My mother often tells me stories of how I was always singing and making music as a child, despite having had no formal training, nor did I come from a musical family. I never thought of pursuing music professionally, until I turned 18 and had to make a choice about further studies, bringing the sudden realisation that music was the only thing I could see myself spending the rest of my life on. 

I can’t fully explain where this pull towards music comes from, though that might be the answer in itself: to express what I cannot put into words. After spending five years on a master’s degree in composition, I knew I had to venture even deeper. Having experienced for several years the magic of being part of choirs, I knew I had to pursue singing. There is something about the human voice that transports you to a different world, which few other kinds of music can do. It makes me feel like a kid again, playing video games in my room, where I got to explore all sorts of fantastical realms. I find that Anúna is great at transporting people on mystical journeys such as those.

Not coincidentally, I first discovered Anúna through the video game Xenoblade Chronicles 2. I remember seeing Nintendo’s promo video with the group singing Yasunori Mitsuda’s Shadow of the Lowlands and being instantly captivated by the purity and natural sound of the singers’ voices. I quickly delved deeper into the group’s history and Michael’s music, becoming more fascinated with everything that I learned. I was lucky enough to catch one of Anúna’s concerts in Bruges, late 2019, and got to meet Michael and Nick Stoppel.

Only a few months later, the Corona pandemic hit the world in full force. I contracted the virus myself in March 2020, and it changed the relationship with my voice completely. Not only did I lose opportunities as a performer because of cancellations everywhere, but I lost my ability to sing at all. During this time, the singers of Anúna were incredibly helpful and supportive in rebuilding the connection with my voice, and deepened that relationship through discussing our experiences and views on music. On my good days, I would record myself and ‘multi-track’ some of Michael’s music. These videos seemed to really resonate with people around the world, and it even resulted in my collaboration on Michael’s globe-spanning piece Maalaulu.

As much frustration as this virus has brought me, I like to think it happened for a reason: I have become much more appreciative of the privilege of being able to create and share music, in whatever form possible. Every day I get to sing from here on out now feels like a gift.

Noah’s website : www.noahthys.com