Although the general impression of Kitaro's music is that it consists almost entirely of undifferentiated space rock synth noodling, the truth is actually a bit more interesting than that.
(Which is not to say that there aren't sections of The Sacred Journey of Ku-Kai that sound like someone taped down random keys on an old synthesizer and then went to get a cup of coffee.) This lengthy piece of program music features plenty of real instruments, particularly woodwinds and percussion, along with bits of birdsong and other nature sounds.
Later in the album, unexpected elements like some old-fashioned prog rock electric guitar (on "Flow" and "Evening Sun") and even the out-of-nowhere appearance of a full choir of Buddhist monks ("Nen") add further interest to the sound.
It's still an uninterrupted bliss-out, and anyone who requires such subtleties as melody and rhythm in their music will be driven insane, but there's more to The Sacred Journey of Ku-Kai than the previously uninitiated might expect.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | MichiKitaro | Kitaro | Play | 07:47 | 17 MB | 44 MB |
| 2 | ShizukuKitaro | Kitaro | Play | 05:19 | 12 MB | 29 MB |
| 3 | FlowKitaro | Kitaro | Play | 05:08 | 11 MB | 28 MB |
| 4 | NenKitaro | Kitaro | Play | 04:42 | 10 MB | 27 MB |
| 5 | The WindKitaro | Kitaro | Play | 04:55 | 11 MB | 29 MB |
| 6 | GiKitaro | Kitaro | Play | 05:04 | 11 MB | 32 MB |
| 7 | Evening SunKitaro | Kitaro | Play | 04:51 | 11 MB | 27 MB |
| 8 | SilenceKitaro | Kitaro | Play | 06:12 | 14 MB | 34 MB |
| 9 | Earth in BloomKitaro | Kitaro | Play | 07:44 | 17 MB | 43 MB |
| 10 | CocoroKitaro | Kitaro | Play | 06:25 | 14 MB | 33 MB |
| 11 | Kagero | Kitaro | Play | 05:19 | 12 MB | 33 MB |
| 63 mins | 145 MB | |||||
| 63 mins | 364 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gary Barlough | Associate Producer, Audio Production, Engineer |
| 2 | Jeff Burns | Assistant Engineer, Mixing Assistant, Mixing Engineer |
| 3 | Dawn Frank | Temple Bells |
| 4 | Jonathan Goldman | Chant |
| 5 | Kio Griffith | Art Direction, Design |
| 6 | Robert Hadley | Mastering |
| 7 | Shigeru Inoue | Assistant |
| 8 | Kristin Stordahl Kanda | Flute |
| 9 | Nawang Khechog | Chant, Tibetan Flutes |
| 10 | Kitaro | Arranger, Audio Engineer, Audio Production, Composer, Engineer, Liner Notes, Performer, Primary Artist, Producer, Writer |
| 11 | Dino Malito | A&R |
| 12 | Eiichi Naito | Audio Production, Producer |
| 13 | Lon Neuman | Digital Editing |
| 14 | Paul Pesco | Guitar (Electric), Slide Guitar |
| 15 | Tetsutaro Sakurai | Coordination |
| 16 | Doug Sax | Mastering |
| 17 | Miho Shimomaebara | Vocals |
| 18 | Allen Sides | Mixing |
| 19 | Keiko Takahashi | Keyboards |
| 20 | Hitoshi Takashima | Assistant Engineer |
| 21 | Tu Shang Xian | Pipa |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |
| CD Quality | FLAC | 16bit 44.1kHz | FLAC is an audio coding format which uses lossless compression. Digital audio in FLAC format has a smaller size and retains the same quality of the original Compact Disc (CD). |