"Werner Durand performs his own music for saxophones, iranian ney, and self-made wind instruments since the late seventies. He studied with Ariel Kalma in Paris, Indian classical music in India and Berlin (with Kamalesh Maitra) and Iranian ney with Ali Reza Asgharia. He started to build wind instruments out of plexi-glass and PVC in the early 80s, which led to the foundation of THE THIRTEENTH TRIBE in 1990.

Performing worldwide, he participates in international festival and cultural exchange programs. He has composed music for theater, dance and radio features and is presently engaged in several CD productions and musical projects. Coming from the minimalist tradition, Werner Durands music has evolved into a personal style over the years. Inspired by various kinds of traditional musics and instruments, he started to create his own music and instruments reflecting this. A variety of materials and playing techniques enables him to bring out unusual sounds and with the help of digital delays he can create rich textural and rhythmic pieces, which might recall tribal music from Africa or the Pacific, but at the same time sounding experimental or even (post-)industrial.

His current projects include ASHTAYAMA with Dhrupad singer Amelia Cuni; ANCIENT TRENDS & NEW TRADITIONS IN INDO-EUROPEAN MUSIC with Amelia Cuni and percussionist Marika Falk; the group ARMCHAIR TRAVELLER with Sebastian Hilken (cello and percussion), Hella v. Ploetz (glassharp) and Silvia Ocougne (ac.guitars), a duo with australian gitar(t)ist Victor Meertens , and providing drones for Amelia Cuni..s Realisation of 18 MICROTONAL RAGAS (SOLO 58) FROM SONGBOOKS by John Cage and Fatima Miranda´s CANTOS ROBADOS. Werner Durand has also collaborated with numerous composers/performers including David Behrman, John Driscoll, Samm Bennett, Fast Forward, David Moss, Muslimgauze, Henning Christiansen, Dominique Regef, David Maranha , David Toop & Tom Recchion as well as with visual/ sound artists Michaela Kölmel, Andreas Oldörp and Rolf Julius. He was a member of Arnold Dreyblatts Orchestra of Excited Strings from 1990- 1997. In 1989 he received a grant from the city of Berlin for the Cité des Arts, Paris. He was granted a residency at Podewil (Berlin) for 1999 together with Amelia Cuni. For 2003/4 he received a grant for the Worpswede artist colony. He has collaborated in the organization of festivals of traditional as well as avant- garde music in Berlin like "Urban und Aboriginal", "Pipeline" , "USArts" , "Minimalisms " and "Intonations"."