamp , Apple, Spotify, Amazon and other streaming services.
Christopher performs around the world and has taught at Earlham College, Chulalongkorn University (Bangkok), Texas A&M University, University of Washington, Charles University (Prague), Cal Arts, International Christian University (Tokyo), University of Maryland, and Temple University Tokyo. Christopher co-organized the Boulder World Shakuhachi Festival ’98 and assisted the Sydney World Shakuhachi Festival in 2008 and the World Shakuhachi Festival in College Station, Texas in 2025. His semi-autobiographical book, The Single Tone—A Personal Journey through Shakuhachi Music and The Shakuhachi, A Manual for Learning (both available on Kindle) are two of the most important English language resource books on the shakuhachi. Christopher presently lectures at University of Hawaiʻi, Mānoa and holds a fifth-degree black belt in Aikido. His recent publication, Jiuta Sōkyoku Lyrics and Explanations—Songs of the Floating World (2024, Routledge Press SOAS Music Series), presents detailed translations and explanations of 73 commonly played urban shamisen and koto songs of 17 th – 19 th century Japan.
Event Details
Date: June 6, 2026
Time: 2:00 pm–4:00 pm
Kala Gallery
2990 San Pablo Ave. Berkeley, CA 94702