Michael Robinson
Chinese Legend
Cover art is hand silkscreened paper from Japan
Available on myriad additional platforms
"Listened again to Chinese Legend - very nicely done. You are really doing great."
- opening of handwritten letter from Lee Konitz
"Michael Robinson makes great music." - Pandit Jasraj
"Michael Robinson is one of my favorite composers." - Martin Perlich
Michael Robinson introducing Chinese Legend, From Hills of Snow and Porcelain Nights on dublab
1. Chinese Legend (Udaya Ravichandrika) (1997) 11.18
meruvina: sitar, tabla, African harp, kawala, erhu, biwa, clarinet, cuica, bonang, esraj, two tanpuras
2. From Hills of Snow (Bilaskhani Todi) (1997) 21.25
meruvina: piano, tabla, Indian percussion, 2 tanpuras
3. Porcelain Nights (Gunkali) (1997) 30.31
meruvina: zither, South America percussion, tanpura
Composed, Programmed, Mixed, Designed and Produced by Michael Robinson
Recorded and Mastered by Catharine Wood at Planetwood Studios
Chinese Legend originated with the main repeated melodic figure that came to me while driving home over Coldwater Canyon after midnight following an informal and moving sitar performance by Nazir Ali Jairazbhoy at his home. Out of curiosity, I searched for a raga that contained the same swaras or tones of my newfound melody, discovering Udaya Ravichandrika, a South Indian raga. There is some controversy over whether to use a natural or flat seventh. I decided to use both. The main melodic voice here is a sitar, the instrument of Ravi Shankar. (I do not tune my percussion sounds in the Indian manner, and they also vary from the sounds of the actual Indian percussion instruments from which they are derived.) |
© 1997 Michael Robinson All rights reserved