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| © Luc Viatour GFDL/CC |
| Photos by Luc Viatour www.lucnix.be |
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About Kitarō
Kitarō (born Masanori Takahashi) is a Grammy-Award-winning Japanese musician, composer, and multi-
instrumentalist.... Inspired by the R&B music of Otis Redding, Kitaro taught himself to play the guitar. "I never had
education in music, I just learned to trust my ears and my feelings." He gives credit for his creations to a power
beyond himself. "This music is not from my mind," he said. "It is from heaven, going through my body and out my
fingers through composing. Sometimes I wonder. I never practice. I don't read or write music, but my fingers
move. I wonder, 'Whose song is this?' I write my songs, but they are not my songs." While at Toyohashi Commercial
High School, he organized the Albatross Band with friends, performing at parties and clubs. "I started out playing
the guitar but then changed to the keyboards. Before one of our gigs, the drummer was injured. I had no
experience... on the drums, but I had to learn... because I was the leader of the band and we had to do the gig.
My drumming was not very good, but we got through the show in one piece. Later, the bassist had injuries, so I
had to learn how to play the bass. [This is] why I can play all these instruments; I had a crash course in how to
play them. It was a hard time for me, but a very good experience. It created the base knowledge of all the
instruments I use and need to create my current brand of music.
"After graduating, I really wanted to be in the music business, so I moved to Tokyo and started looking for bands
to play with. I basically did it for the experience and to get a feel of all the clubs that were available in Tokyo and
Yokohama. At that time I played keyboards, and then I discovered the synthesizer. This was a revelation. First of
all, the instructions for the thing were in English so I couldn't read them. I was trying to make sounds but couldn't!
I tried for a whole day, but no sound ever came out because I didn't know how to program it or set it up. Finally,
the first sound I got off this thing was a windlike sound, but I was so elated that I actually made some noise, it
didn't matter. I turned one of the knobs slowly to make more windlike noises. [I bought] another synthesizer to
form a different type of sound. I just loved the analog... compared to today's digital sound. Now my equipment and
synthesizers are all analog. But technically, digital is much easier to use for editing and other stuff.”
In the early 1970s he went back to keyboards, joining the Far East Family Band and touring throughout the world.
In Europe he met the German synthesizer musician and former Tangerine Dream member Klaus Schulze, who
produced two albums for the band and gave Kitaro some tips for the use of synthesizers. In 1976 Kitaro left the
band and traveled in China, Laos, Thailand, and India.
Solo Career
Back in Japan, Kitaro started his solo career in 1977. The first two albums, Ten Kai and From the Full Moon Story,
became cult favorites of fans of the nascent New Age movement. He performed his first symphonic concert at the
'Small Hall' of the Kosei Nenkin Kaikan in Shinjuku, Tokyo. During this concert Kitaro used a synthesizer to recreate
the sounds of 40 different instruments, a world's first. But it was his famous sound track for the NHK series Silk
Road that brought him international attention.
He struck a worldwide distribution arrangement with Geffen Records in 1986; in 1987 he collaborated with
different musicians, including Mickey Hart (Grateful Dead) and Jon Anderson (Yes). In 1988 Kitaro's record sales
soared to 10 million worldwide. He was nominated twice for a Grammy award, and his sound track for the Oliver
Stone movie Heaven & Earth won the award for best original score. He won another Grammy for his album Thinking
of You in 2001. He also worked with guitarist Marty Friedman, formerly of Megadeth, on the Scenes album.
Personal Life
Kitaro is very modest. "Nature inspires me. I am only a messenger," he has said. "To me, some songs are like clouds,
some are like water." Since 1983, his reverence for nature has led Kitaro to annually give thanks to Mother Nature
in a special "concert" on Mount Fuji or near his house in Colorado. On the day of the full moon of August he beats
on the Taiko drum from dusk to dawn. Frequently his hands become bloodied, but he continues to pound.
From 1983 until 1990 Kitaro was married to Yuki Taoka, a daughter of Kazuo Taoka, godfather of Yamaguchi-gumi,
Japan's largest Yakuza (organized crime) syndicate. Kitaro and Yuki have a son, Ryunosuke, who lives in Japan.
They reportedly separated because Kitaro worked mostly in the United States while Yuki lived and worked in
Japan. In the mid-1990s, Kitaro married Keiko Matsubara, a musician who played on several of his albums. With
Keiko's son, the couple lived in Ward, Colorado, on a 180-acre spread. Kitaro composed in his 2,500-square-foot
home studio, "Mochi House," which can accommodate a 70-piece orchestra. Kitaro and Keiko recently relocated
to Occidental, California. —http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitaro
Kitarō (born Masanori Takahashi) is a Grammy-Award-winning Japanese musician, composer, and multi-
instrumentalist.... Inspired by the R&B music of Otis Redding, Kitaro taught himself to play the guitar. "I never had
education in music, I just learned to trust my ears and my feelings." He gives credit for his creations to a power
beyond himself. "This music is not from my mind," he said. "It is from heaven, going through my body and out my
fingers through composing. Sometimes I wonder. I never practice. I don't read or write music, but my fingers
move. I wonder, 'Whose song is this?' I write my songs, but they are not my songs." While at Toyohashi Commercial
High School, he organized the Albatross Band with friends, performing at parties and clubs. "I started out playing
the guitar but then changed to the keyboards. Before one of our gigs, the drummer was injured. I had no
experience... on the drums, but I had to learn... because I was the leader of the band and we had to do the gig.
My drumming was not very good, but we got through the show in one piece. Later, the bassist had injuries, so I
had to learn how to play the bass. [This is] why I can play all these instruments; I had a crash course in how to
play them. It was a hard time for me, but a very good experience. It created the base knowledge of all the
instruments I use and need to create my current brand of music.
"After graduating, I really wanted to be in the music business, so I moved to Tokyo and started looking for bands
to play with. I basically did it for the experience and to get a feel of all the clubs that were available in Tokyo and
Yokohama. At that time I played keyboards, and then I discovered the synthesizer. This was a revelation. First of
all, the instructions for the thing were in English so I couldn't read them. I was trying to make sounds but couldn't!
I tried for a whole day, but no sound ever came out because I didn't know how to program it or set it up. Finally,
the first sound I got off this thing was a windlike sound, but I was so elated that I actually made some noise, it
didn't matter. I turned one of the knobs slowly to make more windlike noises. [I bought] another synthesizer to
form a different type of sound. I just loved the analog... compared to today's digital sound. Now my equipment and
synthesizers are all analog. But technically, digital is much easier to use for editing and other stuff.”
In the early 1970s he went back to keyboards, joining the Far East Family Band and touring throughout the world.
In Europe he met the German synthesizer musician and former Tangerine Dream member Klaus Schulze, who
produced two albums for the band and gave Kitaro some tips for the use of synthesizers. In 1976 Kitaro left the
band and traveled in China, Laos, Thailand, and India.
Solo Career
Back in Japan, Kitaro started his solo career in 1977. The first two albums, Ten Kai and From the Full Moon Story,
became cult favorites of fans of the nascent New Age movement. He performed his first symphonic concert at the
'Small Hall' of the Kosei Nenkin Kaikan in Shinjuku, Tokyo. During this concert Kitaro used a synthesizer to recreate
the sounds of 40 different instruments, a world's first. But it was his famous sound track for the NHK series Silk
Road that brought him international attention.
He struck a worldwide distribution arrangement with Geffen Records in 1986; in 1987 he collaborated with
different musicians, including Mickey Hart (Grateful Dead) and Jon Anderson (Yes). In 1988 Kitaro's record sales
soared to 10 million worldwide. He was nominated twice for a Grammy award, and his sound track for the Oliver
Stone movie Heaven & Earth won the award for best original score. He won another Grammy for his album Thinking
of You in 2001. He also worked with guitarist Marty Friedman, formerly of Megadeth, on the Scenes album.
Personal Life
Kitaro is very modest. "Nature inspires me. I am only a messenger," he has said. "To me, some songs are like clouds,
some are like water." Since 1983, his reverence for nature has led Kitaro to annually give thanks to Mother Nature
in a special "concert" on Mount Fuji or near his house in Colorado. On the day of the full moon of August he beats
on the Taiko drum from dusk to dawn. Frequently his hands become bloodied, but he continues to pound.
From 1983 until 1990 Kitaro was married to Yuki Taoka, a daughter of Kazuo Taoka, godfather of Yamaguchi-gumi,
Japan's largest Yakuza (organized crime) syndicate. Kitaro and Yuki have a son, Ryunosuke, who lives in Japan.
They reportedly separated because Kitaro worked mostly in the United States while Yuki lived and worked in
Japan. In the mid-1990s, Kitaro married Keiko Matsubara, a musician who played on several of his albums. With
Keiko's son, the couple lived in Ward, Colorado, on a 180-acre spread. Kitaro composed in his 2,500-square-foot
home studio, "Mochi House," which can accommodate a 70-piece orchestra. Kitaro and Keiko recently relocated
to Occidental, California. —http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitaro
| KITARO |
| ‘This music is not from my mind. It is out my fingers through composing. Sometimes I wonder....’ |
| In 1988 Kitaro's record sales soared to 10 million worldwide. He was nominated twice for a Grammy award, and his sound track for the Oliver Stone movie Heaven & Earth won the award for best original score. He won another Grammy for his album Thinking of You in 2001. |
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