Michael Robinson
Nagamani
Cover art is hand silkscreened paper from Japan
available on myriad additional platforms
"Your music has lowered my blood pressure by miles. It's very, very beautiful." - Susan McClary from an email responding to Nagamani and several other CDs
"Your intriguing set of instruments suggests that you are doing something quite new in American music." - Helen Vendler from an email responding to a literary question related to Nagamani
1. Nagamani (1998) 60:47
meruvina: kawala, balafon, hyoshigi, two tanpuras
Composed, Programmed, Mixed, Designed and Produced by Michael Robinson
Recorded and Mastered by Catharine Wood at Planetwood Studios
I had been planning the music for Nagamani for at least six months, putting it aside while I composed the four compositions found on Lunar Mansions and Luminous Realms. The challenge I was readying myself for was to compose a one hour alap (no jor or jhala) with sustained musical interest. When I was finally ready to begin, the actual composing and programming took about three weeks. It turns out that the swaras (tones) I used are identical to an obscure South Indian raga, Nagamani, which translates to mean jeweled snake or cobra. But that was after the fact. My actual musical inspiration came from Hariprasad Chaurasia, the Indian bansuri master who has raised the art of flute playing to previously unimaginable levels. IN tombs of gold and lapis lazuli
Catherine Glynn Benkaim, a professor and collector of Indian art, told me this music was the only thing that comforted her for days and days when her husband, Ralph Benkaim, who began the collection, passed away. - MER
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© 1998 Michael Robinson All rights reserved