The Silk Road Ensemble Blazes Through Beijing

Even in a month of excellent musical offerings, Yo Yo Ma’s performance with the Silk Road Ensemble last Friday hit us like a breath of fresh air. Mr. Ma, an American born in Paris but often treated like a national treasure in China, began the concert at the Forbidden City Concert Hall by speaking in Chinese, explaining that the show was something of a homecoming. “I am proud to be visiting the home of some of our members,” referring to the sprawling, geographically-endowed ensemble that he refers to as family. Watching them rip through their Silk Road-inspired performance, one believes it too: this wasn't a gimmick one-off ensemble with multi-culturalism tacked on. Ma and his motley crew were a tight, exuberant clan bound by their love for a rich blend of musical traditions.

“It’s a lot of fun,” Ma told me afterwards, “but tonight’s a bit sad – this is the last of our concerts on this tour. We’re all dispersing back to our homes. One of our members is anxious to get back [to Mongolia] – he’s got some horses to tend to.”

Aside from a handful of Chinese, the ensemble includes an array of some two dozen players and instruments from the old Silk Road that sound as exotic as their names suggest: Mongolians playing the yatga and urtiin du, an Indian tabla virtuoso, a Japanese shakuhachi player, an Iranian master of the kamancheh (a kind of sibling of the Chinese erhu). Also present were the full gamut of Chinese instruments led by Beijing-born sheng star and mesmerizing vocalist Wu Tong (see him in action here).

Strung through the rich weave of influences were violins, bass, guitar and, of course, Yo Yo Ma’s inimitable cello. Though he was master of ceremonies, the musical diplomat was not leading his group of traveling minstrels so much as relishing and fueling its collective power. The ensemble galloped—and at times trotted—through traditional arrangements of Arabian, Turkic and Chinese pieces, a musical pack of steeds on a wild, gorgeous journey in Marco Polo's footsteps. There were gorgeous vistas (Kayhan Kalhor's Persian nocturne "Blue As the Turquoise Night of Neyshabur") and exhilarating races (Wu Tong and Li Cangsang's "Ambush from Ten Sides" finale), and hardly a dull moment for anyone on stage or off.

Despite the prohibitively high ticket prices (from 580 to 2200) – and the late, minimal publicity for the concert – watching Ma and his ensemble in action was easily one of the most enjoyable performances of any kind I've seen in the capital.

Some members of the ensemble, which was born during a workshop at the Tanglewood Music Center in Lenox, Mass., in July 2000, will be regrouping in November for a residency at Ma’s alma mater Harvard. Next April, they'll be back in the area for concerts in Japan, and will return to the states afterwards for a residency at the Rhode Island School of Design.

Let's hope they extend the Silk Road to Beijing again soon.

Listen to a two-hour Silk Road Ensemble concert online at NPR and watch a music video here.

Links and Sources:
Silk Road Project
Music Nation Group
The Daily Californian: image