KitarÅ
Kitaro (Japanese喜多郎; born February 4, 1953 in Toyohashi ), née: Masanori Takahashi (高桥 正 则, Takahashi Masanori ), is a Japanese musician. The nickname Kitaro ( interpretation of the meaning: " With many joys blessed man " ) is a reference to the character Kitaro from the Japanese manga Ge Ge Ge no Kitaro.
Life
Kitaro grew up in a peasant family. In His high school years he loved listening to soul and rhythm & blues. His first instrument was the electric guitar, which he taught himself. He played with his first band Albatross at parties and in clubs. The greatest musical influence at the time was for him Otis Redding. Even today compares Kitaro like the depth of his music with that of rhythm and blues, the public would be affected in the same way. "My music is not rhythm and blues, but it feels, ' is like Soul".
In the early 1970s he began then completely switch to keyboards. He joined the Far East Family in band and toured with them around the world. During a visit to Europe the band in the 70s, he met the German synthesizer musician and former Tangerine Dream member Klaus Schulze. Schulze produced two albums of the band, also gave him a crash course for synthesizer, showed him the way of working beyond the manuals.
1976 Kitaro left the Far East Family Band and embarked on a journey through Asia, which it, inter alia, led to Laos, China and Thailand. In India, he moved to Poona to the ashram of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, where he lived about half a year.
Back in Japan, Kitaro started his solo career in 1977. The first two albums Ten Kai and From the Full Moon Story rose rapidly in the favor of the nascent New Age scene. International Kitaro but was only through the soundtrack for the NHK series Silk Road ( German: The Silk Road ) is known.
In 1986, he signed a contract with Geffen Records on the worldwide distribution rights from, in the years that followed, he worked with various musicians, including with Mickey Hart (Grateful Dead ) and Jon Anderson ( Yes). By 1987 he had added together sold 10 million albums worldwide, he was several times nominated for a Grammy in 1994 and received even a Golden Globe Award for the soundtrack to the film Between Heaven and Hell by Oliver Stone. His biggest musical success was winning the 2001 Grammy Award in the category "New Age" for his album Thinking of You.
From 1983 to 1990 Kitaro was with his first wife Yuki, daughter of the Yakuza gang leader Kazuo Taoka and Fumiko, married, from this marriage he has a son. Mid-90s, he married the musician Keiko Matsubara. With her and her son lived Kitaro many years in Ward near Boulder / Colorado ( USA) in his house with his own studio, Mochi House. Around the year 2007 around they moved to Sebastopol, northern California.
Discography (selection)
- Ten Kai / Astral Voyage ( 1978)
- From the Full Moon Story ( 1979)
- Oasis (1979)
- Silk Road Vol 1 (1980 )
- Silk Road Vol 2 (1980 )
- In Person Digital ( 1980)
- Silk Road Suite (1980 )
- Tunhuang (1981 )
- The World of Kitaro (1981 )
- Ki ( 1981)
- Best of Kitaro (1981 )
- Millennia (1982 )
- Live at Budokan (1982 )
- Portopia '81 (1983 )
- Ten Jiku (1983 )
- Live in Asia ( 1984)
- Silver Cloud (1985 )
- Best Selection (1985 )
- Towards the West ( 1986)
- Tenku (1986 )
- The Light of the Spirit (1987 )
- Ten Years (1988 )
- Kojiki (1990 )
- Live in America (1991 )
- Dream ( 1992)
- Heaven & Earth ( 1993)
- Mandala ( 1994)
- " Tokusen I ( 1994)
- Tokusen II ( 1994)
- An Enchanted Evening (1995 )
- Peace on Earth ( 1996)
- Cirque Ingenieux (1997)
- The Soong Sisters ( 1997)
- Gaia.Onbashira (1998)
- Healing Forest (1998)
- Noah 's Ark (1999)
- Thinking of You (1999)
- Best of Kitaro vol 2 (1999)
- Ancient (2000)
- An Ancient Journey ( 2001)
- Asian Café ( 2002)
- Live in Yakushiji (2002)
- Sacred Journey of Ku- Kai (2003)
- Ninja Scroll (2003)
- Sacred Journey of Ku- Kai Vol 2 (2005)
- Spiritual Garden (2006)
- Sacred Journey of Ku- Kai Vol 3 (2007)
- " Impressions Of The West Lake " (2009)
- Sacred Journey of Ku- Kai Vol 4 (2010)
- Kitaro & Dennis Banks: Let Mother Earth Speak ( 2012)
- The Final Call (coming September 2013 )
Extra Tracks and Collaborations:
- Freedom Chants From The Roof of the World (with the Gyuto Monks. Track # 2 For Gaia with Mickey Hart and Phillip Glass ) ( 1998)
- Return To The River Kwai (1998) (track "Japanese Theme" by Kitaro )
- Soundtrack " Hayazaki No Hana " by Ryuta Yoshimura (1996 ) (Track 32 "Japanese Title" by Kitaro )
- Album Domo 20th Anniversary Sampler 2004 ( track " Theme from Earth Dance " by Kitaro )