This is a highly significant discussion. Using a combination of software and hardware named the meruvina, the physical nature of music is an element paid special attention to, focusing as a means of delivering content upon extreme uses of staging (panning) rarely if ever present in other experienced music. (The middle section of Whole Lotta Love by Led Zeppelin is one masterful example that comes to mind.) Corporeality or physicality is also centrally present in the actual act of composition; perhaps most easily understood by how master percussionists have described rhythm as a phenomenon emanating from the body, with the same applying to melody, timbre, dynamics, phrasing, expression and form all synergizing to reveal the corporeal and spiritual uniqueness of the utterer, related to the ancient South Asian philosophy/science of chakras. The physical appearance of gesture is sometimes invisible, echoing the unique domain of music existing in-between physical and metaphysical dimensions heard but not seen embodying anahata nada while endeavoring to keep one step ahead of the persecutor within.

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- Michael Robinson, April 2017, Los Angeles

© 2017 Michael Robinson All rights reserved

Michael Robinson is a Los Angeles-based composer and writer (musicologist).