Megh
Michael Robinson
About this work:
Megh (pronounced Mayg), another ancient raga, signifies the season of the monsoon. It is also historically grouped as one of six major ragas representing each of India's six seasons. During the monsoon season, it may be played anytime of day or night. For other times of the year, it may be played in the evening. An ancient Sanskrit text states: "The ancients tell of Megha raga, lustrous like a blue lotus, the divine smile of his moon-like face is sweeter than ambrosia. Clothed in yellow in the midst of heavy clouds, he shines among the heroes." Following my intuition, I decided to tune the sitar and tanpuras according to a thirteenth century shruti system. To my delight, I found that these exotic intervals greatly enhanced the rasa of my composition. Interestingly enough, this tuning system did not work aesthetically for Patdeep or Jait, for which I used more current Indian tunings.
- Michael Robinson, May 2000, Beverly Hills
© 2000 Michael Robinson All rights reserved
Year composed: 2000
Duration: 00:21:26
Ensemble type: Electronic Instruments and Sound Sources:Live Electronic Sound Sources
Instrumentation: ,1 Computer/Laptop soloist(s), ,1 Sampler (Keyboard/Other) soloist(s)
Instrumentation notes: A computer and sound module are programmed to perform the fully notated composition in real time. Megh is voiced with samples of the following acoustical timbres using Indian tunings: sitar, tabla, dholak, dhol, rainstick and two tanpuras.