Silk Road Ensemble

I don't think there'd be anyone in Hong Kong who hasn't heard of either the sea or the land Silk Road from western China, through Central Asia and the Middle East  to Rome and Venice but I wouldn't be so sure if everybody has heard of the Silk Road Ensemble. Until last night, the ensemble was just a name printed on my ticket said to be led by the famous cellist Yo Yo Ma, whose numerous solos, concertos and collaborations with various other artists I first heard years ago. But what an exciting experience it was to meet them at the City Hall concert hall last night!

I glanced cursorily through the programme notes in my hand and quickly learned that it was "collective of musicians, composers and performing artists from more than 20 countries around the world "many of whom came together under the artistic direction of Ma at a workshop in Tanglewood, MA in 2000 but the project was first conceived by Ma in 1998 and since then has commissioned and performed nearly 70 new musical and multimedia works from composers around the world including those by some of its own performers. According to Ma, Hong Kong is the first stop in their Asian tour this year and last night we had a world premiere of one of their latest compositions. I like the way they approach music. As Ma says, it is a musical model which requires "curiosity, collaboration and wholehearted enthusiasm from all the participants.". I don't think that he's just "hyping". I felt their enthusiasm. Every cell, every muscle, every bone in my body vibrated with their zest. You see the enthusiasm in the incredible nimbleness and force of their fingers, the light that sparkled from their eyes, the fire you see burning in their bodies, and you hear it from the lively sounds from their strings, their bows, from their kamancheh ( a small Persiai/Arabianfiddle with long conical neck, a round wooden body with a human voice-like sound), their gaita,(a Galician bagpipe with a blowpipe,  a chanter or melody pipe with two reeds played by covering and uncovering the holes with one's fingers)  their suona, their sheng, ( a mouth organ of metal, wood or gourd with a blowpipe and 17 bamboo/metal pipes), pipa ( a short necked wooden lute played by plucking),their bamboo shakuhachi, ( wind instrument made from bamboo base with fingering holes intended to reflect the sounds such as birdcalls, wind and water), their tabla ( a pair of small hand drums, one high and one low pitched, made of clay or copper with skin tops), their drums, their xylophones, their violins,their cellos and their doublebass. It was music as it should be. It was music that came from the source of all great music: the heart and the soul. It flitted, it flew, it galloped, it rolled, it tumbled, it raced, it sang, it cried, it roared from their instruments. There was perfect rapport between the musicians, who listened to each other, who waited for the cue to come in, their eyes rivited upon their co-creators. to support, to parallel, to contrast, to compete and to enrich each other's music, just like a good jazz band!.

It was a sonic feast from the following artists:

Composers/Arrangers The Silk Road Suite

Christina Pato, Wu Tong  Fanfare for Gaita and Suona Duo

Kalhan Kalhor Mountains Are Far Away

Wu Man    Leaves Flying in Autumn

Traditional   Lullaby from Itsuki Village

Tradtional (arr. Wu Tong, Li Cangsang)    Folk Song from the Mido Mountain

Dmitri Yanof-Yanovsky  Qasida (World Premiere)

Giovanni Sollima    Taranta Project

Sandeep Das  Shristi

Gabriela Lena Frank Chyraq:  Rough Guide to a Modern Day Tawantinsuyu

John Zorn (arr. Blumenkranz, Gandelsman, Pato, Shanahan)     Suite from Book of Angels

They were played, poured out or flew from the musical instruments of the following team members:

Cello Yo Yo Ma

Bass  Jeffrey Beecher

Viola  Nicholas Cords

Tabla Sandeep Das

Violin Colin Jacobsen

Kamancheh Kayhan Kalhor

Gaita                Chrstina Pato

Percussion    Mark Suter

Shakuhachi   Kojiro Umezaki

Pipa  Wu Man

Sheng   Wu Tong

I really do not know how to transcribe into words what I heard and how it felt at that familiar hall, with the musicians right in front of me, not 30 feet away, with all their gaita, sheng, kamancheh, shakuhachi, their strings of Peruvian shells, their violins, their violas, their cellos, their tabla, their drums etc. seated on Persian carpets before their musical stands or improvising on the spot, their head bobbing up and down, their bodies swaying to the rhythm of the sound, the kind of exhilaration, the kind of excitement, the kind of joy that surged so spontaneously from my heart. It has to be heard and experienced to be believed. If I am forced to compare it to another similar musical experience, I would have to say it felt like listening to Al di Miola, Paco de Lucia and John McClachlan live as in that legendary "Friday Night in San Francisco" but with 11 musicians doing their thing instead of three! It was absolutely crazy. It was absolutely wonderful! The Best! You may get an idea of how "crazy" it was when I tell you that we got three "encores". If you fancy getting a feel of what went on that night, listen in on RTHK Radio 4 (FM 97-6-98.9 MHz on 9th March, 2012 at 8 p.m. with a repeat on 14th March, 2012 at 2 p.m).