Internationally known musician Kitaro performs tonight at 8 p.m. at the

Bijou Theatre. This is his first appearance in Knoxville, and he said he is

excited at the prospect.

“I’ve never seen Knoxville, but my feelings are that it’s a nice place,” he

said. “I’m looking forward to meeting a new audience and having them hear

my music. I like to meet the people and talk to them.”

Kitaro speaks easily of his career, with openness and a bright sense of

humor. Currently touring to support his new album, Mandala, he spoke

of the importance of the album in his career.

“Mandala is like the second stage of my life,” he said. “This album

is the start of a new experience.”

When most people think of Kitaro, they may think of New Age music. The

artist himself prefers to think of his work as “spiritual music,” and

points out the differences he sees.

“New age music started in the middle of the ’80s,” Kitaro said. “My music

started in the middle of the ’70s. My music hasn’t changed, but people have

categorized it. My music sometimes does not feel New Age. It is just my

music, my spiritual feelings put to music.”

His trademark style came to life when these influences met with the music

of his homeland, Japan.

“I wanted to combine these things: Asian sounds with Western,” he

said.

Oddly, for an artist whose music is labeled New Age, Kitaro cites American

bluesmen B.B. King and Otis Redding as his earliest influences.

“These songs came from the U.S. to Japan,” he said. “We started our musical

life from this music, rock and roll and progressive rock.”

Known for his anthem synthesizer orchestrations, Kitaro sees his skills

more simply.

“My first instrument was the guitar,” he said, “and I still call myself a

guitarist.”

In recent years, this desire to unify the music of both hemispheres brought

Kitaro into collaboration with several groups of Tibetan monks. With Mickey

Hart, of the Grateful Dead, Kitaro helped the Gyuto monks organize a tour

of the U.S. to publicize the turmoil in their nativeTibet.

“After that I’ve had times to work with other groups of them,” he said.

“Last year I toured with Nawang, who lives at my house now.” Nawang is a

monk and musician whose upcoming album Kitaro is producing.

Through this mixture of East and West, Kitaro has earned the New Age

label.