Search - Osamu :: Passages

New Age World Masterpiece

Mark D. Prouse | Riverdale (Bronx), NY | 09/10/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Long after ridding myself of most of my commercially manufactured cassettes, I hung on to PASSAGES because I could not find a CD of it anywhere. Accidentally discovering some copies finally available on Amazon was a pleasant surprise, and I snatched up a copy immediately. There could not be a lovelier fusion of so-called "new age" and world music. The blend of kotos and other strings, sythesizers and Japanese drums is simply captivating. Osamu's CD's are often hard to find, and all are worth hearing (Osamu is far more inventive and varied than Kitaro, his closest competition. There is more emphasis on acoustic instruments, for one, while Kitaro seems to endlessly repeat himself). I consider PASSAGES to be Osamu's masterpiece, so it seems odd that it's also the hardest one to find."