Stephan Micus - Thunder

January 18, 2023

Label: ECM Records, 2023

Personnel - Stephan Micus: frame drum, dung chen, Burmese temple bells, Himalayan horse bells, ki un ki, bass zither, bowed dinding, kyeezee, shakuhachi, sarangi, nyckelharpa, kaukas, sapeh, voice, nokhan.

Thunder, the most recent release from multi-intrumentalist and world music practitioner Stephan Micus, is far from roaring despite paying tribute to several thunder gods around the world. It’s a rather sharply plotted musical excursion that keeps reimagining the limits of improvised world sounds. Micus, an eternal traveler with a long-legged career nearly exclusively made on ECM Records, plays 14 instruments here, and forges homogeneous stylistic paths in innovative ways over the course of nine tracks.

“A Song for Thor” unfolds firmly with reverberating frame drum sounds, low-pitched drones emitted by the bass zither, and - operating on a higher register - three Tibetan dung chen trumpets (Micus learned recently this four-meter long instrument at a Buddhist monastery in Katmandu and recorded it here for the very first time), and a ki un ki, a two-meter wind instrument used by the Udege people in Eastern Siberia. This musical state tiptoes into ritualistic territory, just like “A Song for Vajrapani”, whose mysticism shrouds the piece in an intriguing curtain of mystery. On the latter, the ki un ki is replaced by the nokhan, a transverse Japanese bamboo flute.

“A Song for Armazi”, with majestic percussive sweeps of bass zither and the bowed strings of the sarangis (India) and the nyckelharpa (Sweden), evokes the impressive stillness of a beautiful landscape. Taking the same instrumentation to a more melodic level, “A Song for Zeus”, flows with a gentle percussive drive, becoming one of the most immediate and compelling tracks on the album.

Both “A Song for Shango” and “A Song for Ishkur” incorporate voice layers (eight and three, respectively), kaukas (a pluriarc from South Africa) and sapeh (a lute from Borneo). They avoid commonplace with a contemplative spiritual insight.

Favorite Tracks:
01 - A Song for Thor ► 03 - A Song for Armazi ► 07 - A Song for Zeus

Stephan Micus - Winter's End

June 16, 2021

Label: ECM Records

Personnel - Stephan Micus: 12-string guitar, chikulo, sinding, nohkan, nay, charango, sattar, suling, kalimba, tongue drum, Tibetan cymbals, vocals

Winter’s End, the 26th solo album from German multi-instrumentalist Stephan Micus on ECM was mounted with 11 instruments from 10 countries and impeccable vocal layers.

“Autumn Hymn” fuses the heaven and earth through an ethnic dance that incorporates the nohkan, a traverse Japanese bamboo flute that darts and weaves over droning throbs and clicking noises of a trio of chikulos, a bass xylophone from Mozambique.

On the first page of the CD booklet we read the following quote from the Japanese poet Murakami Kijo: “Although there is the road, the child walks in the snow”. Inspired by it, Micus delivers both “Walking in Snow” and “Walking in Sand” in a 12-string guitar that oozes kindness, poignancy and a quiet vibration that is complemented with occasional harmonics.

Whether “A New Light” probes eastern chamber tones thanks to the sattar sounds (a long necked bowed instrument used by the Uigurs, a Turkman people from Western China), “Oh Chikulo” builds its nomadic narrative with deeper percussive sounds, employing four chikulos for the effect. This last instrument is also at the base of “Black Mother”, which admits clever modulation and a tuneful choral of 11multi-pitched voices recorded by Micus. He takes his singing gift even further on the beautiful “The Longing of the Migrant Birds”, whose dancing rhythm and spellbinding 14 layers of voice take us into a spiritual journey from Europe to Africa.

With expressive melancholy, “Southern Stars” drops passionate, romantic vibes emitted by four charangos (a small Andean stringed instrument), five sulings (Indonesian bamboo ring flute), one sinding (West African harp) and two nays (ancient Egyptian hollow flute).

This album, in all its simplicity and beauty, might not surpass its two predecessors - Inland Sea (2017) and White Night (2019) - but Micus’ harmonious and rhythmic qualities are found intact.

Favorite Tracks:
02 - Walking in Snow ► 03 - The Longing of the Migrant Birds ► 11 - Walking in Sand

Stephan Micus - White Night

April 23, 2019

Label: ECM Records, 2019

Personnel - Stephan Micus: kalimba, fourteen-string guitar, steel string guitar, duduk, bass duduk, Tibetan cymbals, sinding, dondon, nay, Indian cane whistles, vocals.

Stephan Micus is a key reference in the world music scene. His thematic albums allow us to discover new places and sounds and White Night, the 23rd solo work for ECM, takes us into another journey full of musical idiosyncrasies. Operating several quirky instruments with deep focus, Micus starts this excursion in the East with the primitive, ancient, and eternal contemplation “The Eastern Gate”, which proposes atonality and deep hollow textures, and ends in the West with the well-delineated movements and robust rhythmic cadence of “The Western Gate”. Both tunes feature five 14-string guitars (a Micus trademark), one bass duduk (Armenian drone instrument taken to another level by Micus), and Tibetan cymbals, but while the former incorporates a more conventional steel string guitar, the latter employs one sinding (West African harp with five strings made of cotton).

The ten-stage route encompasses “The Bridge”, where vocalized chants echo on top of the vibes produced by four bronze kalimbas (they come from four different African countries) and sinding, “The River”, crossed with timely percussive rattles and lovely duduk melancholy, and a “Black Hill”, whose exotic groove feels like a song of praise for mother Earth. The latter number piles up eight Indian cane whistles and a nay (ancient Egyptian hollow reed flute) and make them dance harmoniously over the raw pulse established by a couple of dondon, the ‘talking-drum’ from Ghana.

This recording was inspired by the moonlight and its special magic. Hence, the sight of “Fireflies” and the presence of the “Moon” itself are intrinsic parts of the scenario, authentic anticlimactic balms for this busy, technological world we’re immersed in. The former composition emanates a warm African breeze created by 22 layers of sound that include pitch-clear vocals, kalimba, sinding, and Indian cane whistles. In contrast, “Moon” is told in only one voice with the lonely sounds of duduk arching over the silence. This piece, together with “All The Way”, a kalimba solo, was recorded in just one take.

Micus continues his spiritual celebration of cultural diversity through imaginative, humble music.

Favorite Tracks:
01 - The Eastern Gate ► 03 - The River ► 10 - The Western Gate