Japanese Ritual Inspires Kitaro’s Sounds

Obashira, or “Festival of the Pillars,” may not initially resonate in memory. But the identity suddenly becomes very clear when it is identified as the festival--prominently featured on the news recently--in which seemingly fanatical Japanese men, at risk of life and limb, ride enormous tree trunks down a steep mountainside.

The event, actually a 1,200-year-old sacred ritual related to the rebuilding of the Suwa Grand Shrine in Nagano, takes place every seven years. And it is both the centerpiece and inspiration for “Gaia” (Domo Records), the first new studio album in more than four years from Japanese New Age-world music composer Kitaro.

The six tracks on “Gaia” are Kitaro’s reaction to experiencing the intense psychic energy surrounding Obashira.

“It is amazing to see what those men will do, riding those huge logs down the mountain,” he says. “One of them actually lost an arm.”

Kitaro--who has been recording since 1978, garnering six Grammy nominations, as well as a Golden Globe Award for his score for Oliver Stone’s “Heaven & Earth”--composed and recorded much of the music in his studio in Colorado, a place he feels resonates with the same natural energies he experiences during the time he spends in Japan. Like other recordings in the extensive Kitaro discography, it mixes orchestral textures with Japanese elements, pop-styled rhythmic underpinnings and sampled natural sounds.

“On the opening track,” he says, “I wanted to have bird sounds. But we couldn’t get quite the right samples. So I found a bunch of different kinds of bird whistles, and we all played them randomly around the studio--like birds in the trees. And now everyone thinks it’s the sound of real birds.”

Kitaro titled the album “Gaia,” he says, because “it is another word for earth. To me, earth and nature are things we should always respect and honor. And I try to do that, always, through my music, and through the way I live.”

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On Her Own: Aside from the spectacular footwork in the show “Riverdance,” it is the music that tends to stay in one’s memory. And one of the principal elements in the score is the soaring, angelic voice of Katie McMahon, who has been with the company since it was little more than a showcase presentation.

“Yes, I’ve been there since 1994, right from the start,” says McMahon. “In fact, the songs were actually written for me originally. It’s amazing when I think how it started, and I realize that there currently are three ‘Riverdance’ shows touring, and they’re already talking about three more.”

McMahon, who studied voice and harp at the Royal Irish Academy of Music in Dublin, made it clear from the show’s beginning that she and the other singers were not dancers.

“I told the producer, ‘Look, we’re not really actors, we just sing, so don’t give us anything complicated to do,’ ” she says. “But we actually do get to do some dancing, which is just fine. I mean, anyone who spends time in Irish bars learns how to do a bit of step dancing.”

MacMahon is now taking a step out on her own, with the release of her first solo album, “After the Morning” (Serene Records). Although the songs pay homage to McMahon’s traditional background with tracks filled with Irish pipes, harps, whistles and fiddles, they also take a contemporary slant, reflecting her belief in the capacity of Celtic music to embrace many different elements.

“Irish music is alive, everywhere,” she says. “Look at the soundtrack of ‘Titanic.’ And I think a lot of the reason for it is because in Ireland, where it all begins, young people listen to traditional music. It’s a very alive tradition, not just hyped up for the media. Some people say it’s just another musical phase, but I don’t think so. Irish music has been around too long, and it’s way too much alive to just be a passing fancy.”

Quick Take: The 1998 Guinness Fleadh (Gaelic for “festival,” pronounced “flah”) makes a West Coast stop (after programs in New York and Chicago) at San Jose’s Spartan Stadium on June 28. Among the scheduled performers are the Chieftains, Sinead O’Connor, Tracy Chapman, Chumbawamba, John Lee Hooker and X. Tickets: (510) 762-2277.