CUSCO
Ancient Journeys
(p) (c) 2000 Higher Octave Music
9tks/43mins

"Cusco" is a group, which is to the highest respect famous and respectable not only among the admirers of the new age music. To the point, the first album by this group was released in the far-away 1980, when it was not yet customary to use such terms as "new age music" or "new instrumental music". The founders of "Cusco" were two famous German musicians - Michael Holm and Kristian Schultze. Michael Holm is famous as a composer and rock vocalist, which was included in the top ten of the most popular artists of Germany. He has created more than 800 songs, which were released by many copies. But Michael always wanted to do something more substantial. And he has found it, when he visited ancient sacred temples of the Incas in Machu Picchu. Having founded the "Cusco" group, together with his old friend Kristian Schultze, which gained popularity due to his performance in the famous jazz-rock-fusion group "Passport", Michael began performing original music, which represented a many-colored mix of various styles with a brightly expressed coloring of ancient cultures of Incas and Aztecs. Percussion, pan-pipes, cosmic sounds - all these amalgamated into a cocktail of instrumental music, which became a visit card of "Cusco". So, it is not surprising that a debut album of the group was very popular in Japan.

With the famous Higher Octave Music company the artists collaborate since 1987. During this time ten albums of "Cusco" were released by more than two millions copies and many times appeared in the top-tens and top-twenties of the Billboard new age charts.

"Ancient Journeys" is a new musical trip of the artists through countries and continents. This time their way lies to the Mediterranean, and passing by the Byzantia, to the Middle East. Nevertheless, the American Indians melodies present in the music of "Cusco"! Every composition of the album leads the listener to a particular journey, to a concrete place and time. Music of "Cusco" is very figurative. Not occasionally Michael Holm speaks about it in a following way: "CUSCO is a storyteller, only we paint the pictures with sound and melodies. Whether it's lions roaming the Serengeti Plain or an Aztec temple, the image is what brings the music to life.» And the guitar of the famous Ottmar Liebert brightly adorns composition "Da Gama". In general, sounding of the album is rich, though it has a little "pop" orientation. Still, "Cusco" can be named as a popularizer of the new age music. Without the colorful sound-visual show of Michael Holm and Kristian Schultze this music surely would not be so rich and wonderfully "living".

Serge Kozlovsky