Desert Poems

Stephan Micus plays a staggering array of instruments, often employing multitracking to create vast self-assemblages. On Desert Poems, his 15th album for ECM, he coaxes songs from the doussn’gouni (West African harp), kalimba (Tanzanian thumb piano), and dondon (Ghanaian talking drum), among his usual 10-string sarangi, dilruba (another bowed instrument from India), ney, sattar (an upright Uighur fiddle), and percussion (including flowerpots). The nomadic spirit of “Adela” (for 22 dilruba) embodies the heart, while his singing and shakuhachi playing in “For Yuko” beautify other vital organs in this resonating body with love.