Kitaro’s transcendent tunes: Breathing spiritual, natural energy into music

Kitaro during the Q&A session at the Sarawak Cultural Village theatre stage on June 28, 2024.

By Marlynda Meraw and Shikin Louis

KUCHING, June 28: Nature’s whispers and spiritual echoes blend seamlessly in Kitaro’s music—the two essential elements in his creative process.

Sounds like chirping birds and howling winds are intricately woven into his compositions, painting a vivid soundscape of nature within his music.

However, even the musical maestro faces difficulties in producing music, especially when the sounds of nature do not harmonise, and to overcome the obstacle, Kitaro would sit down and reflect.

“Maybe there are too many man-made sounds. The feeling of human commercialisation.

“(Making music) is much easier when we know it through our spirit,” Kitaro said during the question-and-answer (Q&A) session during his ‘The Best of Kitaro: Natural Inspirations’ workshop at the Sarawak Cultural Village here today.

The musician shared that despite being a musical aficionado, he had never obtained a proper music education, much less graduated from a music university.

“However, when I use the synthesiser, I feel like I can make sounds from the movie scenes. Even though I started 50 years ago, I am still learning,” added Kitaro.

To him, music is much preferable when played together instead of Kitaro having to teach others how to make music.

“I like to share the energy,” he said.

Kitaro will be performing at the Rainforest World Music Festival (RWMF) 2024 tonight at 9.42pm alongside other international performers, such as Tribal Tide from Singapore and Rhythm Rebels featuring Selonding Bali Aga from Indonesia. —DayakDaily