Thursday, April 26, 2012

Sufjan Stevens

Sufjan Stevens (pronounced “SOOF-yahn”; born July 1, 1975) is an American musician, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist from Petoskey, Michigan. He is known for his lyrically focused and instrumentally rich songs that often relate to faith and family. He has enjoyed wide critical success in the United States. He is considered part of the folk revival through indie pop, but his influences are very broad, including experimental electronic music, the jazz of Vince Guaraldi, and the academic minimalism of Steve Reich and Philip Glass.

 The name Sufjan is an Arabic/Persian name that predates Islam and most famously belonged to Abu Sufyan, a figure from early Islamic history. It has been mentioned in the press that the name was given to Stevens by the leader of Subud, a spiritual sect to which his parents belonged when he was born. Stevens has stated that the name is of Armenian origin and means “comes with a sword,” and that it is “a charming militaristic Muslim name.” In fact the name is not Armenian, and Armenia is a predominantly Christian country. Sufjan is also the plural form of Sufi in Persian . Sufi is a practitioner of Sufism .This word is frequently used in the old Persian literature ,specially Sufi poetry .

 Sufjan Stevens began his musical career as a member of Marzuki, a folk-rock band from Holland, Michigan. He also played (and continues to play) various instruments for Danielson Famile. While in school at Hope College, Stevens wrote and recorded his debut solo album, A Sun Came, which he released on asthmatic kitty records, a record label he founded with his step-father in 1999. He later moved to New York City, where he was enrolled in a writing program at the New School for Social Research.

He has contributed to the music of Denison Witmer, Soul Junk, Half-Handed Cloud, Brother Danielson, Danielson Famile, Serena Maneesh, Castanets, and Liz Janes. He played piano on for fellow Brooklyn musician’s The National’s album 2007 Boxer. A cover of  “She Is” is included on the album Dream Brother, released in the United States on January 31, 2006.


Albums:
A Sun Came (2000)
Enjoy Your Rabbit (2001)
Michigan (2003)
Seven Swans (2004)
Illinois (2005)
The Avalanche: Outtakes and Extras from the Illinois Album (2006)
Songs for Christmas (2006)
The BQE (2009)
All Delighted People (EP) (2010)
The Age of Adz (2010)

Singles:
"The Dress Looks Nice on You" from Seven Swans release March 2004

Offical site

Notable Song: "Casimir Pulaski Day"

Single "The Dress Looks Nice on You"

My personal favorite: "For the Widows in Paradise, For the Fatherless in Ypsilanti"

4 comments:

  1. The image reminds me of Sephiroths One Wing Angel.

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  2. I'm a get some his material and see what he about.

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  3. He has cool videos and I think he is a good singer. I like the videos and the videos are really good to hear. Thank you for sharing this to us.


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  4. I have heard a lot of cool songs from him. Really commendable.

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