04-02-2019, 16:17
Masanori Takahashi, aka Kitarō (which means man of love and joy) was born on this day in 1953, in Toyohashi, Aichi, Japan. A practising Buddhist and the son of Shinto Buddhist farmers who were keen for him to have agrarian, rather than musical dreams. Parental wishes notwithstanding, he has made a significant mark in the field of new-age/electronica.
He became enamoured of the analogue synthesizer fairly early on, and while touring in his first band, Far East Family, met and was given some lessons by Klaus Schulze on how best to make it work. He went solo in 1977 and first came to the attention of international ears with his soundtrack to the Japanese documentary The Silk Road: The Rise and Fall of Civilizations, which is gorgeous.
Kitarō is not in love with the new-age label – his outlook on life and study of philosophy direct his creations and he simply believes that it is his responsibility to produce music that has a good influence on society.
He’s been nominated for no less than 17 Grammy Awards – won once – for his album Thinking of You. This is the opening track, “Estrella”, which means star (the music is appropriately twinkly!) … https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DFQQLa3gNQ
The main theme from The Silk Road … https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzykmqHtew0
His work is primarily instrumental but there are one or two exceptions here and there – his collaboration with Jon Anderson on the album Dream being one …
He became enamoured of the analogue synthesizer fairly early on, and while touring in his first band, Far East Family, met and was given some lessons by Klaus Schulze on how best to make it work. He went solo in 1977 and first came to the attention of international ears with his soundtrack to the Japanese documentary The Silk Road: The Rise and Fall of Civilizations, which is gorgeous.
Kitarō is not in love with the new-age label – his outlook on life and study of philosophy direct his creations and he simply believes that it is his responsibility to produce music that has a good influence on society.
He’s been nominated for no less than 17 Grammy Awards – won once – for his album Thinking of You. This is the opening track, “Estrella”, which means star (the music is appropriately twinkly!) … https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DFQQLa3gNQ
The main theme from The Silk Road … https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzykmqHtew0
His work is primarily instrumental but there are one or two exceptions here and there – his collaboration with Jon Anderson on the album Dream being one …
"The surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that it has never tried to contact us." ~ Bill Watterson