Empire Delivers Legendary Composer Kitaro
February 2023. Ninh Binh, Vietnam
As part of a unique collaboration with Vietnamese singer Hà Anh Tuấn, Empire delivered the Grammy Award-winning artist Kitaro as the special guest performer for a two-night concert event in Ninh Binh, Vietnam.
In the months prior Kitaro collaborated with Hà Anh Tuấn to rearrange and record five songs for an upcoming digital release. The track list includes Kitaro’s classic songs “Koi” and “Silk Road” with new lyrics written in Vietnamese for the project. The other three songs are hits by Hà Anh Tuấn: “Một Mình Một Sớm Ban Mai”, “Xuân Thì”, “Tháng Tư Là Lời Nói Dối Của Em”. The collection is expected to release globally in mid-2023 with versions in Vietnamese, English, and Japanese.
Nearly 12,000 attendees made pilgrimage to the Hoa Lu Ancient Capital in the beautiful mountainous region of Ninh Binh for Hà Anh Tuấn’s sold-out concert series THE GLORIOUS HORIZON featuring Kitaro’s first-ever show in Vietnam.
Following Hà Anh Tuấn’s performance of Kitaro’s “Koi” & “Silk Road”, a 40-foot high globe rotated 180-degrees to reveal the master himself. Kitaro’s show-stopping performance included his well-known compositions “Aqua” and “Matsuri”, for which he played both synthesizer and taiko drums.
Backed by the 34-piece live band, including the Saigon Pops orchestra, Kitaro also performed his arrangements of the three hit songs by Hà Anh Tuấn. As a final surprise song for Kitaro, Hà Anh Tuấn presented the master’s song “Caravansary” with new Vietnamese lyrics and featuring the rapper Đen Vâu.
As part of his visit to Ninh Binh, Kitaro joined the environmental organization RỪNG VIỆT NAM to unveil a reforestation and wildlife protection project at Cúc Phương National Park. After a brief press conference deep within the national park, Hà Anh Tuấn and Kitaro spent the morning planting trees for future generations.
In addition to artist booking and contract negotiation, Empire advanced all technical and creative aspects of Kitaro’s participation for these events, including staging, sound, lighting, run of show, schedule, rehearsals, and hospitality. Working with our long-time partners in Vietnam, Empire coordinated all air transportation, hotel accommodations, ground transportation, and visa acquisition.
Empire also provided consulting on all matters regarding music arrangement and production, live video recording, content release and distribution, licensing, interactions with press and media, interviews, and press releases.
Empire is proud to develop unique collaborative projects between global musical artists for events in new markets such as Vietnam and beyond.