Kitaro provides breathtaking spiritual music

Kitaro provides breathtaking spiritual music

By Rita A. Widiadana

JAKARTA (JP): New Age musician and composer Kitaro enchanted
more than three thousand people when he and his group played
Bengawan Solo in the middle of his concert at the Indoor Tennis
Stadium at the Senayan Sports complex on Wednesday night.

In contrast to other concerts, Kitaro provided spiritual music
for his fans.

The song Bengawan Solo by Gesang was performed outstandingly
in a blend of eastern and western elements. It was violinist
Lorenzo Ponce who boldly tuned intriguing improvisation and then
switched the original Portuguese beat to a contemporary sound.
The song ended with a standing ovation.

"I am very happy to be here with you in Jakarta. I hope we can
perform again here in the near future," said Kitaro when
introducing his eight band members who he called his close
family. They were the few words Kitaro said to his ardent fans
during the two-and-half-hour concert. No words are necessary from
Kitaro in order to understand and appreciate his mesmerizing
music. Kitaro tries to bridge the distance between him and the
audience through the sound of his music.

After a fifteen minute delay, the concert, which is part of
Kitaro's An Enchanted Evening world tour, was opened by a medley
of ten of Kitaro's hit songs from various albums including the
famous Silk Road, Mandala, Dance of the Sarasvati, a pop song
Caravan, Planet , Winds of Youth, Cosmic Love,
Chant from the Heart.

Wearing a black and white costume, the long-haired Kitaro
performed vigorously, providing a rare opportunity for the
audience to explore the sounds of nature -- water, wind, fire,
rolling stones, thunder coming through his synthesizers. Kitaro
is a master of music instruments. In his newest song Mandala,
(Sankrit for circle), Kitaro moved from synthesizers to
electronic guitar. In other songs he performed a duet with horn
and player Nawang Kechog or harmoniously played the combination
of big drum and percussion with Derek Zimmerman.

Kitaro swayed his body energetically to follow his meditating
melodies. The show was really enlivened by excellent stage
lighting, produced by former Pink Floyd technicians.

The audience was captured by Kitaro and his band's skill,
although the venue was quite uncomfortable.

World-class

Kitaro is one of the few world-class musicians who eagerly
experiments with traditional musical instruments. In his Jakartan
concert, Kitaro included an Indonesian gong and angklung (bamboo
instrument) in his compositions.

"I'm always looking for new sounds to create different music,"
explained Kitaro.

Kitaro's music was recognized after Silk Road, a highly
acclaimed television documentary series that ran for five years.
In Indonesia, the private TV station RCTI screened the series for
several years. Kitaro composed 200 songs for the story based upon
the ancient silk trade route between Europe and the Far East.
Only 30 songs were used. Several albums of Silk Road soundtracks
were released and music lovers worldwide were mesmerized by his
combination of passionate, gentle and naive melodies.

Kitaro was born Takahashi Masanori in 1953, a son of a Shinto
farmer family from Toyohashi, Japan.

"Kitaro is a nickname given by my childhood friends after a
famous Japanese TV cartoon character," he said at the press
conference prior to his concert.

Kitaro's musical debut was with a band called Albatross he and
his friends set up when they where in high school. They where
heavily influenced by B.B. King and Otis Redding's Rhythm and
Blues touches. The band also played Kitaro's poetry set to
original music.

"I listened to British rock when I was still a kid. Then Pink
Floyd, King Crimson and Mike Oldfield and many kind of
progressive rock music," recalled Kitaro, who played guitar at
the band.

In early 1970s, he switched to keyboards and set up a new band
called Far East Family Band, which released two progressive rock
albums that served as a prelude to Kitaro's impressionistic
compositions.

Kitaro's entire creative direction changed during a l972 visit
to Europe where he met Klaus Schulze, the innovative German
synthesizer wizard, and the New Age pioneer band Tangerine
Dreams. It was then that Kitaro discovered the synthesizer's
versatility and power to create the visual images that
international music critics came to call it "spiritual music".
"Klaus taught me that you could create scenes of nature with a
synthesizer. Technology is often used as a substitute for music.
Through Klaus, I learned that when a true musician moves his
spirit through technology, remarkable music will be created,"
claimed the musician.

Kitaro launched his career in the United States ten years ago
and garnered greater international stature in l986 by signing a
worldwide distribution agreement with famous Geffen Records. He
became even more accessible by collaborating with such high-
profile music figures as Jon Anderson, lead vocalist of Yes, in
his album Dream. He also signed a joint project with Mickey Hart
of the Grateful Dead to help him produced The Light of the Spirit
album.

Kitaro is credited with 12 albums such as Astral Voyage, Full
Moon Story, Silver Cloud, Asia, The Light of the Spirit.

He won a Golden Globe Award for the best soundtrack Heaven and
Earth, for Oliver Stone's Vietnam war film of the same title. In
the song, Kitaro incorporate Vietnamese, Chinese and Japanese
music elements to create a song that has Asian melodic touches.

Heaven and Earth ended Kitaro's concert in Jakarta, leaving
his fans with a sweet memory.