The Silk Road Ensemble: An Example to All of Us

As a graduation gift to ourselves, and thanks to some generously inexpensive tickets offered through Georgetown, Tami and I attended a concert given by Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble. Now, I am a classical music fan, but had not done much homework prior to the event. I had no idea we would encounter such a moving, and enormously powerful experience - and less idea that I would learn so much about peace.

With the help of the Smithsonian Institution, Yo-Yo Ma traveled througout Southeastern Europe, and to Asia to locate masters of instruments used in folk and traditional cultures. Many of these instruments may not exist in the near future because they have not been preserved. The Silk Road Ensemble's goal is to create new music through the fusion of old (often ancient) melodies with both Western Classical music elements, as well as other ancient or traditional melodies. The instruments of several cultures blend together in many of the melodies; creating a unique and vibrant new sound. While I expected some Bach Preludes, the Silk Road Ensemble treated us to something far more exciting.

What about peace? First, the Ensemble draws musicians and musical elements from Azerbaijan, Iran, China, Romania, Turkey, India, and other countries that have not always gotten along. More importantly, the music blends several strains of highly ethnocentric (even nationalistic) music together. One of the highlights of the evening for me came when Alim Qasimov sang a set of traditional Azerbaijani modal melodies from along his side of the northwest mountains of Iran. The modal melodies gurgled up from deep within his soul, his body and soul appeared to meld as he drew each foundational tone and built the melody around it. It was the emotion that struck me. Reading the playbill, I discovered that the song related the tale of a rebel leader who fights the rule of a brutal khan. The hero Koroghlu sings before the khan's court, foreshadowing how love will conquer tyranny in the final act. I also discovered that Mr. Qasimov received the IMC-UNESCO Music Prize that recognizes musical contributions that, among other things, develops understanding between peoples. Here I sat, in Washington DC, in the Kennedy Center, learning about peace, and feeling it. I imagine that several people could sing these melodies correctly - but I believe Mr. Qasimov sings with the gift of peacemaking. Something intangibly peaceful accompanies his song, a guttural cry for reconciliation and harmony. He sang seated cross-legged on a large pillow, in the form of a Buddha - further evoking a sense of tranquility.

I decided that peacemaking must involve music. Cultural exchange is vital to the advancement of foundational understandings that ripen movements for peace. Music has a way of transmitting ideas without the argument. Too often, scholars become locked in ideological battle - to their own blinding: unable to comprehend from whence the opposing ideas come. Where scholarly exchange leads with the mind, and awaits the confirmation of the heart; music seems to plow a hardened mind, and soften its soil for the seeds of change. I may not understand much more about Azerbaijan or Iran now that I attended the concert, but I certainly want to.