Kitaro - Albums Collection 1979-1993 (13CD) [Geffen Records Releases]

Kitaro's universally acknowledged as the founding architect of new age music. The Grammy and Golden Globe Award-Winning Kitaro has achieved global acclaim over a more than three decade long career with a signature sound and a pioneering fusion of cultures, techniques and spheres of consciousness that are truly his own.

Kitaro's latest project, Impressions of the West Lake is a modern day opera conceived and directed by internationally acclaimed filmmaker Zhang Yimou (Hero, Curse of the Golden Flower). The production is highlighted by music composed by Kitaro.
Impressions of the West Lake represents the latest artistic success in the long, storied career of Kitaro. In 2010, the soundtrack album “Impressions of The West Lake” was nominated for 52nd Annual Grammy Awards, and it was Kitaro’s 13th nomination to date.

As a Grammy and Golden Globe award-winning artist, this incredibly prolific composer and performer has continued his reign in the international spotlight and at the forefront of musical innovation ever since the release of his debut solo album, Astral Voyage, in 1978. His numerous recording highlights include 1980's Volume 1 in the revered Silk Road series which is considered an all-time masterpiece with subsequent volumes only adding to its luster, 1987's The Light of the Spirit (a collaboration with Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart and Kitaro's American breakthrough), 2000’s Thinking Of You, which won a Grammy for Best New Age Album, as well as Sacred Journey of Ku-Kai, a multi-volume series of albums inspired by the tragedy of 9/11. Kitaro garnered a Grammy Nomination for all series of Sacred Journey of Ku-Kai to date.

He embarked on his Love and Peace Planet Music Tour in 2007, a tour that took Kitaro to the four corners of the globe, shining the spotlight of his musical message on audiences as he inspires fans from around the globe to unite as one.

Through the course of his career, Kitaro has sold millions of albums, CD's and DVD's worldwide. Kitaro's atmospheric, powerfully emotive, and multi-textured music truly defies the constraints of any genre. Most fundamentally, at its heart, Kitaro's music is always about sending a profound message of peace and spiritual development, both personally and globally.

This 1979 album was originally released by Sound Design and reissued by Geffen Records in 1985.

This is the second in a series of very important original soundtracks Kitaro created for NHK’s televison special “Silk Road Journey” for a popular Japanese television series in 1980. The series would run for five years at a cost of over 50 million dollars, which had begun in 1979.

NHK’s theme for this continued series was titled “Connection Without Time.”

Tenjiku is an obsolete word of Japanese origin but translates to: (India) In the Indus River (sindhu). This is the great trans-Himalayan river of South Asia and one of the longest rivers in the world, having a length of 1,800 miles and rests in the semi-arid plains of Pakistan. The river is twice that of the Nile and three times that of the Tigris and Euphrates combined. The river's name comes from the Sanskrit word sindhu (“river” or “stream”). It is mentioned in the Rigveda the earliest (c. 1500 BC) chronicles and hymns of the Aryan peoples of ancient India, and is the source of the country's name.

Kitaro was selected from ten other musicians NHK was considering at that time. Kitaro was chosen based on the music from his album “Oasis”. To NHK, Kitaro’s music was “mind music” and would fit the theme of the ancients that had traveled the famous Silk Road. NHK also recognized the music Kitaro was producing was not unlike the sounds from the “pure organ sound” Dr. Tanaka had discovered over 100 years ago. (Kitaro was around 27 years old at this time)

After the completion of Tenjiku, NHK curtailed all filming for this project for two years in preparation for their next trek. The NHK crew had experienced hardships from civil war, local custom restrictions, along with film censorship, as they passed through these countries filming the Silk Road. The NHK crew also observed the local people and their survival techniques to the extreme desert heat by lying on the ground at midday under the shade of the linden tree with its dense heart shape leaves. In giving thanks to this tree, Kitaro composed the music “Linden” for this album. Austrian composer Schubert (1797-1828) had also been inspired by this tree of life.

Kitaro was creating the majority of the Silk Road music while traveling with the NHK’s Silk Road film crew, as they passed through such desolate places as Tunhuang. The crew had revealed… “It was Kitaro’s music that kept us going through all the hardships we encountered.”

Interestingly, Kitaro and this film crew passed through some of the same areas Kobo Daishi (Ku-kai) had traveled while gathering esoteric knowledge for the foundation of Buddhism in Japan around 805 A.D. Much of this secret knowledge remains there in the mountains of India even today. Please see kitaro.us to learn more.

Subsequently, this Tenjiku LP album became re-released as India in 1983 and later re-mastered and grouped under “Silk Road Journey” as Tenjiku and formatted onto CD in 1998. This CD became grouped into one of six other compilation albums classified as “Healing and Meditation”. The other albums titles are: Endress Journey, Silver Cloud, Asia Tour Super Live, Healing Forest and Noah's Ark.

This album takes the listener beyond the clouds and into a finely crafted space journey. Kitaro's creative use of synthesizer is well-known, and the introduction of 12 string guitar, tambura, harp and sitar in his arrangements give the crisp harmonic sound a softer glow. A peaceful and relaxing journey.

Review by Allmusic.com

Kitaro is an amazingly talented individual. He has been one of the world's premier electronic composers and performers for decades. During that time, he has created some of the most memorable music in the new age community. His output has been both prolific and consistent. It is difficult to review his albums because they only compare to each other. Tenku is a brilliantly lyrical yet entirely instrumental CD. Kitaro speaks volumes with his synthesizers. These romantic interludes are full of gentle melodies and lush synth washes. The atmospheres are vibrant and bold. They are connected by wispy drones. There are no dark overtones or edges; this is upbeat, pastoral ambience. There are few similar artists, but fans of Vangelis, Suzanne Ciani, Constance Demby, and Dean Evenson are likely to enjoy Kitaro's music as well.

Review by Jim Brenholts, Allmusic.com

The Light of the Spirit is one of Kitaro's best CDs. Perhaps it is because Mickey Hart co-produced, or perhaps Kitaro asked Hart to co-produce because it is so good. It doesn't really matter if either of those is the reason; this is just an awesome CD. Kitaro's specialty has always been the symphonic synth and this is no exception. He augments that synth with several guest musicians on a variety of ambient instruments. This is truly ambient music, albeit on the new age side of that style. The vocal accompaniment by Lynn Ray and Jeannie Tracy counts as instrumental as well. The sound design treats the wordless vocals as an extra sound to incorporate. David Jenkins contributes a smoking electric guitar that gives this rock & roll textures as well. This disc stands proudly with work by Constance Demby, Vangelis, Suzanne Ciani, and Dean Evenson as some of the best adult contemporary instrumental new age music.

Review by Jim Brenholts, Allmusic.com

Kitaro is one of the most celebrated new age performers of all time. The Best of Ten Years (1976-1986) is a collection of deep and dramatic symphonic synthesizer classics from his first decade as a solo performer. It is a great set with Kitaro's signature gracious melodies and hypnotic crescendos. It is an excellent starting point for unfamiliar listeners with a desire to enjoy his music.

Review by Jim Brenholts, Allmusic.com

We learn from the liner notes of this 1990 release that Kojiki, is from the story of the same name familiar to Japanese school children, an ancient account of the creation of Japan. It is a mythical tale that provides a fitting thematic backdrop for the swelling symphonic flourishes that Kitaro uses liberally on this recording. Accompanied by a pop-rock ensemble, violinist Steve Kindler, and the string section from George Lucas's Skywalker Symphony Orchestra, Kitaro arranges a cinematic mix of drama and mystery that brings to mind the symphonic, crescendo-heavy side of John Tesh–appropriate for a fable that involves cataclysms, a hero's quest, a fair maiden, and a battle with an eight-headed dragon. Kitaro's keyboards and flutes are sometimes submerged in the mix, perhaps lost in the Celestial Rock Cave or swept away under the Bridge of Rainbows, but the intended attraction here is the widescreen flash and pop-orchestral dash generated by more than two-dozen pop and classical musicians. Overall, it may be a bit heavy-handed for New Age fans and a touch too pretty for progressive fans. The most effective piece is the disc's concluding work,"Reimei," a sweetly stirring, bell-chiming anthem. Overwrought to some, a masterpiece to others.

Review by Terry Wood

Kitaro's already dramatic music is given even greater force when played before a live audience, as this 1990 show from Atlanta's Fox Theatre demonstrates.

A rare first japan edition by one of the best albums of Kitaro, later issued in the U.S. and Europe under the name "Dream". Featuring the vocals of Yes’ Jon Anderson, Dream is full of awe-inspiring moments that revolve around the themes of the spiritual, romanticism and love. It is beautifully scored with Kitaro’s signature sound along with orchestral instrumentation.

Two giants in contemporary music have joined forces to create one of the most awe-inspiring albums of the '90s. Kitaro has taken his signature style into a new dimension of orchestral drama with three tracks featuring the breathtaking vocals of Jon Anderson, from Yes. Anderson, a longtime Kitaro fan, showed up on Kitaro's Japanese mountaintop and hung out for a month. Their ensuing "marriage" of vocals and music is the result. Kitaro composed the music while Anderson wrote the lyrics. The songs revolve around the eternal theme of love, as in the transcendental romanticism of "Lady of Dreams" and the ecstasy of spiritual liberation in "Agreement"….This is a special album full of soaring emotion and spiritual upliftment.

Review by Allmusic.com

International recording artist and keyboardist Kitaro scored the music for Oliver Stone's film Heaven and Earth. This movie examines the life of a Vietnamese woman…Kitaro performs on many unusual Vietnamese instruments, ones that have a melodic Asian flavor due to the use of special Chinese instruments played by Yu Xiao Guang. This is the first time Kitaro has collaborated with Stone. He spent more than a year working on his compositions and says that the scope of the film has given him the opportunity to explore a new musical style. Kitaro feels this is his greatest endeavor to date…

Review by Allmusic.com