Kitaro - Gaia
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CD Details
Artist: KitaroEdition: Music CD
CD Release Date: 1998-05-19
Music Label: Domo Records
Soundtracks:
- Yamadashi: Tanne/Prayer
- Misty
- Gaia
- Wood Fairy
- Satobiki
- Kiotoshi
Music reviews of Gaia
Music Review: Vintage Kitaro
Rating: 5 Stars
I'm not a huge fan of Kitaro. Yes, he's a prolific electronic composer, but productivity doesn't necessarily equal quality.
Kitaro's impressive output aside, much of his instantly recognizable music is same-sounding and unaffecting (i.e. stellar as opposed to cardiac). He's not the type of artist that makes me rush to buy his latest release.
His music has over the more recent years also become a little too Yanni-like bombastic for my liking. I prefer his earlier more quieter and modest records, from the Eighties and Nineties. Toward The West (1985), for instance, I play quite often, and includes one of my most-cherished Kitaro songs: the surprisingly melodious, emotionally-laden and uplifting Auspicious Omen. Considering that Jon Anderson is one of my favorite singer-songwriters, I also enjoy Kitaro's 1999 collaborative album, Dream, especially the two spine-tinglingly beautiful ballads: Lady Of Dreams and Island Of Life. (Though it is Jon Anderson that provides much of the heart here, what with his irreplaceable and invaluable, moving and majestic vocals.)
As for Gaia Onbashira (1998), for me it's the musician's capstone. It is distinguishable among Kitaro's oeuvre due to its refreshing departure in sounding more natural than synthetic. Included here are some non-electronic instruments for a change, other than just his signature synthesizer. Besides electric guitar, in parts we also can hear bird-calls and what sounds like a babbling stream. Dissimilar to most of Kitaro's CDs, Gaia Onbashira (6 tracks; 49:20) is less spacey and contains a much-welcome indigenous ingredient; the album makes you feel like you're outdoors rather than in a recording studio, which I like.
Two tracks, in particular, are outstanding.
The opener, Yamadashi, is a 13-minute-long, slowly evolving composition highlighted by an amazing, belted chant that begins at about the 7-minute mark (and which lasts for roughly two minutes), whereupon it segues into and is topped off by a musical passage that begins at 9:35 - a catchy and repeated phrase that impresses itself upon the mind and lingers there long afterwards, and which carries out the opus until its spectacular, climactic ending. Wow! Yamadashi is exotic, powerful, and memorable and so different in style than much of Kitaro's sound.
Wood Fairy is another notable track. It's my favorite Kitaro song of all. Like its song title says, it takes the listener to a magical place home to storybook forest fays.
Gaia Onbashira is vintage Kitaro and unlike anything else he has produced.
Description of Gaia
Gaia Onbashira is a musical exploration of respect and how it relates to ancient traditions. Gaia loosely translates to Goddess of the Earth or Mother Earth and Onbashira is a festival that occurs every seven years in Japan. During the Onbashira festival, eight individuals are chosen for spiritually cleansing. The participants ascend a mountain and attempt to spiritually connect with the heavens through the trees. These trees are then allowed to fall down the mountain and eventually become posts and the foundation of a ceremonial shrine. Through these events, these individuals learn to become more in touch with their spirits.This album is a far-reaching journey that brings together influences of the East and West, past and present, history and future. These tracks resonate with earthly sounds and the history embodied in pre-Columbian wind and percussion instruments.
Inspired by the centuries-old Onbashira Matsuri (Pillar Festival) in Japan, Gaia Onbashira is an ambitious work of programmatic (that is, inspired by an outside, non-musical event) music that combines ancient percussion and wind instruments with a modern approach and some excellent synthesizer work. This ambition is most fully realized on the two-part "Yamadashi," which progresses steadily from a low-key beginning to rhythmic, taiko-style drumming and singing. This progression from simple beginnings to more and more complex musical structures is a feature on this album; the only real exception is "Kiotoshi," which has a classical-style concerto construction. Kitaro's sweeping, cinematic style is impressive and often enchanting; one is often left wondering what would happen if he had a full orchestra to work with. --Genevieve Williams
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