{"id":146544,"date":"2024-11-22T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-11-22T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/?p=146544"},"modified":"2024-11-25T08:41:28","modified_gmt":"2024-11-25T16:41:28","slug":"review-robbie-bashos-lost-live-recordings-unearth-a-sonic-treasure-trove","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/acousticguitar.com\/review-robbie-bashos-lost-live-recordings-unearth-a-sonic-treasure-trove\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Robbie Basho\u2019s Lost Live Recordings Unearth a Sonic Treasure Trove"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In the late 1950s, in response to what he saw as the pretentiousness of the folk revival, fingerstylist John Fahey invented a genre of music he dubbed \u201cAmerican primitive\u201d\u2014a raw, introspective form of folk- and blues-based solo-acoustic guitar music. His acolytes, including the visionary guitarist Robbie Basho (who recorded on Fahey\u2019s Takoma label), went on to explore the fringes of American primitivism while expanding the genre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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An avid student of Eastern and Western philosophies, the Baltimore-born Basho harbored an intense interest in Japanese, Iranian, and Native American music, influences that can be heard in his use of open-tuned, trancelike drones. These Eastern influences can be heard on the heady instrumental studio tracks \u201cSeal of the Blue Lotus,\u201d \u201cSansara in Sweetness After Sandstorm,\u201d \u201cDravidian Sunday,\u201d and throughout the 14 studio albums he released before his death in 1986.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite Basho\u2019s voluminous studio output, live recordings, mostly of his extensive tours on American college campuses, were few and far between. That situation changed radically in 2020 when a trove of archival tracks surfaced while filmmaker Liam Barker was researching his 2015 documentary Voice of the Eagle: The Enigma of Robbie Basho<\/a><\/em>. The discovery resulted in the release of the critically acclaimed Song of the Avatars: The Lost Master Tapes<\/a><\/em>, on the San Francisco\u2013based Tompkins Square label. That collection has now birthed a second box set, Snow Beneath the Belly of a White Swan: The Lost Live Recordings<\/a><\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The five-CD White Swan<\/em> set features numerous previously unreleased titles, as well as Basho favorites. These intimate live tracks, culled from Basho\u2019s personal archive, bring the prolific performer\u2019s creativity into sharp focus as he improvises before small audiences to sometimes scant applause that sounds like just a single caffeinated patron in a mostly empty coffee house. The recording fidelity varies and tracks of poor quality have been included for their historic value. The set also includes extensive liner notes, a show poster insert, and original show flyers and rare photographs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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