Yo-Yo
Ma and Silk Road Ensemble Perform in
Central Asia in Collaboration with
Aga Khan Music Initiative
Introduction
to Silk Road Ensemble Tour and the Aga Khan Music Initiative
in Central Asia
Between 26 April and 2 May 2003, Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road
Ensemble conducted master classes and performed at concerts
in Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic and Tajikistan, as part
of a broad programme undertaken by the Aga
Khan Music Initiative in Central Asia to preserve and
promote traditional music. Following critically acclaimed
concerts in North America and Europe, Yo-Yo Ma and the Ensemble
brought their unique fusion of ancient Silk Road traditions
and western classical music to the heart of the Silk Road.
The
Silk Road Project is led by renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma
in coordination with a distinguished team of scholars, musicians
and artists from around the world. Programmes in Central
Asia feature Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble - a collective
of musicians whose careers encompass classical, folk and
pop music - performing specially commissioned pieces by
composers from Silk Road countries including China, Mongolia,
South Korea, Uzbekistan, Turkey, Armenia, Azerbaijan and
Iran. Masterpieces from Western composers inspired by the
arts and music of the East will also be performed.
Promoting
and Preserving Traditional Music of Central Asia
The
concerts and master classes are part of efforts by the Silk
Road Project and the Aga Khan Music Initiative to promote
and preserve the music of Central Asia. These efforts have
become more urgent as the rapid modernization of traditional
societies in the region continues to have a profound impact
on the music and how it is taught. In Central Asia, music
of great antiquity is still passed - by oral transmission
- from a handful of masters to small groups of students,
but that tradition has become increasingly fragile.
To
help ensure the preservation and transmission of Central
Asia's musical heritage to a new generation of artists and
audiences, the Aga Khan Music Initiative in Central Asia
was established in 2000. The aim was to support efforts
to revitalize traditional methods of music education and
performance. The collaboration with the Silk Road Project,
which began in 2001, has brought this heritage to the notice
of audiences beyond the region - in Europe, North America
and the Middle East.
The
Initiative has taken a multi-faceted approach, emphasising
preservation - through recordings and archiving - while
promoting it through concerts in Central Asia and abroad.
Preservation includes support for important musical tradition-bearers,
as well as local music centres and schools.
From
the beginning of the Music Initiative, His Highness the
Aga Khan has insisted that the primary beneficiaries be
the communities in the Silk Road countries: Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, as well as Afghanistan
and other countries in the region. The purpose of such an
approach is to ensure that resources and expertise contribute
to the creation of cultural institutions that can be maintained
and sustained by local communities themselves.
About
the Aga Khan Trust for Culture
The
Music Initiative is part of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture,
an agency of the Aga Khan Development Network. The Trust
focuses on culture as a means of enhancing the physical,
social and economic revitalisation of communities in the
Islamic world. Its programmes include the Aga Khan Award
for Architecture, the Historic Cities Support Programme,
the Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture at Harvard
University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the
on-line resource ArchNet.org, the Music Initiative in Central
Asia, the Humanities Project and the Museum Unit. For more
information about the Aga Khan Music
Initiative in Central Asia, please click on the link.
The
Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) is a group of private,
international, non-denominational agencies working to improve
living conditions and opportunities for people in the developing
world. The Network's organisations have individual mandates
that range from the fields of health and education to architecture,
rural development and the promotion of private-sector enterprise.
They collaborate in working towards a common goal - to build
institutions and programmes that can respond to the challenges
of social, economic and cultural change on an ongoing basis.
About
the Silk Road Project
The
Silk Road Project explores the cross-pollination of ideas,
cultures, music and art that occurred along the ancient
Silk Road-a vast network of trade routes that were active
from the first millennium B.C. to the middle of the second
millennium A.D. At its height, the Silk Road extended eastward
from China and Japan and westward through the oasis cities
of Central Asia-Kashgar, Samarkand and Bukhara-to Persia,
Turkey, Greece and Italy, serving as a crucible for cultural
innovation and the transmission of ideas.
The
Silk Road Project promotes understanding of the ancient
Silk Road and supports new innovative collaborations among
artists from Asia, Europe and North America. The Project
is led by Artistic Director Yo-Yo Ma, who in the course
of 25 years of performing in different parts of the world
has become increasingly intrigued by the migration of ideas
among communities.
For
more information on Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble,
please see the Silk
Road Project home page.
Contact Information
To
contact the Aga Khan Trust for Culture:
Sam Pickens
Aga Khan Trust for Culture
1-3 avenue de la Paix
1202 Geneva
Switzerland
Tel : (+41 22) 909 7277
Fax : (+41 22) 909 7292
Website: www.akdn.org
To
contact The Silk Road Project:
Jean
Davidson, Managing Director
Silk Road Project
New York, NY, USA
Tel: 1-212-727-1832
E-mail: jean@silkroadproject.org
Website: http://www.silkroadproject.org/
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