Inspiration from the Silk Road Ensemble
Inspired by “The Music of Strangers”, the documentary film of Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble, which was featured at The Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix, Arizona on Monday, October 2, 2017.
I invite you to take a minute, close your eyes, open your mind, and breathe.
Here’s why…..
Imagine this setting:
A theatre, but not just any theatre. The concert hall at The Musical Instrument Museum.
You are one of only 300 people, strangers really, gathered in Phoenix, Arizona.
An inspiring documentary film is about to begin.
Not just any film, a rare peek into the genesis of the Silk Road Ensemble.
The what? The Silk Road Project?
Huh? Never heard of it.
The creator is Yo-Yo Ma, the world famous cellist. But as we will discover in this documentary, he is humble, giving, and an equal to all, as the fellow musicians are to him.
Oh, classical music? I’m not interested.
But wait. Listen. Be open. Just breathe then exhale, as your journey, our journey begins.
Individuals and couples traveled to The MIM from homes throughout the Valley of the Sun to experience the Silk Road Ensemble. To listen to its creator, and to learn — watch and hear how musicians from around the world brought the magic of their instruments to create new and unfamiliar sounds; really, a collaboration of cultures and perspective. Their journey included visits to Spain, China, Iran, Syria and the United States, and we tagged-along with this inspiring group of musical gypsies.
Have I piqued your interest? Not your mind, but rather, your curiosity. Your inner ear? Your heart?
Imagine violins and cellos created for European classical music being influenced or rather, drawn to the edge by a Galician bagpipe, Chinese pipa, and Iranian kamancheh, also known as a spike-fiddle.
I enjoyed the film, the journey, the discovery, my walk into the why of the world. I must confess that I am ill-equipped to describe the music nor the emotions which each musician shared in their craft. You will have to see this film — “The Music of Strangers…Yo-Yo Ma and The Silk Road Ensemble” — to understand the complexities of the world and power of music, as these musicians embark from their home country and then arrive in a common destination. Each journey began somewhere. Their journey wove through, as well as up and down, paths of joy and challenges. When they arrived, these musicians learned to listen more than play, be open rather than lead, and discover rather than speak of the paths they traveled.
The first gathering in Tanglewood (in western Massachusetts) was unsettling, as the unknown brought anticipation, hesitancy, and wonder. What a wonderful beginning and surprisingly, this initial setting of collaboration and discovery evolved into a 20-year project. This journey has captivated not only the audiences from around the world, but challenged, inspired, and renewed each artist with joy, understanding, and a resounding commitment to humanity.
While I will not attempt to describe the film or what I felt while being swept away during the viewing, I would like to share what happened in the auditorium at the conclusion of the film.
Remember the setting — a beautiful auditorium filled with 300 people, some ready to return to their home, but a surprise and discovery was about to begin.
Applause with quiet cheers of approval. A crescendo of hands clapping together. Murmurs between concert-goers quickly moved to silence, as the concert hall faded to black.
300 souls were top touched by music in a way that most of us have never experienced. Silence and darkness held us motionless. There we were — quiet, breathing, waiting. And then…..
One sound, a quiet trill from a distant corner of the auditorium. We turned our heads and saw nothing. We were peering into a black hole listening to just one note.
One note led to two, then more followed slowly, cascading downward, as an image of a woman playing a bagpipe appeared. Our musician was none other than, Cristina Pato, a member of the Silk Road Ensemble and jazz-influenced Galician bagpipe musician from Spain. This talented and passionate woman slowly descended a series of stairs, ambled through an aisle filled with listeners captivated by her sound and movement, and then it seemed that all of us walked with her as she ascended the stairs to the stage. We were memorized and drawn to a sound that was new, so different, and yet so inviting. This statement actually defines the documentary film and our shared experience.
While I wish I would have recorded each of Cristina’s comments, I want to share a central theme to our journey which evolved repeatedly throughout the film. Cristina described her feelings when she learned the ensemble was going to play a traditional Galician song. She explained how she spoke with conviction, “no, you have to play it like this; the way we play it at home.” Drawing on her experiences as a pianist accompanying other musicians and playing the Galician bagpipe with countless orchestras, Cristina quickly realized she was wrong. She knew each musician would bring their own interpretation to the notes on the sheet and their unique instruments and talents would bring the unknown, a diversity of collaboration, to the composition she knew from her homeland.
Cristina paused, then looked deeply into 300 pairs of eyes and confessed, “our collaboration brought a deeper meaning and more soul to this song.” Cristina smiled. She laughed. She then swung her brunette hair with faint streaks of “rebellious green” and confessed, (and I’m paraphrasing) “this is what I learned, this is what we experienced, this is what the world brings to music. This is what the world offers to each of us.”
And then there was Wu Man; a petite and joyful member of the ensemble and the Chinese pipa player, who said so eloquently, “there is no East or West, it’s just a globe!”
When words fail. When citizens remain rigid. When no answer is right or in sight, consider the message of this wonderful film and its power to transform each and all of us — “The Music of Strangers.”
And from Yo-Yo Ma, the creator of the Silk Road Ensemble, who spoke in the opening frames of the film “The clearest reason for music, for culture, is that it gives us meaning.”
I invite you to experience…..
The Music of Strangers: Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble
http://themusicofstrangers.film/
SILK ROAD ENSEMBLE
Published on Mar 25, 2016
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pim7mvgXerg
From the director of the Oscar®-winning documentary 20 Feet from Stardom and the critically acclaimed Best of Enemies, the new film “The Music of Strangers: Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble” tells the extraordinary story of the renowned international musical collective created by legendary cellist Yo-Yo Ma. The feature-length documentary follows this group of diverse instrumentalists, vocalists, composers, arrangers, visual artists and storytellers as they explore the power of music to preserve tradition, shape cultural evolution and inspire hope.
@CristinaPato
@SilkRoadProject
@YoYo_Ma
@WuManPipa
@MIMphx
Alden Ulrich is a results-driven strategist and respectful confidant, who reveals distinctive perspectives and creative options to executives seeking to accelerate market-share and revenue for enterprises and non-profit organizations. He is a respected volunteer and investor to the arts, education and philanthropy. Alden is based in Scottsdale, Arizona and draws on experiences from working with high-achieving individuals and teams in the United States and internationally.
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