Eccentric
and mysterious yet brilliant acoustic guitar player, pianist and singer Robbie
Basho was only 45 when his life was unexpectedly cut short by a freak accident
on the chiropractor table, leaving behind years of important contemporary
transcendental guitar music long thought to be lost until recent rediscovery. The timing couldn’t have been more impeccable,
resurfacing as Liam Barker was finishing his documentary film treatment on the
subject which came to be known as Voice
of the Eagle: The Enigma of Robbie Basho.
Comprised
of archival original recordings including but not limited to interviews with
Pete Townshend, William Ackerman, Henry Kaiser, Country Joe McDonald and (via
audio interview) Mr. Basho himself, Voice
of the Eagle is a biographical chronicle of the life and work of one of the
music scene’s most overlooked and gifted original artists who is only now
starting to receive public attention.
Interspersed with the interviews are fleeting moments of naturalistic footage
of the Rocky Mountains and nature, stunningly photographed by Justinas
Vabuolas, set to snippets of Basho’s music, evoking how it feels to be in the
presence of a Basho track.
A
peculiar, introverted man diagnosed with synaesthesia (a condition causing one
to sense sound as color) who later claimed to be the reincarnation of a 17th
century poet when he wasn’t conversing with invisible entities no one but him
could see, the result of this strange personality left listeners with
extraordinary music the likes of which hadn’t been heard before or since. That he was so overlooked invariably conjured
up comparisons in my head to the dilemma of Inside
Llewyn Davis with respect to unique talent being completely overshadowed by
another.
Hearing
Basho’s vocals is like being in the presence of a Midwestern American utopia,
breathtaking and evocative while distinctly all American in form. Upon hearing it you wonder why this man didn’t
achieve a wider audience as we see him starting own on a known record label
before falling to the wayside doing cassette recordings for scented candle
aromatherapeutics. The decline is sad to
witness considering the immense uncharted talents of the man, culminating in a
bizarre death Basho himself seemed to foresee according to colleagues.
I
never knew of this musician or his work before and upon watching for the first
time, I could feel my eyes widening and my jaw dropping as his Heavenly vocals
and truly unusual transcendental guitar music played out on the film’s
soundtrack. Functioning as a warm
hearted tribute to the man’s legacy as well as an introductory chapter to
newcomers like myself, Voice of the
Eagle: The Enigma of Robbie Basho won’t answer all of the questions it
poses about this odd yet ingenious musical talent but it does make you want to
go out and listen to as many albums of his as you can as soon as possible!
-Andrew Kotwicki
