Thoughts on Kitaro - Progressive Rock Music Forum

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siLLy puPPy View Drop Down

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Posted: August 15 2016 at 22:51

^ i suggested it to the PSIKE team but doesn't seem like they are on board with it, so i would advise trying to woo one of our honorable admins to see if he could be deemed worthy of a prog related inclusion.

aglasshouse View Drop Down

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Posted: August 15 2016 at 20:50

Hate to bump but is there any news on Kitaro's evaluation?

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aglasshouse View Drop Down

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Posted: August 10 2016 at 14:51

I'm kind of torn between Kitaro's live performances of studio material. I think they're pretty equal in quality.

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Tom Ozric

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Posted: August 10 2016 at 00:46

Well, it's about time that people realise the value in his approach to synth-centric music. He did develop a different path of sorts for it. And, I hear similar traits in FEFB's last album, Tenkujin.
I'm currently spinning the ARACHNOID album (Fench trippers that they are - outstanding album) then I'm going to give Ten Kai some ear-time. It's been too long.

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Posted: August 09 2016 at 18:50

I'm glad to have brought it to your guys' attention again. As for me I only own the Light of the Spirit album which is phenomenal.

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Logan

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Posted: August 09 2016 at 16:24

I am pleased to see Kitaro finally getting a proper evaluation. In the distant past certain team leaders have objected to the notion of his addition, but I don't think there has been a formal evaluation before {EDIT, my mistake, seems it was formally rejected back in 2007}, nor was there ever a formal suggestion thread. The only one in Suggest New Bands was made in another forum and moved to SNB later and is just a poll rather than a suggestion that meets the expected criteria for proposing an artist.

Personally, if that does not work out, I would be supportive of him in Prog Related (under the right circumstances, I should say). His key albums for me consist of his early albums (see embeds below) though Dream and Light of the Spirit are worth considering too.

Glad to see this topic. It's made me dig out my old LPs, tapes, and CDs of Kitaro -- do still dig the music. It was also the only mostly instrumental artists I would listen to that my wife really liked. She'd been asking me for a long time to dig out Kitaro for the kids to hear during car rides (I prefer somewhat relaxing music in the car, and I think she's sick of always hearing Air played in the car, but I was worried that Kitaro would put me to sleep behind the wheel as I used to often like to drift off to sleep to the music).

LATE EDIT to make my embeds work again as it stopped working the way I used to do them.

Edited by Logan - August 16 2016 at 00:16

Duos for fave acts

siLLy puPPy View Drop Down

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Posted: August 09 2016 at 15:38

Kitaro is on the New Gibraltar Encyclopedia Of Progressive Rock

New Gibraltar Encyclopedia of Progressive Rock KI-KY

Kitaro was born in 1953 as Masanori Takahashi in Toyohashi, Japan. Kitaro is a nickname, from a character in the Japanese TV cartoon Ge Ge Ge no Kitaro. In the '70's, he joined the Far East Family Band and toured with them. Then he met German synthesist Klaus Schulze, who produced two albums for the band and became Kitaro's mentor in creating synthesizer music. Kitaro left the Far East Family Band in 1976 and soon embarked upon a solo career. His albums became prototypes for what would later be called "New Age" music, and he remains a favorite in the genre to this day. His style has become a reference when talking about others who have been inspired by it ... you'll see variants of "sounds like Kitaro" throughout the GEPR.

Kitaro has collaborated with others, including Micky Hart of The Grateful Dead and Jon Anderson of Yes. He ended up spending so much time in the USA that he separated from his wife, who still lived in Japan. Kitaro lived in Colorado for many years and remarried Keiko Matsubara, a musician who had played on several of his albums. They have recently moved to northern California. -- Fred Trafton

siLLy puPPy View Drop Down

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Posted: August 09 2016 at 10:26

I just listened to the SILK ROAD album last night. I'm convinced that the early albums could warrant inclusion. I'm going to suggest KITARO-san to the PSIKE team. If he doesn't sail into the prog electro category maybe we can squeak him through in the prog related

aglasshouse View Drop Down

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Posted: August 07 2016 at 18:46

You're the best, SP.

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Tom Ozric

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Posted: August 07 2016 at 07:31

Hats off to the folks that do care

siLLy puPPy View Drop Down

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Posted: August 07 2016 at 06:57

I've snatched up quite a few Kitaro CDs. They seem to be in abundance at the thrift store. The early ones could easily be defined as progressive electronic. I know RYM isn't the truest measure stick for these things but in this case it's true. https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/kitaro/ten_kai/

My favorite that i personally own is Silk Road (the first) and it is quite the electronic journey.

I would tend to agree with Dean with his erudite analysis that collabs who evaluate an artist don't necessarily cover all grounds. In a case like Kitaro with a ginormous discography, we tend to sift and sample rather than spend a week exhaustively scrutinizing every single release. In fact, i doubt there exists too many human beings in the world who have heard every album especially on this site.

Since this progressive electronic suggestion would fall into the realms of the PSIKE team which i am a part of, i'd be happy to re-evaluate some of Kitaro's albums (i currently own 9) and ascertain his possible inclusion into these here archives. The only one i can recall with cerainty of possible validity is Silk Road 1. I've heard all of the ones i own one time but i can't say i am a return listener to the works of Kitaro-san the great.

https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/kitaro/silk_road_f3/

Silk Road

A1Silk Road4:12
A2Bell Tower2:27
A3Heavenly Father4:07
A4The Great River (Yellow River)2:40
A5The Great Wall of China1:54
A6Flying Celestial Nymphs4:38
B1Silk Road Fantasy4:40
B2Shimmering Light3:20
B3Westbound2:57
B4Time3:30
B5Bodhisattva2:12
B6Everlasting Road5:33
Total length: 42:10

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=kitaro+silk+road

Guldbamsen View Drop Down

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Posted: August 07 2016 at 06:11

This is actually one of the rare cases in recent times where I see a case for Prog Related.

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Dean

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Posted: August 07 2016 at 03:45

aglasshouse wrote:

Wait, I was told by a member of the jazz fusion team a few weeks ago that a rejected artist can be reconsidered if they have released new work since the suggestion.

Since that poll was made in 2006, Kitaro has released three studio albums, so doesn't that make a rebuttal possible?

Only if those albums can be considered Prog, otherwise there is no point. The re-evaluation would only be for the albums that didn't exist during the earlier evaluation and if they ain't prog then the re-eval would fail.

Tom Ozric wrote:

......and if Dean agrees with Kitaro being a valid Progressive artist, we may just have a good case

My opinions of whether an artist is prog or not counts for nothing. All I have is the same opportunity that everyone else has in expressing an opinion but my influence is minimal to say the least. I do seem to be very good at arguing against suggest bands I don't consider to be Prog for some reason.

If the "one prog album" directive means anything (and I'm not so sure that it does) then Dream, with three Jon Anderson tracks, is that album for me. HOWEVER. I only have two Kitaro albums (Daichi and Dream) and that's a poor sample to base an evaluation on given the size of his discography. That said, I'm not convinced he's ever been properly evaluated here - I suspect (because we're only human) that the rejections (PE and Symph) were based upon perception rather than actual listening.

What?

aglasshouse View Drop Down

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Posted: August 06 2016 at 21:45

Wait, I was told by a member of the jazz fusion team a few weeks ago that a rejected artist can be reconsidered if they have released new work since the suggestion.

Since that poll was made in 2006, Kitaro has released three studio albums, so doesn't that make a rebuttal possible?

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Aussie-Byrd-Brother View Drop Down

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Posted: August 06 2016 at 21:42

Hey, if I had my vote, he'd be in long ago and I would have rattled off bible-length rambling reviews for many of his albums by now!

Tom Ozric

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Posted: August 06 2016 at 21:39

To me, Jarre was synth-pop. Just sayin'. And my sister has his albums, I didn't hear anything Prog-worthy from memory.

aglasshouse View Drop Down

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Posted: August 06 2016 at 21:39

Tom Ozric wrote:

Also, I suggested Nic Potter several years back, he got knocked back. Now, by some reason, he is in.

Also if the rules dictate that rejected suggestions cannot be reconsidered then how did this happen?

(No accusations directed personally at you Michael btw, just the rules)

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aglasshouse View Drop Down

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Posted: August 06 2016 at 21:34

14 votes yes, 9 votes no: rejection.

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Aussie-Byrd-Brother View Drop Down

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Posted: August 06 2016 at 21:28

Here you go, plenty of the back and forth on this old thread:

http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=29932&PN=1

aglasshouse View Drop Down

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Posted: August 06 2016 at 21:25

I searched for topics on Kitaro using the search function and only found this topic pertaining to him. Maybe my search was glitched or the search is not working correctly.

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