My Collection/
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The Best Of Ten Years
1976 - 1986
20-Bit Digitally Remastered
2 CD
1997
Domo Records
71062-2
DISC 1
1. DAWN*/RISING SUN 6.35
*ORIGINALLY FROM THE ALBUM OASIS
2. CARAVANSARY 5:58
ORIGINALLY FROM THE ALBUM INDIA
3. SHIMMERING HORIZON 4:47
ORIGINALLY FROM THE ALBUM OASIS
4. COSMIC LOVE 6:04
ORIGINALLY FROM THE ALBUM MILLENNIA
5. THEME FROM SILK ROAD 6:13
ORIGINALLY FROM THE ALBUM SILK ROAD
6. LORD OF WIND 4:25
ORIGINALLY FROM THE ALBUM TUNHUANG
7. OASIS 6:00
ORIGINALLY FROM THE ALBUM OASIS
8. THE CLOUDS 7:10
ORIGINALLY FROM THE ALBUM KI
DISC 2
1. EARTH BORN 6:07
ORIGINALLY FROM THE ALBUM SILVER CLOUD
2. AQUA 6:20
ORIGINALLY FROM THE ALBUM OASIS
( also called ENTERNAL SPRING in OASIS,
ENDLESS WATER in KI,
but not the ENTERNAL SPRING in SILK ROAD 2 )
3. MIRAGE 4.20
ORIGINALLY FROM THE ALBUM TONKO
( also called FATA MORGANA in TUNHUANG,
TUNHUANG is TONKO )
4. MOON-STAR 7:05
ORIGINALLY FROM THE ALBUM TENJIKU
5. FLIGHT 6:50
ORIGINALLY FROM THE ALBUM TUNHUANG
( also called FREE FLIGHT )
6. GOD OF THUNDER 5:50
7. BELL TOWER 3:04
ORIGINALLY FROM THE ALBUM SILK ROAD
8. SONG FOR PEACE 7:05
PRODUCED BY KITARO
ALL songs WRITTEN AND ARRANGED BY KITARO
RECORDED AND MIXED BY KITARO AND TOM FLYE
RECORDED AT KITARO'S STUDIO, YASAKA, JAPAN
ASSISTANT ENGINEER: NOBORU KATO
MIXED AT RECORD PLANT AND BABY'O RECORDERS; INC. LA
ASSISTANT ENGINEERS: PAUL WERTHEIMER AND GLENN KURTZ
MASTERED BY GEORGE MARINO AT STERLING SOUND, NYC
CD MASTERING BY BARRY DIAMENT, BARRY DIAMENT AUDIO, NYC
DIGITALLY REMASTERED AT THE MASTERING LAB BY DOUG SAX
GUITAR: HIROSHI ARAKI
DIRECTION AND MANAGEMENT: EIICHI NAITO AND PENNY MUCK FOR DOMO MUSIC GROUP, INC.
PHOTOGRAPHY: KENJI HATA. HIDEO NAKAJIMA, YUKIO OHYAMA NOBUYUKI TAKAHASHI, YASUMIKO MITAJIMA AND HIROAKI YAMASHITA
ILLUSTRATIONS: TETSURO OKABE
ASSISTANT PHOTOGRAPHY: DAICHI GUNJI
AIR BRUSH: KOHICHI KUBODERA
COORDINATION: NOBUO TOMOHIRO, AMUSE Inc
PRODUCTION ASSISTANT: NANAMI TAKAHASHI, AMUSE INC.
SPECIAL THANKS TO OTARI CORPORATION AND
FAN CLUB:
THE KITARO FAMILY
P:O.BOX 17117
BEVERLY HILLS
CA 90209-3117
DOMO 71061-2
© 1988 Amuse America Inc.
(P) 1997 Domo Records, Inc.
Manufactured and distributed by
Domo Records Europe Limited,
The Qqadrangle,
49 Atalanta Street
London SW6 6TR.
Made in the European Union
e-mail: DomoEuropa@aol.com
http://www.domo.com
Booklet Text
Long recognized as one of the most acclaimed recording Artists
in the Orient, Kitaro has always taken his Music far beyond the Borders of his
native Japan. As a Composer and Synthesist, he has reached Millions of People on
every Continent with his stellar Recordings.
Though his public Presence has always been cloaked in the Tradition and
Mysticism of the Culture into which he was born, Kitaro's Music does not yield
to Boundaries or national Categories. Perhaps, as one Writer notes, it is an
"Honesty and Consistency that People seem to trust" that keeps him in
the Forefront of modern Music. Or, as another Suggests, his Compositions, which
weave "a boundless Playworld of a thousend Pictures... A Web og Gentleness
and Wonderment."
Since the early 70's, Kitaro's Music has been a Reflection of a Consciousness
which displays a Reverence for Nature and for the World as humanity's natural
Habitat. "Nature inspires me," he says. "To me, some Songs are
like Clouds, some are like Water."
The Beauty of Nature was a Part of Kitaro's earlies Days, he was born to a
buddhist/shintoist farming Family in Toyohashi Prefecture in Central Japan in
1953. And grew up in bucolic Isolation. The Family grew vegetables purely for
their own Sustenance. And his rural Youth gave him an early Feel for the
Simplicity and Grandeur of Nature. "I found a Place in Nature when I was
very young," he recalls. "And spiritually, I was always Universalist
in my Outlook."
He came to Music much later, as a High School Student, when he discovered the
electric Guitar. Completely selftaught, he fell in Love with american Rhythm and
Blues. Kitaro says: "And I love classical Music, which is like Pictures.
And Rock Music. To me, means Power and Energy. We have Music so we can feel the
Universe." With some Classmates, he formed a Rock Group named
"Albatross", which featured his early petry Set to Music. "I was
writing about the Relationship with Nature as a Way to try to understand Man's
Place in the Scheme of Things," he says. In the early 1970's, at which Time
he switched from Guitar to Keyboards, he recorded with a Group called "The
Far East Family Band". As Band Members left fromTime to Time, Kitaro picked
up their Instruments and taught himself to play each one. "By that
Time," he recalls, "I had switched over to Keyboards and we were doing
a rough Form of the Kind of impressionistic Music that I would later start
playing."
In 1972, Kitaro traveled to Europe and, during a recording Session with
"The Family Band", met Synthesist and "Tangerine Dream"
Founder Klaus Schulze. He listened and watched, and absorbed. He notes: "I
became fascinated. I just kept staying with him longer, learning how to apply
the Synthsizer, absorbing it all. When I returned to Japan, I started combining
it with my own Ideas."
That European Encounter changed Kitaro's Life and Music. He stopped listening to
other People's Music and concentrated on refining his Work with a variety of
Synthsizers. "I remember when I first created the Wave Sound," he
says. "I was playing around with it with my headphones on and I found that
just by moving the Knob from left to right. I could create large and small
Waves. I could create an Ocean, a whole Scene - a Winter Coastline, a Summer
Beach."
The Japanesewere fascinated by Kitaro's Music. The Critics called it "Sound
Pictures" and "Mind Music." They had a hardTime putting me into
any Category," Kitaro explains. "I'm a Musician of the new Culture.
Japanese History and Society is very colorful, very perfect, but in presentday
Japan, everything has been turned upside down to compete with western Societies.
I wanted them to be reminded of Things past, whether they were individuals
plying the stock Market of Farmers Hoeing Crops."
In Japan, he is considered a Celebrity. With a Reputation for Reclusiveness, a
Kind of Folk Hero who blends the Old with the New. "I give People Privacy
in my Music. " he says, "and they give my Privacy in my Life. I can
come and go as I please without being bothered. I enjoy Life to the fullest, but
I think some People tend to see me as this Guru-type of Figure, sitting up on
the Mountain in Lotus Position, looking out over the World."
For many Years Kitaro was known to a small and devoted Audience in America.
Through Albums imported from Japan and Europe. In 1985, that Audience widened
considerably when Geffen Records simultaneously released six Kitaro
Compilitation Albums: Asia, Astral Voyage, Full Moon Story, Millenia, India and
Silver Cloud. A seventh, Toward The West, was released shortly thereafter.
Each of Kitaro's Albums is developed around a specific Theme or Project. In 1980
he created the Music to Silk Road, an Hour-long Documentary about the Overland
trade Route from Europe to Japan, which was produced by the Japanese National
Television Network, NHK. The Programm was initially so well-received that it
evolved into a Series that ran on Japanese Television for five Years. Kitaro's
Music for the series was released in Japan as a triple LP and appears in America
on India. The "Theme from Silk Road" is a Highlight of his Concert
Apearances. In 1982 Kitaro scored the Toei Scince-fiction Animation Film Queen
Millennia, which is available on LP as Millennia. Astral Voyage ist the Story of
Man in the Universe, Full Moon Story represents a Period of reassement during
which he retreated to Ritual Japan. Then emerged to Work and Compse.
Kitaro's 1984 Shanghai-recorded Live Album Asia, features a Drum Solo, a Kitaro
Hallmark. Every Year for the last II Years, at the first full Moon in August, he
plays huge japanese ritual Drums - Wadaiko - at the Foot of Fuji. The Session
lasts all Night and into the Morning. The Drumsticks, big as Basaball Bats, are
taped to Hands which become bloody after hours of drumming. He has even passed
out at times during these ceremonial Evenings, only to revive and resume his
drumming.
Kitaro conducts this Ceremony, he says, out of Gratitude. From a sense of
Apprecation for the Mountain as Guardian. The Spiriz in which Kitaro approaches
this yearly Event is a Sign of his Respect for Nature, and it is no Considence
that he has been joined on such Occasion by Members of american Indian Tribes
with whom he has become friendly. The Wadaiko, which Kitaro calls his
"Japanese Beast," can be heard for Miles.
With 1986 came Tenku, Kitaro's first exclusive Album for Geffen, which means
"Heavenly Sky." Reflects the open Air Environment of Kitaro's Home
Studio, a 200 Year old Farmhouse in the japanese Alps, where the Album was made.
On the opening Track, a Child's aughter is heard; the Album's Theme concerns
Images and Impressions of Childhood.
In the Fall of 1987 Geffen Records released Kitaro's The Light Of The Spirit.
Co-produced with Greateful Dead Percussionist Mickey Hart. A long-time Kitaro
Admirer. Some of the Recording was accomplished in Hart's native San Francisco.
With an Ensemvle that included Pablo Cruise Guitarist David Jenkins. Vocalist
Jeany Tracy and Percussionist Zakir Hussain. Thematically, The Light Of The
Spirit involves Kitaro's Vision Of Live, Death and Rebirth, and continues his
musical Exploration of the Life Cycle that started with Tenku.
The Home Video release based on The Light Of The Spirit demonstrates Kitaro's
nterest in, and Love for, Nature. It oprns and closes with Sunlight on Water,
just as many of Kitaro's Albums open and close with the sound of the Ocean or of
a running Brook. Images of Birds, Trees, Snow and Ice Crystals fall into visual
patterns which seems effortlessly in tune with the Music. The Video, through
astute use of time-lapse Cinematography, enables the Viewer to see the Cycles
and Rhythms of Nature in new and fresh Ways. Kitaro's Music brings alive Ideas
and feelings we often forget about or take for granted - Childhood Dreams, sunny
Afternoons, quiet Nights, Sunrises and Rainstorms.
These Sounds Images have been heard live by those who have attended Kittaro'
Concerts. During his 1984 Asia Tour, he became the forst Person to perform in
both Taiwan and the Peoples's Republic of China (it was during the Tour that
Asia was recorded). In 1985 and 1986, Kitaro undertook two major Tours of Japan:
The "Yamaha Specials '85", and the "Hen-Sei-Hu" Tours. In
1987, Kitaro toured the U.S. giving Concerts in 25 Cities in 31 Days. He played
to sold-out Houses inmany Cities, including New York, Chicago, Boston, Los
Angeles and Atlanta, and was often required to add a second Night to satisfy
demand. A live Recording made of one Night's Performance was later broadcast to
stations around the Country on National Public Radio.
Kitaros Music fits into many of Life's Activities. In Japan his Records are
played at Parties; in america and elsewhere many use the Music for Meditation.
He enjoys telling about the Time, long before he became interested in Music,
when one of his Teachers, a Zen Master, liked to call him "Setu". A
Name that means "Bridge". The concept of a Bridge, a musical
Connection between the East and West, has occurred to many writers who have met
and listened to Kitaro and his Compositions. His Music, though it has japanese
Elements - notably the lovely and often intense Sound of the Shakumachi, or
Bamboo Flute - is universal in that it seems to rech past the Ear and go
directly to the Heart.
The Pulse beat inherent in many of his Melodies is as much felt as it is heard.
A young japanese Woman, after one of the concerts on Kitaro's recent America
Tour, remarked to a Bystander that "his Music is like the Heartbeat of an
unborn Cild - you con feel it." Writers have hinted at the healing
Properties of his "Sound Pictures," and Kitaro has acknowledged that
his purpose is to calm the inner Person: "The Wars in the World don't come
from Outer Space," he says. "People create them, People who have a War
within themselves. I want to create Music that eases that War within."
"I've travelled all over - India, Nepal - and I've been able to make
Friends everywhere. My own Peace comes from the Realization that I'm the Equal
of the Beggar on the Streets of Calcutta. Music has a transformative Capacity.
You can change a person's Karma through Music - I know can change someone else's
because it changes my own."
Kitaro is an original and universal Soul who has become Master of the wordless
Lyric - and as he brings his Music further into the Forefront of American
Consciousness, there is no Dust of his growing Popularity. As the World
approaches the 21st Century, it is clear that Music, as always, will play an
important Role in crossing Barriers between Cultures and Societies. And Kitaro's
Music, especially, with its Sense of Peace and Harmony with Nature, will play a
significant Role. He is, indded, a Bridge.