Rodrigo Rodriguez

A multi-instrumentalist deeply versed in the Zen Buddhist shakuhachi tradition, Rodrigo Rodriguez first surfaced in the early 2000s with music that blended classical forms, new age textures, and global traditions. Among his recordings are Across the East (2007), Shakuhachi Meditations (2010), and The Classical Music Legacy of Japan (2018).

Argentina-born and Spain-raised, Rodriguez immersed himself in classical repertoire while still a child. He devoted himself exclusively to classical guitar until turning 22, at which point traditional Japanese music captured his attention. To integrate those elements into his expanding musical vocabulary, he journeyed to Japan and trained in the lineage of Katsuya Yokoyama under Master Kakizakai Kaoru at the International Shakuhachi Kenshu-kan School. In 2006 he signed with the Los Angeles-based Gemini Sun label and began issuing a series of new age, world, and contemporary works—Beyond the Times, Inner Thoughts, and Music for Zen Meditation [Shakuhachi Japanese Flute]—while appearing regularly before audiences throughout both the Western and Eastern hemispheres. The 2018 single “Shakuhachi: The Zen Flute (The Distant Call of the Deer)” found him collaborating with his teacher Kohachiro Miyata. Later that same year his eighth album, The Classical Music Legacy of Japan, was released.