Miço Kendes
was born into a Kurdish family in northern Syria bordering Turkey in 1966.  He says himself that he started to sing when he learned to talk.  From a very early age he was sensitive to all forms of musical expression, and he drank in the stories, songs and epics which he heard in the evenings, performed by a singer and storyteller - in other countries he would be called a bard – who came to the family home.  These legends, mostly epics, constituted the world of Miço Kendes’ imagination.

He also learned much from his grandmother, who sang him endless and fantastic stories, transmitting to him the oral tradition of the Kurds of this region. 

Starting at primary school, he never lost a chance to make his voice heard at song contests and local festivals.  He sang in Arabic or Kurdish, depending on the circumstances.  He taught himself to play the tambura and the buzuk, two traditional plucked stringed instruments.