Guess What? Kitaro

Noted Japanese musician Kitaro couldn't help laughing when an Indonesian journalist asked whether his energy comes from his long black hair.

"From my hair? Oh, yes," he laughed, adding that he has kept his hair long for 20 years.

The question was raised because in almost all of his music video clips, some of which are aired here on privately-owned television stations, he almost never stops moving his body and head energetically.

"Well, I look energetic because I keep saying to myself not to stop and to keep doing. It all comes from myself because psychologically I need to be strong," revealed Kitaro, 42.

His real name is Masanori Takahashi. Kitaro is a nickname given to him by his high school friends after a Japanese television cartoon character.

More questions were yet to come. "Is it true that you once had a dream of a snake falling on your lap and then the next day you had an accident?" asked another Indonesian journalist during a recent press conference held for Kitaro's Sept. 20 concert at the Senayan indoor tennis stadium.

"No, it was not a snake, it was a dragon," answered the musician with a smile.

Kitaro, who calls his compositions "spiritual music" believes in such signs because to him they represent a warning about what he has done.

"And, why did you want to be a musician?" asked a reporter.

"I didn't plan to be a musician. When I was a teenager I wanted to be a tennis player. And when I finally decided to play music, my parents didn't approve. But today they like my music," said Kitaro, who has lived in the United States for the last five years. (als)