ARTIST: Kitaro
TITLE: The Essential Kitaro
LABEL: Domo
GENRE: Ambient
BITRATE: 190kbps avg
PLAYTIME: 1h 15min total
RELEASE DATE: 2006-11-07
RIP DATE: 2006-11-06

Track List

01. As The Wind Blows               5:04
02. A Passage Of Life               8:00
03. Contortionists                  5:00
04. Estrella                        4:23
05. Whisper                         4:28
06. Itonami                         5:54
07. Wood Fairy                      5:45
08. Dance Of Sarasvati              6:50
09. The Scroll Is Read              4:11
10. Theme From Silk Road            5:23
11. Nagare No Naka De               5:07
12. Koi                            10:21
13. Shizuku                         5:19

Release Notes:

Kitaro's style is the epitome of the contemplative, highly melodic synthesizer
music often associated with the new-age movement. Interestingly enough, this
famous Japanese composer taught himself to play electric guitar in high school
-- inspired by the R&B music of Otis Redding. In the early '70s, Kitaro formed
the Far East Family Band, which released two albums of progressive rock. In
1972, however, he met the innovative German synthesist Klaus Schulze during a
trip to Europe. Kitaro was hooked. He built his first synthesizer and began
experimenting with all kinds of unusual sounds. His first solo album, Astral
Voyage, appeared in 1978 and quickly gained a cult following. Two years later,
he produced the first of several soundtracks for Silk Road, a Japanese
television documentary series that ran for five years. Several albums of music
from Silk Road were released to a growing international contingent of fans who
admired his combination of lush, majestic textures and gentle, almost naive,
melodies. Kitaro, however, was still considered an underground artist in
America until he signed with Geffen Records in 1986, which re-released seven
of his earlier albums and gave him the support to expand his scope in many
ways. For instance, after years of creating albums in the privacy of his home
studio near Japan's Mt. Fuji, Kitaro produced his 1987 release, The Light of
the Spirit, with the help of Mickey Hart. The album featured an array of
American musicians and was nominated for a Grammy Award in the Best New-Age
Performance category. That same year, Kitaro also made his first live tour of
North America and sold two million albums in the U.S. alone. Kitaro's style
had changed as well, becoming more theatrical and assertive while retaining a
certain level of innocence and purity. His more recent recordings also show a
renewed interest in the rock and pop elements that originally attracted him to
music in the late '60s; in 1998, he also released the soundtrack to Cirque
Ingenieux, a production bound for the Broadway stage. Thinking of You followed
a year later; Ancient appeared in spring 2001. It was well received, leading
to a sequel of sorts in the like-minded Ancient Journey in 2002. His
contributions on the soundtrack to the controversial Chinese drama The Soong
Sisters came out the same year, as did a live album and DVD.