This page is dedicated to the Japanese new-age musician, Kitaro. You'll find his biography and discography, with full information of some of the records, including cover image. If you are already familiar with Kitaro's work, I suggest you familiarize yourself with Pink Floyd ! It's a great, great band, and in my experience appeals to Kitaro fans.

The first time I ever heard of Kitaro was when the Japanese documentary Silk Road was re-aired in Finland. The title music sounded great, as did the rest of the soundtrack. I later got my hands on two of Kitaro's albums, Silk Road vol. 1 and Silk Road vol. 2 and I was hooked. The music really had a spirit of its own. I loved the rhythm and the melodies! Since then I have acquired nearly all of Kitaro's studio albums released up to this date, and intend to get all future releases too.

Kitaro was born in 1953 in Toyohashi, Japan, and his real name is Masahari Takahashi. He is a multi-instrumentalist, playing synthesizers, guitar, percussion, and various oriental and other instruments. His style could be characterized as new-age, progressive electronic, ethnic fusion or contemporary instrumental.

Biography by Linda Kohanov, All-Music Guide

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. 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. That same year, Kitaro also made his first live tour of North America and sold two million albums in the US alone. Kitaro's style had changed as well, becoming more theatrical and assertive while retaining a certain level of innocence and purity. His more recent recordings also show a renewed interest in the rock and pop elements that originally attracted him to music in the late '60s.

Discography

This discography is compiled from All-Music Guide. Some of the records are also available from labels other than the listed one. I have tried where possible to add domo records, if the recording is also available from them. This discography contains only albums, not boxed sets or compilations.

This should be the complete discography, but I'm not 100% sure. If you know of ANY additional records by Kitaro, please e-mail me.