ALEXCIOUS

Exploring the Sound of Zen

Destined to become a collector’s item

‘WALKING ON SOUND’ is an eclectic, esoteric, hauntingly beautiful avant-garde exploration from possibly the most famous Japanese musician of all time. A master of percussion, there is no doubt, Yamash'ta collaborates with a small cast of outstanding performers.

Available exclusively at ALEXCIOUS, included in each signed DVD package is Yamash'ta’s shikishi (calligraphic representation of his name) rendered in his own hand. Quite apart from being an extremely interesting documentary on the making of DVD 2 (The Void, The Sound of Zen), DVD 1 gives a fascinating insight into the background of this world-renowned musician.

Video clips:

1. Filmed in Kyoto, Iceland and Paris, WALKING ON SOUND received the Best Spiritual Documentary prize at The European Spiritual Film Festival in 2011.

2. The VOID was world premiered at St.Eustache Church, Paris on Nov.9, 2009.

Stomu Yamash’ta progressed from being a teenage musical prodigy in the 1960s to arguably the most famous Japanese person on the planet a decade later. Then he gave it all up and went to meditate in a Kyoto monastery for three years. For three decades, the musician that Time magazine once referred to as “the man who has changed the image of percussion” has largely stayed in Kyoto refining his art, refining his life and living in a Zen-like world of sounds and music.

This is not rock ’n’ roll. There’s no record deal, no tour, no merchandise, no groupies. There’s no timeline. Yamash’ta is a point in infinity, a musical shaman, a giver and receiver of life and music.

His most recent tangible product is a double DVD, “Walking on Sound,” in which he collaborates with Icelandic counter-tenor Sverrir Gudjonsson and which is referred to as a “Zen and Viking Opera.” The first part is “The Void,” which brings together Yamash’ta’s percussion, Gudjonsson’s singing and vocalising, Syrian soprano Noma, the Irish flute of Dominique Bertrand, the shakuhachi of Genzan Miyoshi and the chanting of four Buddhist monks. The second part is “The Sound of Zen,” largely consisting of Buddhist chants accompanied by Yamash’ta’s percussion, Miyoshi’s shakuhachi and the yokobue of Michiko Akao. Both are live performances recorded at the Saint-Eustache Church in Paris. The other DVD is a documentary of how the performance came together.