"It was like being in another world, seeing the new generation rebelling against the strict and formal society, and I was exposed the first time to Asian religion, philosophies, yoga, tai chi and Indian music," he recalls.

"That was a mind-blowing experience. For the first time I had access to Ravi Shankar and Lao Tsu, and they remain a major influence on me."

When he finished school in 1972, his great wish was to go to India to study Indian instruments. He then traveled overland with his girlfriend then from Istanbul to New Delhi, via Teheran and Afghanistan. In New Delhi, he found a teacher for sitar.

For the next four months, he was living an ancient lifestyle: as a student, he was part of his teacher's family, eating with them every day. Every morning he had a lesson, and every afternoon he practiced on his own.

Since then on, travel and music making became inseparable in Micus' life. Over the past three decades, he has continued to make two big trips every year of five or six weeks.

"The toughest landscape is an inspiration for me," he says, describing how he roamed the desert of Namibia, trekked in the Himalaya mountains and studied an ancient instrument in Myanmar.

Fascinated by numerous instruments in his life, when the ever-studious Micus discovers an instrument at a concert or from a record, he always tries to go to the place where that instrument originated.

"It is important to see the country and to eat the food, everything that makes up the culture," he says. "If you understand the whole culture, you can understand a foreign instrument."

Many of the instruments Micus learned are unknown in the Western world, but instead of learning to play these instruments in the traditional way, he intends to understand them and to incorporate all his impressions into his own interpretations and music compositions.

We recommend

Festival moves to a different art beat	Paint the world a picture	Cultural events