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.