CIRQUE INGENIEUX
SARAH'S WORLD
SOLAR SYSTEM TRAPEZE
THE TAILOR
COSTUME SHOP
WALL OF MASKS
CONTORTIONISTS
WINTER WALTZ
THE WIZARD
GALINA
UNDERWORLD
      PARADE OF RICHES
      COURT PERFORMERS
      PALACE DANCE
STRENGTH
THE ESCAPE
THE BOTTOM OF THE SKY
DOUBLE LIRA / FINALE

music written by KITARO
music arranged by KITARO and Keith Heffner
additional music by Keith Heffner

additional musicians:
Keith Heffner: keyboard
Colleen Ryan: vocal
Angus Clark: electric guitar
Kristin Stordahl Kanda: flute
Anastasia Patzer: violin
Nawang Khechog: tibetan horn, didgeridoo
Jonathan Goldman: chanting voice
Ty Burhoe: tamboura
Gary Barlough: fx

KITARO-san goes to fantasy world!! KITARO-san composed for the spectacle show "Cirque Ingenieux" which is a mixture of European circus & Broadway, and this album contains its music performed by KITARO-san himself (at the show, other musicians performed these music). Fantasy-like story of the show and KITARO-san's typical romantic and emotional music matches very much (maybe more than we can imagine!!), and this makes this album so strong & impressive. Also pop feeling is all around the album.

Even though this album looks like a soundtrack, but the sound is completely different from the other soundtracks in 1990s (HEAVEN & EARTH and THE SOONG SISTERS). Actually you can enjoy typical KITARO Music of this period on this album (like THE LIGHT OF THE SPIRIT, KOJIKI, MANDALA, and GAIA - ONBASHIRA, this album has symphonic rock with wide range of dynamism, vivid contrast between quiet and big sound, roaring electric guitar, etc. etc... and of course, beautiful melodies). That's maybe because KITARO-san performed by himself mainly. When KITARO-san performs in his own style, then it seems the music sounds like this NATURALLY!! And adding to that, on "THE TAILOR", "COSTUME SHOP", "CONTORTIONISTS", "THE WIZARD", "UNDERWORLD" , you can feel the feelings which have never appeared on the rest of all KITARO-san's albums until now. Those feelings (wonderous? lovely? so difficult to describe!!) are the charming point of this album obviously. Those fresh feelings might came from Keith Heffner who worked with KITARO-san since MANDALA album, but anyway, they matches very much with typical KITARO-san-like atomsphere. At the first look, like HEAVEN & EARTH album, you will find there are some fragmentary songs. But once you listen to this album, you are going to find that mostly all the songs are connected with both last song and next song, and find that mostly all the long songs has dramatic arrangement in which the atmosphere, rhythms, and melodies change so often (just like unfolding the story). So those fragmentary songs are matched so naturally in the album. Instead, you feel this album telling one long story... i.e. this album gives the impression of "this album contains one long song". And at the same time, you may surprised by the fact that these many kind of songs make "KITARO-san's typical flow represented through an album"!!

"GALINA" was a live favourite until 2001, and "STRENGTH" was, too, until 2002. They were important repertoire. As always in KITARO-san's case, these kind of powerful and emotional song's musical expression becomes double or triple when they are performed live. So if you hear these kind of songs' live version first, you are going to feel the original version is weaker. When performed live, "STRENGTH" is sometimes entitled "STRENGTH ACT". But these are the same songs.

This album's aspects are SLIGHTLY different from "typical" KITARO-san's album's. But remember that KITARO-san's strong albums always have something which is never heard (or felt) on the rest of all albums!! Not bad for the very first KITARO album for those who is new to KITARO Music. Or good choice for the second album or third. On "CONTORTIONISTS", you can hear the KITARO-san's impressive phrase which usually performed so often with Japanese Taiko drums, but this time with another instrument... interesting!!

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