Although many Westerners have been fascinated by the sitar, Stephan Mikes one of the few who have undergone the years of rigorous one-on-one training in classical Indian music necessary to do justice to this ancient instrument. As a primary student of sitar master Roop Verma, Stephan is part of a teaching lineage that goes back over 600 years and includes Pandit Ravi Shankar and Ustad Ali Akbar Khan.

 
He combines his knowledge of Eastern music with the influence of Latin, Middle Eastern, Afro-Cuban, and Carribean rhythms to create compositions which are unique and compelling. In addition to the sitar, Mikes proficient on guitar, zither, mandolin, lap steel guitar and various types of synthesizers.

Since 1986, Stephan has been performing and perfecting his own distinctive technique on the sitar. He has released four highly-acclaimed CDs of his modern original compositions on the independent Akasha label; Before You See, The Good, the Bad and the Karmic, Dakini Beach and Secret Songs of the Sitar Player. He also has five specialty albums; Twilight: Evening Ragas, Sitar Christmas, Jewel of the Lotus: Sitar Meditations, Sounds of the Surbahar and East Meets South. Putumayo Records included Medium Rara from The Good, the Bad and the Karmic on their 1996 international release, Putumayo Presents: A World Instrumental Collection.

Miami's New Times annual"Best of Miami" issue 2004 named Stephan "Best Acoustic Performer,"and previously he was named "Best Solo Musician." In the XS Magazine annual guide to Broward and Palm Beach Counties, he was voted "Best New Age Artist." Mikes was nominated in three categories for the Florida music industry's 1995 JAMMY Awards; Specialty Instrumental, World Beat, and Best Independent Release for The Good, the Bad and the Karmic.

Stephan has been featured on many local TV affiliates in Florida, the midwest and the northeast U.S. He also appeared as a guest on Family Channel International?s show Casa Club Magazine, which airs in Europe and South America. A PBS Special about Stephan and his music, entitled "Sitar Under the Stars: An East/West Fusion"aired for the first time in October 1997 and continues to be shown periodically. In 1996 he was commissioned to compose and perform a piece for Momentum Dance Company, and he also composed, arranged and recorded a soundtrack for "Growing Older," a project produced by WLRN-TV. Stephan has done studio session work for a number of rock and jazz projects (including several produced by Emilio Estefan), and even an Irish Celtic release.

One of the few world music artists to transcend traditional boundaries, Stephan Mikes performs for a wide variety of events. He performed at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and in Boston at the Wang Center for the Performing Arts for fundraisers sponsored by Giorgio Armani. In August 1996, Mikes played for former President Clinton's 50th Birthday Celebration, connected via satellite from the Biltmore in Coral Gables. He has been the featured musician at many black tie events sponsored by Ivana Trump, and has played for prestigious gatherings at places such as Kravis Center, Norton Sculpture Gardens and the Hibel Museum in Palm Beach, Vizcaya in Miami, and the Colony Theatre in Miami Beach. Stephan has also performed at most of the major jazz and rock clubs in South Florida, including Tobacco Road, where he plays periodically and opened for the surf-rocking Mermen. Most recently, Stephan has enjoyed enormous success as a featured musician for many top-rated art festivals throughout Florida and the U.S.

A native of Chicago, Stephan Mikes musical training began at age seven with the accordion, moving on to guitar at age eleven. His family then moved to Pennsylvania where he played with a number of rock bands during the late '60s. He attended Indiana University of Pennsylvania, majoring in philosophy and anthropology.

Upon moving to Miami, he absorbed the influences of the Haitian, African, Caribbean and Latin rhythms which characterize the South Beach area. "My music is kind of a microcosm of the different cultures in Miami rolled into one," Stephan states. "I took all of their rhythmic and melodic influences, combined it with my classical Indian training, and that?s how the music came together."

"I've always had a deep belief in the music," he says. "My loftiest ideal, what I would like to do, is to change the way society thinks about music, and what they think music is for. Of all the things my teacher taught me, one of the most important wasn't about music in the technical aspect. He taught me one of the most basic tenets: What is your intention when you create your music? Whatever the intention is behind your music, that's what people are going to get, no matter what kind of music it is. It's the intent behind the music that gives it the force to do whatever it does to people. Very few people understand that. The sitar lends a spiritual depth to the music which can take the listener as deep as he or she wants to go."