Stephan Micus

{{short description|German composer}}

{{Infobox musical artist

| name = Stephan Micus

| image =

| background = solo_singer

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1953|1|19|df=y}}

| birth_place = Stuttgart, Germany

| genre = Avant-garde rock, ambient rock

| occupation = Musician, singer

| instrument = Multi-instrumentalist

| years_active = 1976–present

| label = ECM

| associated_acts = Lisa Gerrard, Steve Tibbetts

| website = {{URL|www.stephanmicus.com}}

}}

Stephan Micus ({{IPAc-en|ʃ|t|ɛ|ˈ|f|ɑː|n|_|ˈ|m|iː|k|ə|s}}; born 19 January 1953){{cite book|title=The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music|editor=Colin Larkin|publisher=Guinness Publishing|date=1992|edition=First|isbn=0-85112-939-0|page=1683}} 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. 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.{{cite web| last1=Kelman| first1=John|title=Stephan Micus: Solitary Pursuits|url=https://www.allaboutjazz.com/stephan-micus-solitary-pursuits-stephan-micus-by-john-kelman.php|website=All ABout Jazz| date=13 January 2005|accessdate=30 October 2016|quote=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.}} 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.

Micus has played bagpipes, Japanese bamboo flute, rabab, steel drums, and zither.{{cite book |last1=Berendt|first1=Joachim-Ernst|last2=Huesmann|first2=Gunther|title=The Jazz Book: From Ragtime to the 21st Century |date=2009 |publisher=Lawrence Hill Books |location=Chicago, Illinois |isbn=978-1-55652820-0 |pages=543 |edition=7 }}