CD ECM Records Stephan Micus: Desert Poems

2001

Stephan Micus - Sarangi, Dondon, Voice, Dilruba, Doussn' Gouni, Kalimba, Sinding, Steel Drum, Percussion, Shakuhachi, Nay, Sattar, Flowerpots

Micus expands his already broad musical horizons on Desert Poems, his 15th solo project, which he recorded between 1997 and 2000 in his studio on the Mediterranean island of Mallorca. Among the 'firsts' on Desert Poems are Micus's recorded debuts playing three African instruments - the doussn' gouni, (a West African harp), the kalimba (a Tanzanian thumb piano) and the dondon (a talking drum from Ghana); his singing in English (a haunting solo a cappella performance called 'Contessa Entellina' and on 'For Yuko', dedicated to his daughter) and an instrumental arrangement of 'Shen Khar Venakhi', a 13th century polyphonic choral piece from Georgia, which is the only work Micus did not compose to appear in his discography to date.

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Recommandé par Classica

Those who know this German vagrant’s work already will need no further persuading to buy his arresting new CD; for those who don’t, it will make an ideal starting point. Its nine tracks girdle the globe in terms of instruments – from the West African harp to the steel drums, from the Egyptian nay to the Afghan lute. Micus takes his inspiration from all over, and transmutes “found” music into music which is inalienably his own.
Michael Church, The Scotsman

Stephan Micus, the Bavarian multi-instrumentalist, has produced a colourful ethnic patchwork on his fourteenth album Desert Poems. Recorded in Majorca, Micus’s music possesses gossamer beauty. Really, Micus is at heart a world musician, but his work is popular with all kinds of contemporary music audiences. He uses instruments from Africa, India, Japan and China and draws successfully on the musics of those countries, too. You can hear his minimalist approach at ist most effective and resonant on the extraordinary Contessa Entellina, a paean to a Sicilian countess sung in English (as opposed to the fantasy language for which he is well known). Timeless, magical music with a universal appeal.
Mike Bradley, The Times

Stephan Micus has cut an idiosyncratic figure on the contemporary musical landscape since making his first album in 1975. In the course of further recordings for ECM, Micus has explored a musical path which eludes all attempts at genre categorisation – it is certainly not jazz, by any definition of the term, nor is it classical. His use of a bewildering range of ethnic instruments might lead us to brand what he does as a pioneering example of what came to be called world music, but even that won’t really do. Micus creates a sound world that is all his own, inventing and re-inventing instruments and their sounds, and moulding them to a shape that is internal and spiritual as much as external and worldly. Desert Poems draws on instruments and inspiration from India, Africa, the West Indies, Japan, Egypt, China, and Europe (not to mention two flowerpots played with mallets), but ultimately the music belongs not to any of these places, but to Micus’s singular imagination.
Kenny Mathieson, Jazzwise

This is an album of simple purity, majestic serenity, beauty and infectious melodies ... Micus’ playing is so precise, and his composition so purposeful, that this listener was transfixed by his virtuosity and the integrity of his vision.
Max Reinhardt, Songlines

Micus is on a quest to make the exotic accessible and the strange familiar. Western ears are becoming more attuned to instruments from foreign lands and Micus’ arsenal is large, potent and used to stunning effect. Dispel any thoughts of new age meditation. This is beautifully crafted, virtuoso music from no particular geographical location with a mood not entirely of this world either. ... The pervading feeling is that Micus is a conduit for this music and it will out no matter what he blows, strikes or resonates. Ranging from solo chant through gamelan type rhythms via intensely focussed Japanese flute to flower pots played with mallets, the overall effect is one of amazement at his unique method of sound construction.
John Cratchley, Avant