Stephan Micus (/ʃtɛˈfɑːn ˈmiːkəs/; born 19 January 1953)[1] is a German musician and composer, whose musical style is heavily influenced by his study of traditional instruments and musical techniques from Japan, India, South America, and other countries. With the exception of his album The Music of Stones (1989), he plays all the instruments on his recordings, combining styles from different countries and using the instruments in unprecedented ways in each of his pieces.[1] He often uses layers of a single instrument to create unusual combinations of sounds. He is one of the few ECM Records artists whose records are not produced by Manfred Eicher.[2] He has mixed instruments from around the world, or used whatever was at hand: stones, ordinary flowerpots tuned with water, and his voice—singing improvised syllables over ten years before others made this approach fashionable.
Stephan Micus | |
|---|---|
| Born | 19 January 1953 Stuttgart, Germany |
| Genres | Avant-garde, New-age |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, singer |
| Instrument | Multi-instrumentalist |
| Years active | 1976–present |
| Labels | ECM |
| Website | www |
Micus has played bagpipes, Japanese bamboo flute, rabab, steel drums, and zither.[3]
Discography
edit- 1976 - Archaic Concerts (Caroline/Virgin)
- 1977 - Implosions (Japo/ECM)
- 1978 - Behind Eleven Deserts (Wind)
- 1978 – Till the End of Time (Japo/ECM)
- 1981 - Koan (Japo/ECM) (recorded in 1977)
- 1982 – Wings over Water (Japo/ECM)
- 1983 – Listen to the Rain (Japo/ECM)
- 1985 – East of the Night (Japo/ECM)
- 1986 – Ocean (ECM)
- 1987 – Twilight Fields (ECM)
- 1989 – The Music of Stones (ECM)
- 1990 – Darkness and Light (ECM)
- 1992 – To the Evening Child (ECM)
- 1994 – Athos (ECM)
- 1997 – The Garden of Mirrors (ECM)
- 2001 – Desert Poems (ECM)
- 2002 – Towards the Wind (ECM)
- 2004 – Life (ECM)
- 2006 – On the Wing (ECM)
- 2008 – Snow (ECM)
- 2010 – Bold as Light (ECM)
- 2013 – Panagia (ECM)
- 2015 – Nomad Songs (ECM)
- 2017 – Inland Sea (ECM)
- 2019 – White night (ECM)
- 2021 – Winter's End (ECM)
- 2023 - Thunder (ECM)
References
edit- ^ a b Colin Larkin, ed. (1992). The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music (First ed.). Guinness Publishing. p. 1683. ISBN 0-85112-939-0.
- ^ Kelman, John (13 January 2005). "Stephan Micus: Solitary Pursuits". All ABout Jazz. Retrieved 30 October 2016.
Manfred was with me in the studio for the first two records, Implosions (JAPO, 1977) and Till the End of Time (JAPO, 1978, reissued ECM, 1993) but since then he hasn't been involved with my recordings at all.
- ^ Berendt, Joachim-Ernst; Huesmann, Gunther (2009). The Jazz Book: From Ragtime to the 21st Century (7 ed.). Chicago, Illinois: Lawrence Hill Books. p. 543. ISBN 978-1-55652820-0.