hypersongs

Robbie Basho

The Baltimore-born twelve-string guitarist who fused American fingerpicking with Indian raga and was called the godfather of American raga.

Baltimore to Takoma

Robbie Basho was born Daniel R. Robinson Jr. in Baltimore on August 31, 1940, adopted as an infant by the Robinson family. He went to Catholic schools, then St. James School, then the University of Maryland at College Park, and played euphonium in the high school band. At Maryland from 1958 he met John Fahey, Ed Denson and Max Ochs, bought an antique Mexican 12-string for $200 and took the name of the poet Matsuo Basho; Wikipedia dates the first guitar and the new name to 1959. He heard Ravi Shankar in 1962 and studied with the sarod master Ali Akbar Khan, whose technique strongly influenced his fingerpicking. He used unusual open tunings, including variants of open C, and used the 12-string to recreate Indian drones. His 1965 sleeve notes mapped chords to colors and moods, with D a green chord.

The Seal of the Blue Lotus (Takoma, 1965) was his debut, followed by The Grail and the Lotus (1966), Basho Sings (1967), his first record with his voice, and The Falconer's Arm I and II (1967). Venus in Cancer came out on Blue Thumb in 1969, though one writer says 1970, and Song of the Stallion (1971), a condensed musical history of California, was his last for Takoma. He appeared on KQED television in 1971. The Voice of the Eagle (Vanguard, 1972) draws on Native American music and features Ramnad Raghavan on mridangam, and Zarthus (1974) is the culmination of what is described as his Persian period; he divided his work into Japanese, Hindu, Iranian and Native American periods.

Windham Hill and after

In November 1974 Charles Amirkhanian interviewed him on KPFA's Ode to Gravity, a 90-minute conversation timed to Zarthus. Basho said ragas are a different level of feeling and that music is supposed to say something. Visions of the Country (1978) was the fifth release on Windham Hill, signed by Will Ackerman, and includes "Rocky Mountain Raga"; Art of the Acoustic Steel String Guitar 6 and 12 followed in 1979. Rainbow Thunder came out in 1981, Bouquet in 1983, and the self-released Twilight Peaks around 1984 in a new age style. He toured Italy in 1982, with setlist.fm showing Forli on October 11 and Milan on October 18.

He died in Berkeley in February 1986 at 45, though some writers say 46, and sources give February 18 or 28. Since the 1990s Steffen Basho-Junghans has researched his life and keeps the Robbie Basho Archives. Setlist.fm holds 45 setlists from 1965 to 1982, with "Cathedrals et Fleur de Lis" and "The Grail and the Lotus" played four times each.

The lost tapes

Song of the Avatars: The Lost Master Tapes (Tompkins Square, 2020) is a five-disc, 54-track set produced by Liam Barker, with a 48-page booklet. NPR reported that Barker found sealed reel-to-reel tapes in a cluttered house in South Carolina; he said that some of the recordings sound like they were recorded yesterday, and Glenn Jones said some of the guitar solos just knock him out. Pete Townshend called the music beautiful and eloquent and profound. A later live companion, Snow Beneath the Belly of a White Swan, followed from Tompkins Square in December 2024 in a limited run of 1,000, and The Quietus's Jennifer Lucy Allan called it a total wonder.

Barker also directed the documentary Voice of the Eagle: The Enigma of Robbie Basho (2015), with Townshend, Ackerman, Alex de Grassi, Henry Kaiser, Glenn Jones and Country Joe McDonald among those interviewed. Jack Rose, Glenn Jones, James Blackshaw and Arborea are among those who cite him as an influence, and tributes include We Are All One in the Sun (2010) and Basket Full of Dragons (2016). Erik Davis called him the mystic moon to John Fahey's brash, strumming sun.

Albums

Songs

  • Bengali Prayer Song of the Avatars: The Lost Master Tapes

    A brief piece, track three of the first disc of the Lost Master Tapes.

Sources

  1. Robbie Basho, Wikipedia
  2. The Strange World of Robbie Basho, The Quietus
  3. Snow Beneath the Belly of a White Swan, The Quietus
  4. Robbie Basho: the Voice of an Eagle, Derek's Music Blog (2014-04-16)