We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

Pink Monkey

by Michael Robinson

/
  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      $10 USD  or more

     

  • Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

    Includes unlimited streaming of Pink Monkey via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 3 days
    Purchasable with gift card

      $25 USD or more 

     

  • Full Digital Discography

    Get all 199 Michael Robinson releases available on Bandcamp and save 10%.

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Dark Is the Sky, Passion Eyes, Above the World, Soul To Soul, A Thousand Things, Summer Skies, Across the Sands, Summer Kisses, and 191 more. , and , .

    Purchasable with gift card

      $1,000 USD or more (10% OFF)

     

1.
Pink Monkey 40:56

about

Pink Monkey is the second consecutive raga I discovered during the creative process. I say “discovered” because Indians believe ragas have always existed regardless of whether or not they are acknowledged by humans. (Summer Morning is the previous raga in question.)

It appears that an older variant of a janya raga from Harikambhoji mela, named Khamas or Kamasu, has the same swaras as Pink Monkey, but since its current incarnation is different, and I imagined the raga before researching to see if it was already known, I went for the new name.

Pink Monkey has the same swaras as Harikambhoji mela except that there is no rishaba in ascent and descent. There is a similarity in sound to Abhogi and Kalavati ragas in Hindustani music.

The moment when a completed composition meets the concrete realities of the meruvina is both exciting and worrisome. With trillions of possible settings, I do my best guided by instinct and experience.

This time I was rescued by a charming timbre I don't believe I ever used before, at least not in such a major way: the African harp. Its sound came alive for the main voice of Pink Monkey, surrounded by a through-composed composite percussion voice of tabla, dholak and dhol timbres, along with bombo, timbale and tamborim ostinatos. (Sitar and pipa timbres were also considered for the main melodic voice.)

Pink Monkey was engendered by a song I heard on a rerun of “Soul Train” featuring a female group from the eighties. (I will track down the name of this gifted group.) Their performance was terrifically exciting, and I instantly imagined a piece that transmitted the expressive essence using the melodic figure, originally a bass line, heard at my composition's opening voiced by the Korean ching, and repeated three times, including the beginning of each section, and at the work's end.

Overall, the feeling of Pink Monkey is cheerful, playful and energetic, a convergence of Indian, African and Latin American influences.

Even with my limited knowledge of history, I know that some scholars believe that Southern India was originally populated by Africans, and the percussion music of the Caribbean and South America was hugely influenced by Africans originally forced over as slaves.

I have no idea if there is a species known as the pink monkey in Africa, India or South America, but I like to think it does exist, and will resist checking on the net, at least for now.

- Michael Robinson, September 2010, Los Angeles

© 2010 Michael Robinson All rights reserved

www.azuremilesrecords.com/pinkmonkeypage.html

credits

released September 11, 2010

All music composed, programmed and mixed by Michael Robinson

Recorded and mastered by Catharine Wood at Planetwood Studios

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Michael Robinson Los Angeles, California

"Very nice - swings good! It's great doing the whole thing yourself. I just go in and play, and the rest is out of my hands." (Lee Konitz)

"He has amazing success bringing to life music performed by a computer." (Dean Suzuki, SFSU)

"No telling where he's going to spin off to, but he's an original." (Village VOICE)

"Michael Robinson makes great music." (Pandit Jasraj)
... more

contact / help

Contact Michael Robinson

Streaming and
Download help

Shipping and returns

Report this album or account

If you like Michael Robinson, you may also like: