Kitaro

Not only is Kitaro well-versed in synthesizer and guitar, but he is also likely to turn up on harp or percussion, and he freely mixes modern instruments with the shakuhachi flute, the taiko drum, or the koto (a stringed instrument akin to a zither). In other words, modern meets ancient in harmonious union.

Kitaro also is skilled in the use of ambient soundscapes to enrich his musical palette. He straddles not only the line between Eastern and Western melodic structure, but also the one between a mere musical composition and an entire sonic environment. He uses music the way the painter Maxfield Parrish used light.

Hey, it's not just for meditation any more. Kitaro's sound refreshes the spirit, and while he may be the artist of choice for massage and contemplation, his art is perfectly at home on the highway or the jogging path. If your id could use a time out, here's the soundtrack.

One of the foundation artists of new age music, Kitaro started out with musical interests ranging from Otis Redding to Klaus Schulze, though either would be hard to detect in his last couple of decades of recordings. Kitaro began as something of an underground phenom, recording in a home studio in the shadow of Mt. Fuji. By the mid-'80s, he had helped to shape an entire musical genre.