
Kitaro
Sound
Biography
Kitaro (喜多郎 Kitarō), born Masanori Takahashi (高橋 正則, Takahashi Masanori) (February 4, 1953), is a Japanese recording artist, composer, record producer, and arranger noted for his electronic instrumental music, and is often associated and regarded as one of the most prominent musical acts of new age music. He is the winner of a Grammy Award for Best New Age Album (Thinking of You (1999); with a record 16 nominations in the same category) and a Golden Globe Award for the Heaven & Earth (1993) original score. Kitaro was born in Toyohashi, Aichi, Japan, and is a graduate of Sahid University. After graduating, Kitaro moved to Tokyo to experience and become a part of the music scene, and it was there that he discovered the synthesizer. His first synthesizer was analog, and he recalls having "just loved the analog sound that it made compared to today's digital sound". His parents were first opposed to the idea of their son having a musical career. In an effort to maneuver him towards their vision, they made arrangements for him to take a job at a local company. In return, he left home without telling them. He supported himself by taking on several part-time jobs such as cooking and civil service work, while composing songs at night. In the early 1970s, he changed completely to keyboards. He joined the Japanese music group Far East Family Band which was formed in 1965, and toured with them around the world. While in Europe, he met the German electronica and former Tangerine Dream member Klaus Schulze. Schulze produced two albums for the band and gave Kitaro some tips for controlling synthesizers. In 1976, Kitaro left Far East Family Band and travelled through Asia (China, Laos, Thailand, India). [Wikipedia]
Known For

Fourteen years after defeating the immortal warrior Himuro Genma and thwarting the Shogun of the Dark's evil plans, Kibagami Jubei continues to roam all over Japan as a masterless swordsman. During his journey, he meets Shigure, a priestess who has never seen the world outside her village.
Ninja Scroll: The Series

No description available.
Lo + plus

In a small Vietnamese village torn apart by war, a young woman faces unimaginable horrors before deciding to escape to the city. There, she encounters a compassionate Marine who offers her hope and a chance at a new life, igniting the possibility of a future together.
Heaven & Earth

Billy Fong, a Chinese boy working the Shanghai docks, becomes friends with Dawson Cole, the spoiled son of an American shipping tycoon. As adults, the friends become business partners. Dawson wants to run a legitimate trade, but Billy craves the power that comes with leadership among the cities gangster underground.
Shanghai 1920

Back in 1837 in the Northwoods of Canada and beyond, a movement was started among the colonialists to demand the right to own property in the New World. This interesting docudrama follows the tragic outcome of that movement for one of its leaders, the pacifist and nearly beatific Samuel Lount (also the great-great-great uncle of producer Elvira Lount). The orator and journalist William Lyon Mackenzie stoked up the fire among the property-deprived, and a march on Toronto was begun. Lount was convinced to join the rebellion much against his better judgment -- he belonged to the Children of Peace religious sect. Lount's own pacifism meant nothing to the authorities; they executed Lount for treason after crushing the rebellion. R.H. Thomson plays the title role in this low-budget but high-energy effort.
Samuel Lount

Ai-ling married a wealthy and powerful businessman. Ching-ling married Sun Yat-sen, the revolutionary founder of modern China. Mei-ling married Chiang Kai-shek, China's leader during World War II. The sisters captured the world's fascination for their brilliant marriages and their strong influence on their nation.
The Soong Sisters

The planet LaMetal is on a collision (and conquering) course with the Earth, and the only one who can stop the forthcoming catastrophe is Queen Millennia, a former princess of LaMetal who has made Earth her home.
Queen Millennia

No description available.
The Silk Road

An omnibus film consisting of 4 short films and a documentary related to COVID-19.
State of Emergency

A group of war prisoners has spilt blood, sweat and tears to construct a bridge over the river Kwai in Thailand. Just when the bridge is ready, an American bomber arrives and destroys it. Camp commander Tanaka wants to set an example and orders that some of the prisoners must be executed. Just in time major Harada arrives with orders that the healthiest prisoners must be transported to Japan by train and boat. A treacherous journey since the allied forces keep a close eye on railroads and practically own the seas.
Return from the River Kwai

Coral, a Hong Kong woman tortured by city life, went back to her home town to visit her two old friends. They all found that some precious things in life which disappear through the years could never be recovered.
Homecoming

Zen - Live In Katsuyama was recorded in November 2023 at the Daishizan Seidai-ji Temple in Fukui, Japan. The performance by Kitaro and his ensemble commemorated the 35th anniversary of the temple's founding. The concert features Kitaro's most acclaimed and well-known compositions as well as rarely played classics.
Zen - Live in Katsuyama

Experience a mystical journey through nature performed by a movement artist. Felix faces the whirling challenges of his inner turbulence with an emotionally charged dynamic, delicate strength, graceful dignity, as well as ecstatic devotion. Behold the fire dancer in the night.
Core of a Nature

Even though bringing in cameras to the internment camps was prohibited, one man managed to smuggle in his own camera lens and build a camera to document life behind barbed wires, with the help of other craftsmen in the camp. That man was Toyo Miyatake, a successful issei (first generation immigrant) photographer and owner of a photo-shop in the Los Angeles Little Tokyo district, and of one of the many Americans who was interned with his family against his will. With his makeshift camera, Miyatake captured the dire conditions of life in the camps during World War II as well as the resilient spirit of his companions, many of whom were American citizens who went on to fight for their country overseas. Miyatake said, "It is my duty to record the facts, as a photographer, so that this kind of thing should never happen again."
Toyo's Camera

Fifteen girls who went on an expedition to an uninhabited island are left behind because their ship sank. The girls' survival begins.
Fifteen Girl Island Diary

FBI Agent Will Graham, who retired after catching Hannibal Lecktor, returns to duty to engage in a risky cat-and-mouse game with Lecktor to capture a new killer.
Manhunter

Abstract forms animated in drawings.
Water Ring: Karma 2

Short film in which a village is terrorized by a monster. The local police investigation seems to be getting nowhere. This idiosyncratic film examines social conventions, interaction and bureaucracy.
The Monster and the Woman

No description available.
Kitaro: An Enchanted Evening Volume II

No description available.