© 2003 Jim Newman

Born in 1953 in Germany, Stephan Micus made his first journey to the Orient at the age of sixteen. Fascinated by the variety of musical cultures around the world, Micus has traveled in virtually every Asian and European country as well as in Africa and the Americas. Studying with local master musicians, he learned to play numerous traditional instruments, many of them unknown in the Western world. In India, he studied sitar; flamenco guitar in Granada, Spain; shakuhachi and sho (Japanese mouth organ) in Kyoto, Japan; suling (Balinese flute) in Bali; Uillean pipes in Ireland; sinding (African harp) in Gambia; dondon (talking drum) in Ghana; doussn' gouni (African harp) in Mali; duduki (Georgian oboe) and choral singing in Tbilisi, Georgia; hné (Burmese oboe) in Myanmar; duduk (Armenian oboe) in Armenia; bagana (Ethiopian lyre) in Addis Abeba. However, Micus's intention is not to play these instruments in a traditional manner, but rather to develop the fresh musical possibilities, which he feels are inherent in them. In many of his compositions, which he performs himself, he combines instruments that have never before been played together. The resulting dialogues further reflect his vision of a trans-cultural music. In addition to his exclusively acoustic instruments Micus also uses his voice, at times—with multitrack recording techniques—creating whole choral pieces by himself. Generally, however, the words he sings do not carry any known meaning. He has received commissions from the Cologne Opera and the Stuttgarter Staatstheater. He released his first album in 1976 and records on the ECM label.