Banga is eleventh studio album by American rock musician Patti Smith. The Banga Songfacts reports that the record was recorded throughout 2011 at New York's Electric Lady Studios and was released on June 1, 2012 on Columbia Records. The album title is a reference to Pontius Pilate’s dog in Russian author Mikhail Bulgakov’s satirical novel The Master And Margarita.. Asked at a playback for the record why she named the album after a dog,” Smith replied. “I dunno. I like dogs. I can’t really have one in New York, so I compensated by naming my album after a dog.” User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.