various: basket full of dragons a tribute to robbie basho vol ii

Robbie Basho's guitar playing was first brought to light in 1965, when John Fahey released Basho's debut The Seal of the Blue Lotus (1965) on his own Takoma Records. Basho was armed with a unique and powerful singing voice, his 6 & 12 string guitar and a collection of special guitar tunings that he created (even originating the "Esoteric Doctrine of Color and Mood'' - a chart denoting a color and mood for each of his special tunings). After three decades of recordings and touring and a prodigious output, Basho went largely unnoticed. In 1986, his voice was forever silenced by a tragic accident. Basho's music displays an intense passion for different cultures from around the world - heavily influenced by the Japanese (his self-chosen last name inspired by the Japanese poet Matsuo Basho), Persian, Classical Indian, and a culture much closer to home: Native Americans. Basket Full of Dragons is a collection of both original compositions and new interpretations of Basho's songs, and is the second volume to pay tribute to Basho, following We Are All One, In The Sun. Both volumes are curated and produced by musician Buck Curran and feature an international lineup of artists. As with the first tribute, this volume includes a contribution by German guitarist Steffen Basho Junghans. Junghans maintains the Robbie Basho online archives, a vital resource for all things Basho. California-based guitarist Richard Osborn (a former student of Robbie Basho) contributes a gorgeous original composition. Rich has dedicated his life to exploring and composing raga based guitar music and evokes the pure spirit of his teacher. Glenn Jones is featured, a leading proponent in the world today of the American primitive tradition. Basket Full of Dragons also features: guitarist Chuck Johnson, Buck Curran joined by Italian singer Adele H, Syrian oud player Tammam Saeed and percussionist April Centrone, Italian guitarist Paolo Laboule Novellino, a duet by Henry Kaiser and Michael Gulezian, Israeli composer Yair Yona, Twelve Hides with Ben Tweddell, Mike Tamburo, the collaboration of Mariano Rodriguez, Karina Vismara and Jonah Schwartz and singer Eva Sheppard joined by her father Jesse Sheppard on 12-string guitar. The past volume, We Are All One, received great press: Acoustic Guitar Magazine placed it amongst its "Best Albums of 2010", Pitchfork gave it a rating of 7.8, Guitar Player Magazine named it an "Editors Top Pick" and Mojo Magazine rewarded it four stars.