Chihei Hatakeyama - A Long Journey download free

I really love all of Hatakeyama's work, but if I would have to recommend one album as an introduction to his sound, this is the one. A Long Journey is a metaphor for life, Hatakeyama's image of the journey of birth to death, a collection of serene dreamscapes based on field recording material gathered in San Francisco during 2006, mixed with guitar-based pieces, as well as gorgeous piano elements, inspired by Shinto religion of Japan. According to Hatakeyama "Shinto teaches us that everything has a spiritual essence (a ‘Kami’). This loosely translates as a spirit, or god even. There being a myriad of these Kami, they reside in everything but some places are considered to have a more scared spirit within them. Quite often these are rocks, rivers, trees, mountains and other such calming natural places, hence why so many shrines are built in such unique areas."