Every once in a while, the general music-listening public collectively latches onto an esoteric trend and gets super into it for awhile.
In the ’60s, it was Indian raga, such as Ali Akbar Khan. In the ’70s, it was jazz fusion like Miles Davis, his large cohort of collaborators, and their imitators.
Then in the 80s, there came New Age. And while it’s easy to dismiss new age as uninspired, atmospheric, pseudo-spiritualism that went on to become the soundtrack of wannabe yogis and crystal-filled wellness spas forever, Kitaro is another story.