(Translated from my original Italian text by ChatGPT and Piero Scaruffi)

Michael Holm (a pop singer of the 1960s and 1970s, as well as a flutist and producer) and keyboardist Kristian Schultze, known collectively as Cusco, perform a lively, melodic brand of world music orchestrated for synthesizers and acoustic instruments. Their evocations of the Third World are employed to focus on a simple, everyday emotionality. Even when the titles allude to heroes of the past, ancestral myths, or imaginary landscapes, the duo always avoids grandeur and bombast, shuns showmanship, and instead retreats into a gentle, middle-class sentimentality.

The heroic theme of Flute Battle, the solemn elegy of Tupac Amaru, and the celestial air of Flying Condor, on Apurimac, the 1988 album inspired by the Amazon River, defined their musical territory once and for all.

On Mystic Island, the ominous symphonic sweep of Northeaster is softened by the flute melody: a contrast that would become increasingly common in their music. By exploiting such simple devices, Water Stories reached number eleven on Billboard's New Age chart.

Ring Der Delphin (Prudence, 1990 - Higher Octave, 1996), almost entirely composed by Schultze, opens with the eight-minute orchestral overture Ring Der Delphin, a melodic and graceful piece poised midway between Renaissance court music and a Vangelis-style apotheosis. Ancient church music and ethnic chant inspire Djebel at Tarik, while Bur Said displays stronger ethnic accents. The shorter pieces lean toward pompous synth-pop (Methos and Holm's Children's Crusade). The "Peruvian" motif surfaces only in Holm's Waters of Cesme, one of the duo's happiest round dances.

2000 marked their definitive breakthrough. The ensemble drew inspiration from the atmospheric, measured, simultaneously epic and poignant music of Morricone's film scores to compile a diary of travel impressions. Holm's romantic symphonic style overflows in the heartfelt elegy Canada and the delicate poetry of Afrika. The masterpiece within the masterpiece is the graceful flute dance of South America, driven by an "Andean" marching rhythm and flamenco chords.
Beginning with North Easter, the album is played entirely at full intensity, brimming with joie de vivre and intoxicating sensations. Giuseppe Solera's Peruvian flute radiates primal energy in every direction, propelled by Holm's powerful rhythms. Schultze contributes another gem, the steadily accelerating gallop of Islands of the Galapagos, over which floats one of his most evocative flute themes, counterpointed by an army of violins. He also composed the majestic closing piece, Flying Condor.

Holm increasingly became the "director" of these albums, the custodian of Cusco's spirit rather than the actual composer of most of the music. On 2002, Schultze is more than ever the central figure, having written six of the album's nine tracks. Holm contributes only the baroque adagio Island Turtles and the festive dance Didjeridoo, two lighthearted interludes. The heart of the album lies in the breathtaking landscapes of Australia and From A Higher Point. Schultze surpasses his partner in the symphonic genre, both with the threatening whirlwinds of Erosion, which fuse Bach with thriller music, and with the moving Earth Waltz that crowns the collection.

Holm regained control with Apurimac II, dedicated to the indigenous peoples of South America. The album is more eclectic and lighter than its predecessors. Abandoning the heavy symphonic style of the more romantic moments, it concentrates on ethnic vignettes: the joyful singing melody over tribal rhythms of Montezuma, the radiant jazz melody of Quetzal's Feather, and the mournful procession of Maya Temple.... Above all, it is an album of atmosphere, as demonstrated by the nine-minute Temple Of Remembrance, built around a theme that gradually becomes more funereal than nostalgic, or by the attempt to evoke the grandeur and splendor of the Mayan civilization in Xul-Kan. In Mexica, one almost seems to hear the plaintive trumpet of Jon Hassell.

Apurimac III (Higher Octave, 1997) is a tribute to Native American culture. Some of it is rather stereotypical (Ghost Dance), some is disco-friendly (Geronimo's Laughter), and some evokes Ennio Morricone's western soundtracks (Kokopelli's Dream). Ethnic sound effects and magical melodies blend together, each enhancing the other (Medicine Man, White Buffalo).