Rainbow Thunder

(Vasanta, Shree and Chandra Lekha)

Rainbow Thunder slowly builds a deep and powerful percussion ostinato inspired by African rhythms. This prepares for a dramatic trumpet entrance based on the South Indian raga, Vasanta. The middle section switches the percussion voices to African harps, and the trumpet to a gender, as the melodic voice becomes more active. The original voices reappear for the concluding music, with the trumpet articulating rapid, complex phrases.
Forest Regions was inspired by Javanese court music featuring the rebab. Here I have surrounded a kemanche with a wide range of gamelan sounds, including a deep gong. A shimmering flute provides a contrasting melodic color.

Gopura, based on Shree, follows the raga form of alap, jor and jhala. An ominous, penetrating piano timbre is joined by tabla over a tanpura drone.
The Angel of Ankara is an extended raga based on Chandra Lekha. The Turkish oud is the featured melodic instrument. After the opening alap, considerable interplay develops with the entrance of tabla and other Indian percussion voices.

All of the compositions on this recording were composed in 1996.

- Michael Robinson, December 1999, Lahaina

© 1999 by Michael Robinson All rights reserved

Built primarily around Eastern instrumentation and percussion, the four works on Rainbow Thunder are very much "big picture" works. Those looking for traditional song structure or three-minute verse/chorus/verse sonic narrative should look elsewhere. The title track matches intricate polynational percussion with a trumpet that alternates between dirge-like maundering and, in the final minutes, African harp-backed agitation. "Forest Regions" is a slow, lingering work full of bell-like tones; it's extremely evocative, and paints a vivid sound-picture of the distant, alien stillness of the titular location. "Gopura" is a quiet, brooding piece in which an altered piano asserts itself over sustained tabla and tanpura textures. "The Angel Of Ankara", my favorite, is a 25-minute epic of Indian instrumentalism in which oud, tabla and others create a slow, elegant, powerful sonic texture in which they play little, melodic cat-and-mouse games. I thoroughly recommend Rainbow Thunder to anyone who wants to broaden a horizon or two.

- Splendid e-zine, 1997