Marwa (Luminous Realms)

Michael Robinson

About this work:
Luminous Realms is based on Marwa, one of India's hauntingly beautiful sunset ragas. While listening to a recording of this raga, I had the sensation of feeling the tones sliding downward. When I interviewed santoor genius Shivkumar Sharma (see my homepage at azuremilesrecords.com), he confirmed my feeling that this was an actual musical depiction of the setting sun! I felt that a trumpet timbre was perfect for the rasa of Marwa. The legato capabilities of this instrument enhance the melodic instability of the music which reflects the transition from day to night. Luminous Realms also features a rich family of percussion voices, including tabla, and various Indian, African, Near Eastern and Japanese drums. These instruments make their initial entrance at 20.13, with an extended solo. There is a second extended percussion family solo when the tempo is doubled at 40.13. - Michael Robinson, July 1999, Beverly Hills © 1999 by Michael Robinson All rights reserved
Year composed: 1998
Duration: 01:00:67
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. Luminous Realms (Marwa) is voiced with samples of the following acoustical timbres using Indian tunings: trumpet, Indian, African, Near Eastern & Japanese percussion and tanpura.

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