As a collective that draws on artistic traditions the world over, the Silk Road Ensemble continually seeks new arrangements of traditional music and the Silk Road Project commissions new pieces by composers interested in cross-cultural exploration. Performing members of the Ensemble often generate new music for the group, as well. One such piece debuted in recent concerts at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark and on the New Haven Green: "Vojo," the result of a collaboration between Cristina Pato and Kojiro Umezaki.
"Vojo" explores the idea of connecting two far-flung regions of the world—Galicia, Spain, and Okinawa, Japan—through a dialogue between two very different wind instruments: the boisterous gaita, or Galician bagpipe, and the contemplative shakuhachi, a Japanese bamboo flute often used in Zen meditation. Inspired by Esperanto, an attempt in the 19th-century to create a new globally shared written and spoken language, Cristina and Ko determined to explore the possibilities for a common second language through music. In Esperanto, "vojo" means "the way" or "the road."
The piece incorporates traditional melodic lines from both Spain and Japan, supported by percussion. Before the premiere, Cristina and Ko discussed their collaborative process with Kara Yorio of the New Jersey Record. Their interview, which appeared on June 2, 2011, is excerpted below.
| "It's like putting together a puzzle," says Pato. "To create something
with somebody else is a beautiful process." They planned the piece to be
a journey from one land to another, but when they brought their ideas
and separate pieces to each other, that changed. "We didn't have to go from Okinawa to Galicia," says Pato. "We just had to put it together and we'd be there." "We
want to set the tone with a sense of community," says Umezaki. "If we
can start with a sense of community, we can build it up to something a
little more festive just to set the tone for the concert." Umezaki
is touched by such apparently different people coming together and
working so well together. "It's something I want to bring with me
outside of the ensemble," he says. |
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Cristina and Ko also discussed their experiences being part of the Silk Road Ensemble:
| "It's really very exciting how much I learn touring with them and working with them," says Pato. "We all have our own
careers and our own lives, then we meet once or twice a year for a tour
and we become a family. In the moment we get together again, it's like
starting a new degree in music from all around the world. … Working with
them is like the dream of my life." Japan's Kojiro Umezaki, who
plays the Japanese bamboo flute called the shakuhachi, has gained
something beyond the music as well. "The honest and not-so-interesting
answer is definitely the friendship," says Umezaki. |
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