Something Mystical by Michael Robinson

Something Mystical

Michael Robinson and Shivkumar Sharma. Michael feels a special affinity with Sharma beginning with utilizing unconventional instruments, the santoor and meruvina.

My Mian Ki Malhar was inspired by Shivkumar Sharma, and the morning after I learned he had left us, a large white cotton V-neck T-shirt from Nordstrom that I had drying on a doorknob after washing took on some of the cover art of my album, leaving three similarly colored circular shapes with a mango hue rather than the coral, orange-red and green of the album cover, the explanation being it was hung over a coral and white pearl necklace also on the doorknob with the dampness of the T-shirt causing the color transfer. However, this has long been one of my inelegant practices for drying T-shirts so they don't shrink in the dryer, and this NEVER happened before. Not to make too much of it, but it was very unusual what happened. And the overall shape the accidental dye made resembled a walnut mallet used to play the santoor.

Rather carelessly, I had forgotten how I wished to take a photo of the T-shirt, and it went into the washing machine along with many other items. A few hours after doing so, before actually running the wash, I remembered with a start about wishing to take a photo, and rushed over to retrieve the T-shirt. Weaving through the different items, I was astonished how water had filled a few inches up even though the machine had not been turned on, also something that had never happened before. Rescuing the T-shirt, which was at the bottom, completely soaked, two of the three mango colored circular shapes had mostly melded into each other, though the overall mallet shape was preserved along with the separate third circle. What a doofus, I thought to myself, for placing the T-shirt into the wash! Now, I don't think I'll wash it at all, or maybe just gently by hand so I can still wear the now painted T-shirt without removing the coral pearl imparted circles and shapes.

A favorite quote from our first interview, Painting with Mallets and Strings, has Shivkumar comparing the santoor to water: "The kind of sound santoor instrument produces gives you a feel of flowing water. You are near some spring, or some water flowing somewhere."

Sharma also had a playful sense of humor he shared stories about during our interviews giving balance to the profound heights of his intellectual and spiritual attributes.

Mian Ki Malhar was a favorite album of Joel Chadabe, a composer and computer music pioneer who was exceptionally supportive of my efforts.

Another of the many albums promoted by Joel at CDeMusic is Adorned with Pearl, released while studying Indian classical music with Harihar Rao, the senior disciple of Ravi Shankar. Ray Manzarek performed the title track at the House of Blues on Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood one memorable spring night, introducing me as the composer to the packed house.

- Michael Robinson, May 2022, Los Angeles

Michael Robinson is a Los Angeles-based composer and musicologist. His 170 albums include 150 albums for meruvina and 20 albums of piano improvisations. Robinson has been a lecturer at UCLA, Bard College and California State University.

- Michael Robinson, May 2022, Los Angeles