Astral Palace

(Malkauns)

Malkauns; king of ragas.  Midnight conjurer of the spirit world lost in a reverie
upon romantic liaisons of the past.  A raga so deceptively simple, it may be the most
difficult of all to bring to life.

On the surface, a pentatonic raga easily sung or played by a child.  Yet one may
only encounter it's unique rasa far beneath the surface of the swaras, where the
unique mixture of elements (water, fire, air, earth and ether) in your body respond
in subtle ways to the presence of Malkauns.

The most awesome interpretation of Malkauns I have ever heard is by Ravi Shankar. 
Hariprasad Chaurasia has also recorded a momentous version.

For my composition, Astral Palace,  inspired by Malkauns, I have chosen a
burnished and mysterious piano timbre accompanied by two undulating tanpura
patterns moving at different layas.  The music is based on the traditional Indian
raga form of alap, jor and jhalla.

Ancient Chinese poetry holds a deep attraction for me.    On the back of my
new CD is an excerpt from a poem by the Late Tang Courtesan, Xue Tao,
translated by Jeanne Larson:

In your astral palace, I
am bestowed with scarlet silks

hazy as spirit mists
far beyond the sea.

I began composing Astral Palace while on vacation in New York City from my
current position in UCLA's Department of Ethnomusicology, transferring
rare and fragile field recordings onto CDRs. 

Staying in the East 65th Street and First Avenue apartment where I lived
from 1985 to 1989, and visiting old friends and favorite places in the city
filled me with memories.

- Michael Robinson, June 1999, Beverly Hills
     

© 1999 by Michael Robinson

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