Their debut album in 1998,
Prayer quickly established
Seiichi Kyoda and
Kazumasa Yoshioka as masters of fusing Western style
hip-hop-
electronic music with traditional
Japanese sacred music and instruments. Incorporating a medley of ingredients, including
Buddhist sutras recitations,
shakuhatchis and
kotos, and in-house rhythms and bass, the duo creates an uplifting and profound
spiritualand musical experience that transcends simple ethnic music. This is not a generic blend of world and popular music, it is first class music of its genre, that only Pacific Moon can discover and exclusively steal for their own label.
Working collaboratively with Yoshioka since 1997, Kyodo-san mentions that though they have been producing pop music for the longest periods, they have only been recently influenced by Japanese traditional music, admitting that they were quite ignorant of their own musical cultural heritage. Their follow up album, East Wind, was ranked #1 on the New Age Voice Airwaves Top 100. It was inspired by the winter season, and the denizens that endure the harsh and yet beautiful conditions of the Himalayas. Uttara-Kuru is a Buddhist derived term meaning Shangri-La.