KITARO : Japanese musician inspired by "natural energy"
24/07/2002 (10:00)

Kitaro or Masanori Takahashi,, 49, with white T-Shirt in the middle giving a press conference in Tokyo, July 23, 2002.

TOKYO (SuratkabarCom) - He was sitting with gentle smile. He looked smaller than I had expected. His face was brown and his long wavy hair was tied up. It was Kitaro, one of the most famous Japanese musicians in the world.

He came back to Japan for a concert. (Now he has two places to live: Colorado in U.S. and Nagano in Japan.) Some people might have heard his Silk Road album, soundtracks for a Japanese TV series composed in 1980. He won the Grammy Award in 2001 for his album Thinking of You. Composed with synthesizers, there is an inspiration from nature in his music, such as water, air, forests, sun, etc.

He will perform in his concert in this summer, 13 Full Moon Festival at Tokyo Ikegami Honmon-ji. The concert intends to provide people who live in city with the opportunity to remind of nature, or natural feelings, with listening to natural rhythms and viewing the full moon.

The main theme of his music is "nature". He puts an emphasis on the significance on it. He feels invisible, peaceful energy from nature and the god and tries to translate such energy into music. He said a purpose of his music is to connect people in all over the world with the music. It is dreamy story, but hearing his talking, it seemed possible to accomplish. He looked confident enough to believe in him.

I agree with his idea that today's people often forget nature. Even though we know of its significance, it is difficult to feel its energy in everyday life. Unfortunately, Kitaro is unsatisfied with nowadays situation in Japan. He said, "Japan is a copy machine. Where is Japanese identity?"

He recognizes the goodness of Japanese culture but, in his opinion, Japanese people do not want to take over such culture to future. I admit that it is true to some extent but somewhat wrong. Many Japanese people are gradually realizing the importance of nature and some of them are practically doing something for saving nature and Japanese culture.

Kitaro is also one of the persons who act thorough music, to feel natural energy. There is the sign to create better situation for future. (Shinobu)