Mik Keusen, a pianist and composer from Bern (Switzerland), began taking lessons in classical piano when he was just eight years old. He studied jazz piano and education science at the Lucern University of applied Sciences and Arts. He also began to learn Don Li’s “Tonus Music” concept, which led him to collaborate with Sha and Zimoun. This in turn influenced the music of the “Banryu”, and “Zimoun NA” bands. He founded the quartet “Mikkeusen’s Blau” in 2003. In 2004, their “outstanding sound idea” was awarded the “Axell-Max Koch-Foundation Award”. Mik composed the music in 2005 for a multimedia production commissioned by Paul Klee Center. He also produced, with DRS II (Swiss Radio Company), the well-received debut album, “Mik Keusen Blau”. He founded the trio “DKS” in 2006 with Gareth Davis (GB), and Julian Sartorius(CH). They performed live at the “Expozice Nove Hudby”, a festival for new music, in Brno (CZ). He spent six months in Varanasi/India with a scholarship from SSK and City of Bern. There, he learned the tabla and reed organ with Manju Sundaram and Sri Jamuna Ballabh “Bhaiyan” Gujrati. Mik has been a freelance composer and pianist at the “Progr-Zentrum fur Kulturproduktion” in Bern since 2004. Blau, Mik Keusen’s Blau, released their second album “Nalu” in spring 2011. from www.mikkeusen.ch
