Kitaro

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1,254,962 plays (107,180 listeners)

new age, ambient, instrumental, electronic, japanese… see all

Kitaro’s style is the epitome of the contemplative, highly melodic synthesizer music often associated with the new-age movement. Interestingly enough, this famous Japanese composer taught himself to play electric guitar in high school — inspired by the R&B music of Otis Redding. In the early ’70s, Kitaro formed the Far East Family Band, which released two albums of progressive rock. In 1972, however, he met the innovative German synthesist Klaus Schulze during a trip to Europe. Kitaro was hooked. He built his first synthesizer and began experimenting with all kinds of unusual sounds.

His first solo album, Astral Voyage, appeared in 1978 and quickly gained a cult following. Two years later, he produced the first of several soundtracks for Silk Road, a Japanese television documentary series that ran for five years. Several albums of music from Silk Road were released to a growing international contingent of fans who admired his combination of lush, majestic textures and gentle, almost naive, melodies. His music started gaining popularity in nearby Taiwan, for instance, by 1983, and he even performed in a large venue in Taipei in the middle of 1984.

Kitaro, however, was still considered an underground artist in America until he signed with Geffen Records in 1986, which re-released seven of his earlier albums and gave him the support to expand his scope in many ways. For instance, after years of creating albums in the privacy of his home studio near Japan’s Mt. Fuji, Kitaro produced his 1987 release, The Light of the Spirit, with the help of Mickey Hart. The album featured an array of American musicians and was nominated for a Grammy Award in the Best New-Age Performance category.

The Best of Kitaro
Kitaro
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Asia
Kitaro
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Dream
Kitaro
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Best of Silk Road
Kitaro
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Top Tracks

1	Caravansary full track	531
2	Silk Road full track	464
3	Theme From Silk Road full track	352
4	A Passage of Life full track	317
5	Bell Tower full track	279
6	Koi full track	266
7	Matsuri full track	252
8	Oasis full track	247
9	Shimmering Horizon full track	243
10	Moondance full track	222
11	Dance of Sarasvati full track	202
12	Cosmic Love full track	195
13	Prologue full track	178
14	A Drop of Silence full track	164
15	Orochi full track	161

Shoutbox

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seeasi wrote:
Thursday morning

I can count on Kitaro to consistently touch me with his music. It is freedom, peace and travel at it's finest. I have yet to find any tracks of his music I wish to skip over or omit. Granted, I do have my favorites.=)

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Rugiewit1 wrote:
Thursday morning

'Theme From Silk Road' makes me so nostalgic...

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mananabutnuffin wrote:
Sunday evening

Nice-uh.

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The_Night_Head wrote:
Sunday afternoon

He reminds me of Takeshi from Boris

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katarsys wrote:
Sunday morning

koi <33

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bolemc wrote:
last week

mrnjau ...

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jarrekolik wrote:
last month

bu adam bir harika silk road - caravansary - sun dance - ............................................................................

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athaiya wrote:
last month

beautiful!

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jarrekolik wrote:
last month

new age türünün en büyüğü üstadı

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ozall wrote:
last month

olağanüstü tek kelimeyle.

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Rugiewit1 wrote:
last month

Gorgeous, perfect auditive atmosphere.

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athaiya wrote:
last month

beautiful music!

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Angu_revenge wrote:
last month

*__* this man....is fantastic!!

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mechanicalsteer wrote:
last month

Mechanical Steering new album "10:10pm" ! http://www.lastfm.pl/music/Mechanical+Steering

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yavuzali wrote:
last month

wonderful musıc

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nomikjustkaty wrote:
last month

I love Kitaros' Music <3 His Talents are immense!

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shinji03 wrote:
last month

The BEST!!!!! wonderfull music

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lisavarese wrote:
last month

=) Muito bom!

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venelus wrote:
last month

o som dos anjos!!!!

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Mausami wrote:
last month

such an amazingly talented artist. One of my favorites! I wish I could see him perform live someday...

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12…8 Next

Events

Oct 23 Kitaro Badminton Theatre, Athens, Greece
2 shouts | 3 attendees
Oct 25 Kitaro Μέγαρο Μουσικής Θεσσαλονίκης, Thessaloníki, Greece
1 shout | 2 attendees

Add event | See more

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Recent Activity

cidao123, kadsoper, awariel and 6 other people added Kitaro to their libraries. 11 minutes ago
theefourgiven tagged Kitaro with ‘ambient’. 5 hours ago
DJ-RAM, chingoa, Angel_0f_Time and 14 other people added Kitaro to their libraries. 5 hours ago
ianisthewalrus tagged Kitaro with ‘asian’, ‘japanese’, ‘new age’, ‘synthisizer’, ‘electronic’, ‘ambient’ and ‘insturmental’. yesterday morning
MauiundDebby, marco_penya, Seekerpilgrim and 2 other people added Kitaro to their libraries. yesterday morning
ekinox27 tagged Kitaro with ‘kitaro’, ‘ambient’ and ‘chill out’. Thursday evening
dorfdepp2 tagged Kitaro with ‘chillout’. Thursday evening
dorfdepp2, marszy20, cynda308 and 6 other people added Kitaro to their libraries. Thursday evening
bmxgamer updated the wiki page for Dream. (diff) Tuesday morning
LisaM1993 created the wiki page for Dream. Monday evening