Desert Poems [IMPORT]

Stephan Micus

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 27, 2001)
• Original Release Date: February 27, 2001
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Ecm Import
• ASIN: B000056P08
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #71,257 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Stephan Micus has never been an extravagant musician. Even when playing 28 tuned flowerpots or five shakuhachi, his music is suited more for the silent corner than the thundering stage. Still, Desert Poems may be his most austere and prayerful album since The Music of Stones. He's still playing multiple instruments, including the Indian sarangi, the West African doussn'gouni harp, and his trademark flowerpots, only they are sparsely deployed over stretched-out melodies. Micus also reveals a soulful tenor he employs in English and a language of his imagination. He curves around the sparse backing, a thumping doussn'gouni on track one, a multi-kalimba cycle on "Mikhail's Dream," and a gong-like flowerpot on "For Yuko." You can hear the influence of Arvo Pärt on "Adela" with a menacing, scraped staccato centering canonic violin lines that build to a solemn crescendo. Micus's music has always had a spiritual edge, but with Desert Poems, he's moving into the sacred realm. --John Diliberto

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THERE ARE TEN THOUSAND WAYS TO BOW AND KISS THE EARTH..., October 10, 2001

By	Larry L. Looney (Austin, Texas USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Stephan Micus' latest offering is indeed, as one reviewer has stated, 'more of the same' -- but in Micus' case, that's not such a bad thing. Over the past 25 years, he has recorded 16 albums -- amazing, beautiful examples of the path he has chosen to honor the earth and its diversity of cultures. Just inside the booklet that accompanies this release, Micus has placed a quotation from Rumi (c.1270) -- it is a very telling choice: 'There are ten thousand ways to bow and kiss the earth'.

The pieces on this disc are absolutely beautiful -- Stephan Micus makes some of the most evocative music I have ever heard. I have been a staunch fan since the release of his first album, 'Archaic concerts', in 1976 -- his only release not available on cd. He has never made any claim to be classically schooled in the various traditions from which he draws his inspiration and sounds -- but his respect for them, his empathy for the cultures, beliefs and values they represent, could not be more apparent.

There are instruments on this disc from places as far-ranging as India, Ghana, Mali, Tanzania, the West Indies, Japan, Egypt and China. The vocals -- in Micus' trademark style using sounds without the constraints of language, include also a traditional Georgian chant from a.d.1250. Rather than seem out of place (or time), it fits seamlessly into his music.

I have always found the work of Stephan Micus to be both stimulating and relaxing -- a way of travelling by sound that honors our planet's diversity without pretending to replicate its traditions note-for-note. There is a gentle, meditative spirit present in his recordings.

In today's troubled times, I think it could even bring us a little closer to understanding and appreciating the differences that make this planet a wonderful place, instead of being frightened by them.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Subtle Same, Thank God, October 19, 2001

By	Paul Galioni "pgalioni" (Susanville/Nevada City, CA, USofA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I consider Micus to be one of the preeminent composers of our time, Genius in its truest and brightest meaning. I live at the western edge of the High Desert of the Basins and Ranges and have come to love the desert more than I had ever imagined possible. Capturing the stark beauty of stark places is one of the most difficult things which can be done - one must turn inward to see outward, the further inward you are able to see, the greater the panorama of your outer vision. While others have commented that this is 'more of the same' and that this is 'not a bad thing' - I have to disagree - in the stark places of the world, just as in the stark places of the Soul - the beauty, the Mystery, lies in the subtle differences. I own all albums and while I may find some more favorite than others, each has it's own subtle beauty. I would rank this album within the top five, and possibly the top three of my favorite Micus albums. The Subtle Beauty, just as the subtle difference, is there if you have the ear to hear. A very good album from an exceptional creator.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Timeless, and a Quantum Leap for Micus, May 1, 2001

By	Stephen Silberman "writer, Wired Magazine" (SF, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I wish I liked Micus' other albums as much as "Desert Poems." It's an exquisite record, informed by a very mature kind of sadness coupled with a devotion that is akin to ecstasy -- the ecstasy of Rumi or Kabir.

Micus has been brewing up world-music stews for years -- mixing Japanese shakuhachis with Indian dilrubas, chanting in syllables that sound like fragments of some lost sacred language. "Desert Poems," however, is the first album of Micus' that doesn't feel rather precious and slight. This is eremitic music that can stand alongside the great musical testaments to spiritual insight in any era, from Hildegard of Bingen to the lyrics of William Blake.

I imagine that Micus (or at least ECM) is frustrated that his albums are tossed into the New Age section at the record store alongside outright dreck like Enya and Yanni; Micus is likewise shut out of the jazz buying guides, and doesn't appear in the world music guides either. "Desert Music" should earn Micus a place in both. This is intense, passionate, profound, "earthly" music.