Why Did the Cellist Cross the Silk Road?

No translator was needed between Azerbaijani singer Alim Qasimov and the rest of the Silk Road Ensemble once they began playing together. When Qasimov, wanted to cue the other musicians to add new segments, he would mimic the motion of playing an instrument, and together the ensemble began smoothing the gaps between movements.

In an age where everything seems to be inter-something (international, interdisciplinary, intercultural) it’s surprising that the world has not been blended into one big smudge. Although the Silk Road Project falls under the category of “inter-”, it has attempted to balance a respect for tradition and a cosmopolitan outlook.

As part of their five-year residency with Harvard, the Silk Road Ensemble has spent the past week developing a chamber arrangement of Uzeyir’s Azerbajani opera “Layla and Majnun.” Before departing on a tour of Japan, the ensemble will present their retelling of this classic Middle Eastern love story as a work-in-progress to the Harvard community.

CROSS-CULTURAL COMPOSITION

The ensemble’s version truncates the original three-and-a-half-hour operatic score written for a full orchestra. While the original arrangement involved both Western and Eastern instruments, they were played separately. In contrast, this new arrangement attempts to blend the tonal qualities of Western and traditional instruments.

“Our goal is to get away from this very obvious separation of roles between the Western and Azerbaijani parts,” said violinist Jonathan Gandelsman, who also arranged the version of “Layla and Majnun” that will be performed.

On Monday, the musicians met in the New College Theatre to brainstorm new ideas to improve their arrangement. After watching a recording of a previous performance, members from the ensemble began throwing out suggestions, frequently conferring through a translator with Qasimov, the foremost singer of traditional Azerbaijani music and a recipient of the UNESCO Music Prize.

Ideas ranged from reworking parts of the existing arrangement to entirely novel additions to the ancient work—one musician suggested collaborating with a director to introduce stage motions and acting to the role of the two soloists, for example.

By the next rehearsal on Tuesday, products of the first day’s brainstorming session already started to be realized. A series of landscapes and Middle Eastern images were projected onto the back wall in coordination with the opera, adding a new visual element to their work.

OPERATIC TRUST

The Silk Road Project was founded in 1998 by world-renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma ’76 to combine traditional music with artistic growth. In 2005, it came to Harvard to begin its five-year residency and partnership with the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Each year-since then, the group has staged a series of lectures, workshops, and performances to work with students and faculty on cross-cultural development through music.

According to Laura Freid, CEO and Executive Director of the Silk Road Project, Inc., the inspiration to showcase “Layla and Majnun” came from a meeting with Qasimov while the group was in Azerbaijan. He and his daughter Fargana Qasimova later joined the Silk Road Ensemble and both will perform at Harvard this week.

“Trust is very important,” said Freid, of gaining the support of musicians from other countries. “They know we really respect and trust them.”

Generating an atmosphere of trust is important not only between the members of the ensemble, but also between the Project and Harvard.

“It feels both challenging and safe,” said violinist Colin Jacobsen, of performing at Harvard, who also helped to arrange the piece. “The purpose of school is to experiment.”

In the final two years of its residency at Harvard, the Silk Road Project plans to continue to expand the breadth of its music. “We are hoping to bring a composer from Uzbekistan next year,” said Freid. “Each time we come, we’re experimenting with different kinds of residencies.”

But the future remains uncertain. As Freid put it, “We haven’t figured out our fifth year yet.”