Exploring new sounds and collaborating with sixth-grade students...
Recently Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble (SRE) kicked off the 2011 summer music season in three venues around the Tri-state area. At Newark’s NJPAC and the Festival of Arts & Ideas in New Haven, the same set-list of recent pieces written for the SRE were featured, including Osvaldo Golijov’s piece: "Air to Air" (2006). At Central Park SummerStage (SRE) performance with NYC students, capping a two-year education initiative.
“Vojo” (The Way) had its world premiere at NJPAC and got its second performance at a rainy, but crowded New Haven Green. The piece is co-written by two players whose instruments are of strikingly different characteristics: shakuchaci player (Japanese end-blown bamboo flute) Kojiro Umezaki and gaita player (Galician bagpipe) Cristina Pato.
With its opening cry, the gaita heralds a rambunctious piece. Near the end of the piece is a section where the shakuhachi is intentionaly overblown. An instrument known for being light and breathy, now has sonic weight. In betweeen, the strength of the piece is that these two instrument are pitted against each other in a merry, virtuosic contest. According to the program notes however, the piece is a dialogue between cultures and instruments. However, the instruments are of such distinct timbres that the two musical lines are difficult to, and didn't quite blend.
Kayhan Kalhor’s “Blue as the Turquoise of Neyshabur” was a highlight of the concert. It begins with the thick vibrato of Ma’s cello contrasted against the leaner timbre of Kalhor’s kamancheh (Persian spike fiddle), which lasted for several minutes. Sandeep Das gently hits the tabla (Indian drum set) signalling an acceleration of tempo. Past the halfway point the piece essentially is a duet between Kalhor and Das, as Kalhor works a pizzicato passage and Das’ beat patterns grow in complexity.
Thirteenth-century Persian poet Rumi wrote, “the voice of the violin is the sound of the opening gate of paradise.” Close to the conclusion of Kalhor’s piece, one could understand why Rumi said that. An entire string choir engaged in recitative, chant-like and insistent, through stasis gives the impression of an ability to maintain an elegant lyrical line indefinitely to mesmerizing effect.
At Central Park, (SRE) acted as accompanists to students skits as part of the program called “Night at the Caravanserai” involving: JHS 185 Queens; Frederick Douglas Academy, The Bronx; MS 584 Brooklyn; and MS 161 in Manhattan. Each skit involved cross-cultural exchange stories. For example, students from PS/MS 161 did “Fare Trade,” in part about textile trading. The strength of the program was the students' enthusiasm and the acrobatic flexibility of Jookin dancer Lil’ Buck.
Normally a public audience is only interested in the finished product on stage. This performance however was the capstone of a two-year education program. There was a video screen on stage used for cute imagery like swirling stars. With all that in mind, an argument for short video clips of:
The students working with director Damian Woetzel (former principal dancer of NYC Ballet); how the students incorporated lessons of teamwork and communication; and how successes and struggles within the rehearsal process leading up to the performance might have been illuminating.
Comments