For Immediate Release
Domo Music Group Releases a new Kitaro Video, “Kojiki and The Universe” An Experiment in Merging Music with Movies of The Universe
Los Angeles, CA (Sept 2016) – The liner notes from Domo Music Group’s upcoming release, Kitaro’s “Kojiki and The Universe” tell the tale of an amazing artist and a shared journey. “Kojiki and The Universe”, an experiment in merging music (Kitaro’s ‘Kojiki’) and movies of the universe, was developed for this collaborative event, and was actually presented in the clock tower hall of Kyoto University after the annular solar eclipse…”
“I (Kazunari Shibata) first met Kitaro on Feb 7, 2012, the same year as the first annular solar eclipse to be observed in Kyoto for 282 years. It was a journalist, Ms. Sachiko Tamashige, who brought Kitaro to Kwasan Observatory of Kyoto University to introduce him to me. I gave them a tour of the observatory, introducing the historical buildings, telescopes, and instruments of Kwasan Observatory including the oldest actively-used telescope in Japan, the Sartorius telescope; as well as real time H-alpha solar images. Kitaro enjoyed the short tour of Kwasan Observatory very much, and I found that he really has a great love for astronomy and the universe. It was at this time that we agreed to perform a collaboration at Kyoto University on the day of the annular solar eclipse, May 21, 2012.
“Kojiki and The Universe”, an experiment in merging music (Kitaro’s ‘Kojiki’) and movies of the universe, was developed for this collaborative event, and was actually presented in the clock tower hall of Kyoto University after the annular solar eclipse. At that time, the timing of the music and movies were matched using power-point editing software, and the timing was sometimes not necessarily exact. Therefore, I then asked Ms. Tamaki Motoki and Mr. Masashi Iwakura to edit “Kojiki and The Universe” using modern movie-editing software and hardware. Dr. Keisuke Nishida also played an important role with this editing. This newly-edited version was presented after Kitaro’s live performance of a part of ‘Kojiki’ during the symposium entitled ‘Kojiki and The Universe’ that was held in Yamato-Koriyama city of Nara prefecture on Nov 24, 2012. Yamato-Koriyama is the city where the Kojiki myth was written 1300 years ago. This video is based on the version for the Yamato-Koriyama city symposium with some further editing. Especially the last chapter “Reimei” has been completely revised for the international version in which a history of astronomy, space science and engineering around the world is introduced.
The Kojiki myth is a story closely related to the universe, since it describes the origin of Heaven and Earth (i.e., The Universe), the creation of the Gods and all things. Part of this myth, the Ama-no-Iwato (“heavenly rock cave”) story, can be interpreted as describing an ancient total solar eclipse. Kitaro’s “Kojiki” interprets this story of the universe with beautiful sound and melody. The movies and images of the universe presented in this video are all selected based on inspiration from Kitaro’s “Kojiki” and considering the contents of the story of Kojiki. All movies and images of the universe we present here are not only beautiful but also important from the viewpoint of astronomical research, and hence this video is useful as an introduction to modern astronomy.
Please enjoy the latest movies and images of The Universe with Kitaro.” – Kazunari Shibata
Kitaro has performed all over the world many times. Grammy and Golden Globe-winning Artist Kitaro received his 16th Grammy Nomination for a project recorded LIVE with a full-orchestra entitled, Kitaro – “Symphony Live in Istanbul” in 2015.
Kitaro – “Symphony Live in Istanbul” was recorded live at the Halic Congress Center in Istanbul, Turkey over two evenings in March of 2014. Grammy and Golden Globe winning artist Kitaro’s “Symphony Live in Istanbul” is breathtaking. The album features new musical material while also including eight of the acclaimed artist’s most requested and popular compositions. This amazing performance marked Kitaro’s first-ever recording for Domo Music Group, which balances the artist’s signature sound and expands it to new heights with the addition of a full live symphony orchestra. The album included Kitaro’s Golden Globe award-winning theme from the Oliver Stone film “Heaven & Earth,” music from his critically acclaimed “Kojiki” album and “Silk Road” soundtrack as well as two compositions from his Grammy award-winning album “Thinking of You”. New material includes a previously unreleased composition, “Kokoro (Part II)”.
