Best of Kitaro

2009 four CD collection from the Japanese keyboardist. Although the guitar was his first instrument of choice, Kitaro gravitated towards keyboards and eventually became one of the most successful and prolific New Age artists of all time. The Grammy® and Golden Globe-winning Kitaro has garnered global acclaim over a more than three decade long career with a signature sound and a pioneering fusion of cultures, techniques and spheres of consciousness that are truly his own.

The Light of the Spirit is one of Kitaro's best CDs. Perhaps it is because Mickey Hart co-produced, or perhaps Kitaro asked Hart to co-produce because it is so good. It doesn't really matter if either of those is the reason; this is just an awesome CD. Kitaro's specialty has always been the symphonic synth and this is no exception. He augments that synth with several guest musicians on a variety of ambient instruments. This is truly ambient music, albeit on the new age side of that style. The vocal accompaniment by Lynn Ray and Jeannie Tracy counts as instrumental as well. The sound design treats the wordless vocals as an extra sound to incorporate. David Jenkins contributes a smoking electric guitar that gives this rock & roll textures as well. This disc stands proudly with work by Constance Demby, Vangelis, Suzanne Ciani, and Dean Evenson as some of the best adult contemporary instrumental new age music.

Kitaro's universally acknowledged as the founding architect of new age music. The Grammy and Golden Globe Award-Winning Kitaro has achieved global acclaim over a more than three decade long career with a signature sound and a pioneering fusion of cultures, techniques and spheres of consciousness that are truly his own.

The english title of this 15-track compilation is in fact "Asian Café", and gathers 15 tracks from KITARO's solo albums, up to the great "Ancient" and "An Ancient Journey" albums. It also includes 2 tracks from the "Kitaro's World Of Music Featuring Yu-Xiao Guang" album. As is the tradition with most of KITARO's albums, the tracks are generally linked without pause in sound. This album covers many albums from the "Geffen" label era, without presenting anything unreleased… It makes for an expensive "best of", so perhaps a more affordable album like "Ten Years" or "Thinking Of You" makes for a better introduction this to this man's spiritual music…

British electronic/new age musician David Wright was born in 1953. He has released numerous records both solo and with the groups Callisto and Code Indigo that display a wide range of influences - he spent his formative years in the Far East. Working primarily in the electronic realm - he founded his own label, AD Music, in 1989 - Wright peppers his impressionistic compositions with rock, jazz, classical, and worldbeat flavors, resulting in an instrumental smorgasbord of diverse moods and colors that has been favorably compared to Kitaro, Mike Oldfield, and Vangelis.