Blanasi developed a reputation as a virtuoso player of traditional
Kun-borrk (Gunborg) syncopation. He first came to public attention as one of a number of traditional Aboriginal didgeridoo players and songmen recorded in 1961-62 by a US linguistic researcher
La Mont West. These recordings were released commercially in 1963 on an
LP record Arnhem Land Popular Classics. The album was added to the
National Film and Sound Archive's Sounds of Australia in 2020, "for sparking wider interest in the instrument family known as the didgeridoo". In 1967 he became the first "
full-blood" Aboriginal Australian to travel to England since 1792. He travelled to
London with
Rolf Harris in March 1967, appearing live on
The Rolf Harris Show on Saturday 1 April for the first time. He had insisted on taking his weapons on the plane with him. He taught Harris how to play the didgeridoo while on tour with him, which began ongoing professional association. He continued to give didgeridoo-playing demonstrations on Harris's
BBC One show. Musical collaborations and tours with Harris followed, as well as Australian and international tours as part of a traditional dance troupe, which variously included his lifelong partner and songman Djoli Laiwanga, In 1976, another live performance was recorded at 2nd South Pacific Festival of Arts at
rotorua, New Zealand, released on LP and cassette, named "Bamyili Corroboree - Songs of Djoli Laiwanga". He performed in the
Bishop Museum in Honolulu. In France, he performed at the Festival des Arts Traditionnels, and an LP and CD were released under the title ''Les Aborigenes - Chants et danses de l'Australie du nord''. In 1992 Blanasi appeared in a film with non-Indigenous didgeridoo player
Charlie McMahon, called
Didjeridu: with Charlie McMahon. Blanasi performed as part of the White Cockatoo Performing Group on several tours. In 1999 Blanasi did another US tour, giving workshops. along with his lifelong music partner, songmaster Djoli Laiwanga (also spelt "Laiwonga"). Laiwonga was known as the Black Cockatoo, and Blanasi as the White Cockatoo. and In 1989, the group toured to the US. In 1998 White Cockatoo Performing Group toured the US, Canada, and UK, with a CD album of live recordings released as
Didjeridu Master. In
New York City they performed at the World Music Institute. In the same year, they toured the UK with Rolf Harris. They played with
Stephen Kent, Ed Drury and
Robert Mirabal in the US. In 2000, White Cockatoo Performing Group did a European tour, performing in Ireland, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, England, and the Netherlands, which included representing Australia in
Expo 2000 in
Hanover, Germany. In March 2001, White Cockatoo Performing Group performed at
WOMADelaide in
Adelaide, South Australia, and later that year did another tour of Europe. After Laiwonga's death in 1998, and Blanasi's disappearance in 2001, their songs were passed on to the other songment Jack Nawilill and David Yirindilli, as well as Blanasi's Didjeridu apprentice, Darryl Dikarrna, who "inherited these songs in what is one of the world's oldest unbroken artistic traditions". Yirindilli died in 2006. The company performed at the first National Aboriginal Festival, held at the
National Museum of Australia in
Canberra in October 2001, and continued to tour Europe many times as well as Canada. In 2005 they performed at the inaugural Aboriginal
Dreaming Festival in Queensland, and in 2006 toured Japan for the first time as guests of the Dinkum Aussie Club. In August 2006 they performed at the
Darwin Festival. Darryl Dikarrna Brown has taken Blanasi's place as the "Kunbjorrk" didjeridu master for this corroboree, playing in the tradition of Blanasi. ==Recognition==