Voice and Shakuhachi - Thomas Otten & Kyle Kamal Helou

Hey Kyle,
Sounds great! Looks like a fun project. looking forward to seeing where it will go. Will there be a performance?
I'm also working on a voice and Shakuhachi piece. We're planning to perform it in September here in NYC.

Take care, Perry

Very beautiful. Honestly, I wouldn't have put the sound of a shakuhachi together with a European (Gregorian-style?) vocalist. What a beatific merging of Christian and Buddhist musical traditions! I always hear a defintively Japanese sounding voice in my mind's ear, when I play shakuhachi flutes. Kudos, it was quite lovely!

Very nice! Voice and shakuhachi IS a wonderful blend!!!!!

Hi Perry,

Thanks for your message, and always thank you for all the wonderful work you do for the Global Shakuhachi Community. My students here in Lebanon are enjoying the PVC flutes you made for them! Thank you again.

Indeed it is an incredible project. The work is yet ahead of us, but we are on the right track.
Performances will certainly be on the agenda!
I am sure your Voice and Shakuhachi performance will go well.

Take care and speak to you soon.

Kyle.

Beautiful, can you say more about the voice?
Thanks for sharing, I look forward to hear more :-)

Hi Jarle,
Thanks for your post.
What would you like to know about the voice? I would be glad to answer as best as I can.
Take care and speak to you soon.
Kyle.

Thomas Otten is apparently a countertenor, and sounds like a natural countertenor, as opposed to a baritone who has developed a falsetto to sound like a full voice. He sounds like what many would say a castrato from a couple hundred years back probably would have sounded like. My question would be is it just an extraordinarily well-developed falsetto? Or, is there some kind of physical difference between him and the countertenor using falsetto? Whatever the reason, it is a very rare and beautiful voice and shakuhachi should serve to compliment it very nicely.

Thank you for all your messages and enthusiasm on this project. There is now an official Voice and Shakuhachi facebook page:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Voice-and-Shakuhachi-Thomas-Otten-Kyle-Kamal-…

Regarding Thomas Otten's voice, and I am by no means an expert, but to confirm what Charles said, yes he is a countertenor and has a truly magnificent and very distinct voice and music. I feel, when I hear his music, and I recommend you listen to his three albums, that his voice is full of life, joy, hope, and sincerity that gives you healing, courage, and inspiration. His music producer and arranger, Frederic Momont plays an equally important role in combining Thomas' voice with the music you will hear on the three albums, creating for a truly unprecedented musical phenomenon.

The three albums are:
Close To Silence, Portrait, and The Two Voices, and can be downloaded from iTunes and various other electronic download websites, but I am certain they are on iTunes.

Hope this helps.

Take care and speak to you soon.

Kyle.

Based on what I can hear, Mr. Otten is using head voice exclusively and is not a haute-contre, i.e. a high tenor who uses falsetto only for the very top notes in the register. There is only one recording of a castrato and fortunately for his career Mr. Otten sounds nothing like Alessandro Moreschi.