Global Ensemble Make Beautiful Noise at Hollywood Bowl
By CRAIG HAMMONS
Yo Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble bring the world together in music and song as they end their 17-date run of the USA at the Hollywood Bowl.
Yo Yo Ma is a man who understands once music hits the ear it makes order out of chaos. It joins people together – there is no culture that doesn’t have music. Ma brought together the evolution of his favorite 18-year project, The Silk Road Ensemble.
Transcending Borders
The music they create celebrates difference by exploring the unfamiliar and giving them the opportunity to build something new.
The opening fanfare showed what it is like to transcend borders and the joy of allowing it to happen thru music. Cristina Pato from Spain playing Galician bagpipes and Wu Tong playing the Chinese horn in electrifying abandon meet center stage connecting two sides of the world and their cultural roots. Next up was “Ichichila” a tune traditionally sung by the people of West Africa. It had a cool relaxed vibe to it and a good way to set the tone for the evening.
Silk Road violinist Colin Jacobsen — originally from Minnesota — brought us “O’Neil’s Calavary March,” a tune in the Irish tradition that dates back to the early 1800s.
It featured layers of instruments from a kamancheh, a pipa and some western strings.
On “Green (Vincent’s Tune)” they took a simple melody and turned it into an explosion of bass drumming and gong slamming gone mad.
My favorite song of the night was from Syrian clarinetist Kinan Azmeh called “Wedding.” He said that back home in Syria amist the bombs dropping and the daily fear, there is still the search for love. This a song about coming together to beat the odds and celebrate. He warned us that this song could get loud and next thing I knew it was like we were in a Syrian village party. He dedicated it to all the Syrians who have managed to fall in love in the last five years.
Silk Road Ensemble
Ma did come forward to explain how the Silk Road Ensemble came together but mainly was just another member of the band. He picked up his cello joined Christina Pato now on piano to do a piece together that was beautiful and full of emotion.
There were many other mergers of musicians and instruments some that seemed improvised while others were full grooves and rhythms.
Kayhan Kalhor, one of the band’s core members, plays a kamancheh otherwise known as an Iranian fiddle. He was featured in many of the songs making his instrument sing while at time putting us into a trance.
Tribute to Prince
Some of the crowd wished there was more Ma but no one was disappointed. They closed out the night with a colorful version of Prince’s “When Doves Cry” a song that fit well into their repertoire. The Bowl was lit purple and the crowd was on their feet giving these musicians from around the world the standing ovation they deserve.
Many of the selections tonight were on the Silk Road’s new recording Sing Me Home. You can find out more about the Silk Road Ensemble at silkroadproject.com.
