Full text of "The Silk Road : connecting cultures, creating trust : the 36th annual Smithsonian Folklife Festival on the National Mall, Washington, D.C., June 26-30, July 3-7, 2002"

See other formats

The Silk Road

Connecting Cultures, Creating Trust

THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
CENTER FOR FOLKLIFE AND CULTURAL HERITAGE

partners with

THE Sitk ROAD Project, INc.

to present

The Silk Road

Connecting Cultures, Creating Trust
the 36th annual Smithsonian Folklife Festival
On the National Mall, Washington, D.C.

June 26-30, July 3-7, 2002

Smithsonian Institution

Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage
750 9th Street, NW

Suite 4100

Washington, DC 20560-0953

www. folklife.si.edu

ISSN 1056-6805

Editor: Carla M. Borden

Associate Editor: Peter Seitel
Director of Design: Kristen Fernekes
Graphic Designer: Caroline Brownell

Design Assistant: Rachele Riley

The Silk Road: Connecting Cultures, Creating Trust at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival is a partnership of the Smithsonian Institution
Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage and the Silk Road Project, Inc. The Festival site is designed by Rajeev Sethi Scenographers
and produced in cooperation with the Asian Heritage Foundation. The Festival is co-sponsored by the National Park Service.

Mg o aattte
Se Smithsonian Folklife Festival = S II LK R#AD

projectin

The Festival is supported by federally appropriated funds, Smithsonian trust funds, contributions from governments,
businesses, foundations, and individuals, in-kind assistance, volunteers, food and craft sales, and Friends of the Festival.

LEAD FUNDER AND

___KEY CREATIVE PARTNER GLOBAL CORPORATE PARTNERS _ _____ FOUNDING SUPPORTER

Sony Classical

Gord Notor Com, any,
SIEMENS

THE AGA KHAN TRUST FOR CULTURE

and by the following supporters of the Smithsonian Institution:

LEAD DONOR
ExonMobil

DONORS

Trust for Mutual Understanding
Music Performance Trust Funds
Asian Cultural Council
J.S. Lee

U.S. Department of State
Mr. Arthur Pacheco

The 2002 Festival has been made possible through the following generous sponsors and donors to the Silk Road Project, Inc.

MAJOR FUNDING BY

The Starr Foundation
Mr. and Mrs. Henry R. Kravis
Mr. Richard Li
Mr. William Rondina
Wolfensohn Family Foundation
Octavian Society
National Endowment for the Arts
Carolyn G. Mugar/
The Armenian Tree Project

IN-KIND DONORS
Turkish Airlines
Motorola/Nextel
Go-Ped
APL
Fresh Fields/
Whole Foods Market

The Silk Road on the Mall

by Lawrence M. Small

A Journey of Discovery
by Yo-Yo Ma

The Silk Road ‘Today

by Luis Monreal

The Festival and the
‘Transnational Production of Culture
by Richard Kurin and Diana Parker

The Silk Road:
Connecting Cultures, Creating Trust
by Richard Kennedy

Making the Silk Road Festival
by Rajeev Sethi

23. The Silk Road: Connecting Peoples and Cultures 57. Artists along the Silk Road

by Richard Kurin by Henry Glassie and Pravina Shukla
28 Silk Road Travelers 7
by James Deutsch and Stephen Kidd 67 Silk Road Cooking: A Culinary Journey

by Najmieh Batmanglij

37. The Silk Road:

Crossroads and Encounters of Faith 73. Music and Musicians along the Silk Road
by Azim Nanji and Sarfaroz Niyozov by Theodore Levin
40 Martial Arts along the Silk Road — 75 Nomad Performance Competition
from Bodhidharma to Bruce Lee by Doug Kim in Central Asia by Jean During
45 The Tree of Life 81 Nomads
by Elizabeth Moynihan by Alma Kunanbay
49 Visual Arts of the Historical Silk Road 89 General Festival Information
by Elizabeth ten Grotenhuis
52 Paper by Valerie Hansen
54 Blue-and-White by Robert McC. Adams

Note on Transliteration

To ensure that program materials are as accessible as possible to Festival audiences and that the many languages used along the Silk Road are treated equitably and consistently
in these materials, we have followed these principles:

Words that are commonly used in English are primarily used in that form. In addition, we provide (in parentheses) the form that is familiar to native speakers and scholars.
Diacritical marks are omitted unless they are an integral part of the language.

For transliterations we have been guided by National Museum of Asian Art (Smithsonian Institution) and Library of Congress usage.

For place names we have referred to the U.S. Board on Geographic Names.

ix ®
®oee®

"he

The Silk Road on the Mall

Lawrence M. Small, Secretary, Smithsonian Institution

For ten days this summer, the great geographical and cultural distance that lies between the heart of Europe and the
far reaches of Asia is being reduced to the length of a leisurely afternoon stroll on the National Mall. For the first

time in its 36-year history, the Smithsonian Folklife Festival has a single — and remarkably ambitious — theme:

the Silk Road. The name denotes the network of trade routes, over both land and sea, along which merchants and

travelers began to move across Asia and Europe from the first millennium B.c.r. The most famous east-west compo-
nent of the Silk Road began in Xi'an, the ancient capital of China, broke north and south of China's Takla Makan
Desert, and traversed a vast stretch of Central and Western Asia on its way to the eastern end of the Mediterranean.

Along those staggering distances lay a wealth of cultures and traditions. They are still there; during the Folklife

Festival, they come to life in the heart of Washington as well.

Merchants took to the Silk Road for commercial gain. But
their movement also brought riches of another kind: the cultural
traditions that were transported along the Silk Road. The ingen-
ious, distinctive emblems of peoples — their science, technology,
religions, customs, crafts, music, food, architecture, fashions —
made the journey, too, and the dazzling variety of the world that
commerce opened was diffused, welcomed, and adapted.

That's the tale to be told in this years Folklife Festival, The
Silk Road: Connecting Cultures, Creating Trust. Produced in
association with the Silk Road Project, Inc., an organization
founded by the cellist Yo-Yo Ma, supported in large part by the
Aga Khan Trust for Culture, and featuring exhibits designed by
Rajeev Sethi, the Festival turns the National Mall into a
mammoth visual representation of the Silk Road, with the Great
Gate in Nara, Japan, at the eastern end, toward the Capitol, and
St. Mark’s Square in Venice at the western end, in the shadow of
the Washington Monument. And between the two, visitors will
wander Eurasia, through Istanbul, Samarkand, and Xian. On the
way they ll move among hundreds of musicians, artists, dancers,
crafts workers, and chefs from some two dozen nations of the Silk
Road, working side by side with Americans who trace their
origins to the region or have been culturally influenced by its
traditions.

An especially valuable aspect of the event is its focus on
Central Asia, a region to which we Americans were all too indif-
ferent before events of the past year. We now know the names of
the nations in that part of the world. The Festival gives the people
of those nations and their traditions a human face.

Visitors who make the journey across the Festival site can
immerse themselves in the energy and larger educational purpose
of the Festival; they ll have an opportunity to travel across conti-
nents, centuries, and cultures. They will meet with a diversity of
artists who, through their demonstrations of skill — with silk,
jewelry, ceramics, carpets, paintings, paper, calligraphy, food,
and, not least, music — do more than merely affirm their cultural
traditions. They embody them. This year’s Folklife Festival, like
every other, celebrates humanity and breathes a spirit of human
engagement. On a great green stretch of this nation's capital,
people from many different societies will be brought together face
to face. And those chance, transient encounters may affect the
way they think about the world.

THIS ARTICLE ORIGINALLY APPEARED IN SMITHSONIAN MAGAZINE,
JUNE 2002.

A Journey of Discovery

Yo-Yo Ma, Artistic Director, The Silk Road Project, Inc.

These days, the Silk Road is mostly remembered as a string of fabled places

Samarkand, Nishapur, Bukhara,

Kashgar. For me, however, the Silk Road has always been fundamentally a story about people, and how their lives

were enriched and transformed through meeting other people who were at first strangers. By starting a conversa-

tion and building shared trust, strangers could become allies, partners, and friends, learning from one another along

the way and working creatively together.

If you accept that the Silk Road is still present in our world
as an inspirational symbol of intercultural meetings, then there are
many people alive today whose lives exemplify modern-day Silk
Road stories. | am one of them. | was born in Paris to Chinese
parents. My father was a violinist and composer who devoted his
career to building musical bridges between China and the West.
When I was seven, my family moved to the United States. I
began playing Western classical music as a youngster but have
always been curious about other cultures.

As a cellist who loves working in different musical styles,
I've had the good fortune to travel and learn about music outside
my own tradition. | have visited the Khoisan people of the
Kalahari Desert and listened to Buddhist chant in Japan's ancient
Todaiji Temple. | have learned Celtic and Appalachian dance
tunes and have taken lessons on the morin huur, the Mongolian
horsehead fiddle. These encounters have led me to think about
the way that music reveals the connections among us.

For example, is the horsehead fiddle, held upright and
played with a horsehair bow, in fact an ancient ancestor of
European viols? How did a Japanese stringed instrument, the
biwa, originally created in the 8th century and now part of the
Imperial Shosoin collection in Nara, come to be decorated with
West and Central Asian motifs? Why does music from the Celtic
lands, Mongolia, India, and many other disparate places rely so
heavily on the concept of melody played against a steady drone?
Answers to these questions are not always fully known, but
persuasive evidence suggests that peoples now separated by great
distances had at some time been connected. Moreover, these

connections were not passive but based on a vigorous exchange of
ideas, artifacts, technologies, and fashions. Cultural exchange has
in turn inspired innovation and creativity.

The message seems clear: we all have much to gain by
staying in touch, and much to lose by throwing up walls around
ourselves. We live in a world of increasing interdependence
where it is ever more important to know what other people are
thinking and feeling, particularly in the vast and strategic regions
of Asia that were linked by the Silk Road.

In 1998 the Silk Road Project was founded to study the
historical and present-day flow of culture and ideas along the
trans-Eurasian trade routes. I believe that when we enlarge our
view of the world we deepen our understanding of our own lives.
Through a journey of discovery, the Silk Road Project hopes to
plant the seeds of new artistic and cultural growth, and to cele-
brate authentic living traditions and musical voices. But what are
“authentic traditions? Look deeply enough into any one, and
youll find elements of others. Discovering what's shared, and
what can be appropriated, refined, and restyled, is the essential
work of cultural exchange and innovation.

As a crucible for cultural intermingling, the lands of the Silk
Road, then and now, offer an unparalleled vantage point from
which to understand vitally alive and ever-evolving languages of
music, art, and craft that may seem by turns familiar and exotic.
Our challenge is to embrace the wondrous diversity of artistic
expression while remaining mindful of the common humanity
that links us all. | hope that your own visit to the Festival will lead
to enduring discoveries on both fronts.

The Silk Road Today

Luis Monreal, General Manager, Aga Khan Trust for Culture

For the two weeks of the Folklife Festival, the United States capital is the destination for an idea that began over
2,000 years ago, when the Silk Road became an economic thoroughfare, a conduit of knowledge and culture, a
network, a myth perfumed by spices and resplendent in silk. When Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble
perform, or when an unknown folk group from Kazakhstan plays to an American audience, we are moved because
we understand, in those transcendent moments, how we all connect, and what our true responsibilities are to each
other. We also feel a poignant anguish at the realization that, too often, we do not take these responsibilities to heart.

Those responsibilities go beyond music, of course — to make connections on the ground, to help societies recon-
struct after being destroyed by war, drought, and famine. When the Aga Khan Development Network began work
in the Central Asian part of the Silk Road in 1992, we needed to address the most immediate problems — food
sufficiency and the repair of roads, bridges, and the electrical grid — but another pressing task was to help in the
construction of pluralistic societies capable of dealing with age-old ethnic tensions.

It is not new to assert that a classical education should
include more than the usual Great Books in the traditional
Western canon, but perhaps it is new to suggest that a broad,
inclusive humanities curriculum should be introduced in coun-
tries where no such program ever existed before. One of our
programs in Central Asia, a region undergoing a period of transi-
tion, is the Humanities Project. The Project arose out of deep
concern for the divisions that emerged after the dissolution of the
Soviet Union and the humanitarian crisis that followed. Ethnic
rivalries surfaced, and the region was menaced by civil war. If the
people of the region were to live in peace with their neighbors —
who, by extension, include the rest of the world — then we
needed ways to create an appreciation of other cultures and intel-
lectual traditions.

The Humanities Project therefore aims to develop skills of
cultural interpretation, independent thinking, reasoned debate,
and open-ended curiosity. The Project, based in Dushanbe,
Tajikistan, will eventually extend to many Central Asian universi-
ties. It is also intended to promote tolerance for pluralism in ideas,
cultures, and peoples, and aims to develop the capacity for ethical
reflection and aesthetic appreciation.

In 2000, we established the University of Central Asia, an
internationally chartered private institution of higher education
dedicated exclusively to education and research on mountain
regions and societies. Mountain populations experience extremes
of poverty and isolation as well as constraints on opportunities
and choice, but at the same time, they sustain great linguistic,
cultural, ethnic, and religious pluralism, and show remarkable
resilience in the face of extraordinarily harsh circumstances. By
creating intellectual space and resources, the university will help
turn the mountains that divide the nations and territories of
Central Asia into the links that unite its peoples and economies in
a shared endeavor to improve future well-being.

Another related issue of concern in Central Asia, and one
that the Aga Khan Development Network has been working to
address, is the decline of musical traditions and activities that
coincided with rapid changes occurring in the region. In
response, we created the Music Initiative in Central Asia, which
has been collaborating with the Smithsonian Institution and the
Silk Road Project to put on this year’s Festival. While the sounds
of the Silk Road come to the National Mall in Washington, D.C.,

the Music Initiative is working to preserve and promote the

musical traditions of the Central Asian portion of the Silk Road:

in Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan
and now, Afghanistan.

The Initiative provides financial resources and technical
assistance for the restoration of the great classics of Central Asian
music and funds recordings, research, conferences, publications,
and concerts of traditional music. The Initiative supports selected
music schools that train students through oral-tradition transmis-
sion from master to disciple (ustad-shagird) and facilitates appren-
ticeships of promising students to master luthiers with the aim of
improving the quality of musical instrument construction. A
Multimedia Programme is producing an anthology of Central
Asian music and promoting it through broadcasts and video and
audio recordings. The Intra-Asian Cultural Exchange
Programme organizes local festivals featuring a variety of reper-
toires and artists, supports educational activities, and facilitates
exchanges of performers and teachers among music schools in
different regions.

Under the aegis of the Initiative, Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk
Road Ensemble are performing in Central Asia in a series of
concerts and master classes that feature specially written pieces by
outstanding composers from the Silk Road region. The Music
Initiative also worked with the Smithsonian and the Silk Road
Project to produce the two-CD compilation, The Silk Road: A
Musical Caravan.

I believe these efforts in Central Asia should be mirrored by
a greater effort at cultural inclusion in the teaching of the sciences
and the humanities throughout the world. If the Smithsonian
Folklife Festival is about broadening our cultural and intellectual
horizons, and I believe it is, then we should take this idea beyond
the duration of the Festival and make it a feature of all our
societies.

As we listen now to the harmonious conjunction of East and
West, here on the National Mall, let us reflect on our responsibil-
ities to remain curious and open to the world’s riches. We may
find our identities in our own cultures, but we gain nothing by
exclusion. Let us all be moved by others’ music, by their art, by
the vast and myriad possibilities in the cross-fertilization of
cultures that make up the world today.

The Festival and the Transnational
Production of Culture

Richard Kurin Diana Parker

Director, Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage Director, Smithsonian Folklife Festival

Who produced the Festival this year? In the end, over a thousand people of good will from around the globe will
join with a million visitors to produce the experience. The inspirational idea and genuine engagement of Yo-Yo Ma,
a musical artist of Chinese parentage who grew up in Paris and studied at Harvard, has provided the vision. The
support of His Highness the Aga Khan, the leader of the Ismaili Muslim community, who supports educational,
health, architectural, and development programs in places ranging from Central Asia to Mali to MIT, has been
crucial. The site was designed by Rajeev Sethi, South Asia's renowned scenographer, who is currently working on
projects in several continents. It was curated by the Smithsonian's Richard Kennedy, whose English family long
ago migrated to Berkeley, and who himself turned back east to specialize in the study of Tamil history and
Cambodian dance; and by Ted Levin, a Dartmouth professor who has worked with Uzbek, Bukharan Jewish, and
‘Tuvan musical traditions in the heart of Inner Asia. Alma Kunanbay, a scholar from Kazakhstan married to a promi-
nent Russian musicologist, organized the area devoted to nomadic traditions, while Henry Glassie, a folklorist and
material culture expert who has worked in Turkey, Japan, and Bangladesh, organized ceramic and textile artists.
And so it goes, among the many members of our staff, our collaborators with the Silk Road Project, Inc., and the
Aga Khan Trust for Culture, our many volunteers, and, most of all, the hundreds of musicians, artists, storytellers,
cooks, and performers who have come to the National Mall of the United States from all over the United States and
from two dozen other nations. Artists from India have painted fabrics to simulate the great bell tower of Xian, and
woven textiles to simulate the ikats of Japan. Japanese masked performers include in their troupe members from
Senegal and Guinea. Of course, the Festival itself would not exist save for the Smithsonian, founded by an
Englishman who lived mainly in France and Italy, and loved America without ever having visited.

Clearly we live in a transnational world, where people and
ideas overflow the conventional boundaries of their birthplaces
and birth groups. The Festival is a transnational creation,
animated by artists from numerous and diverse communities but
speaking a common language of cultural creativity and engaging
in a joyful mission of encouraging cross-cultural understanding.
The Festival is also a place to learn. Visitors, artists, and organ-
izers alike share in the highly mutual, sometimes studious, some-
times serendipitous act of learning about people, traditions, and
ideas that, seemingly distant, become quite familiar.

The Festival also exists within a framework in which knowl-
edge rather than ignorance is valued; the dignity of representation
is prized, not sullied: toleration and humility are virtues, not
weaknesses; and the right to proclaim, shout, sing, dance, cook,
and mold one's existence does not impede the rights of others to
do so.

The Festival, it turns out, is a station on the Silk Road. Not
the historical one of ancient, medieval, or early modern times, but
rather the contemporary Silk Road that draws inspiration from the
bountiful cultural interchange it represents. The Festival is a cara-
vanserai in which people from different backgrounds, speaking
different languages, and having varied interests can nonetheless
stop for a moment on their life's journey, gather with others, trade
and share their art, knowledge, and perspectives. We as a society,
we as people of a planet, need spaces such as the one that the
Festival on the National Mall of the United States provides to
meet each other in a respectful way, to hear what our neighbors
have to say, and hopefully be inspired to become better human
beings as a result.

The Silk Road brought wondrous things — silks, porcelain,
horses — to appreciative people. Music, song, instruments, and
styles moved along the transcontinental byway, and our musical
heritage is the better for it. Ideas about the heavens and cosmos,
mathematics, physics, and the elements were carried with its
caravans. Religions developed, spread, and thrived along the Silk
Road, sometimes in harmony, sometimes in conflict. The Silk

Road did not always bring good. War, disease, and banditry
moved along its networks. Those traversing it endured a variety of
travails. Differences of values, languages, and interests sometimes
closed the roads, cut off the exchanges, and destroyed communi-
ties. Yet by and large, the Silk Road proved beneficial to
humanity; precisely because it brought diverse people into
contact, it stimulated the development of foods, medicines,
philosophies, religions, and the arts.

The Silk Road is an apt metaphor for our times; it speaks to
the transnational creation of culture. We are all connected. The
Festival makes that perhaps more obvious — it heightens our
sensation of those connections. The question is what to do with
them. Do we think of our connection as a rare moment to be
forgotten, or as one that encourages us to explore our own poten-
tial to grow as human beings?

Very few Americans have met someone from Kyrgyzstan. At
the Festival you can easily do so. Most Americans are unfamiliar
with the culture of Central Asia. Now is a chance to change that.
Many Americans have an open mind toward learning about the
beliefs and practices of people who are Muslim, Buddhist, and
Hindu. Here at the Festival you have the opportunity.

Following the events of September II, it seems clear to us
that it is ever so important for people and societies the world over
to take account of their neighbors, to come to know them and
learn of and from them, to engage them in positive ways.
Insularity and xenophobia, the fear and dehumanizing of
“others — even one's own neighbors — are recipes for disaster in
a complicated world. It is better to do the hard work of fostering
understanding and respect, for these often produce inspiration.
So weather Washington's summer heat and humidity, dont be
dissuaded by the dust, overcome your shyness, don t worry about
the fact that you dont speak Uyghur or know the difference
between Turk and ‘Turkmen — embrace, engage, and enjoy the
Festival journey. May it inspire you as it has us and the very fine
community of cultural workers and supporters who have
produced it.

The Silk Road:

Connecting Cultures, Creating Trust

by Richard Kennedy

For 35 years the Smithsonian Folklife Festival has presented well over a hundred programs focused on the tradi-
tional cultures of nations, regions, states, and communities, as well as on various occupations and themes. Never
before has a Festival been devoted to one topic; never before has a Festival offered such research, conceptual, and
logistical challenges. Producing The Silk Road for the 2002 Smithsonian Folklife Festival has stretched our
thinking, our professional abilities, and our relationships with collaborating organizations. This has been a
daunting but exhilarating effort, and one well worth doing in the hopes of benefitting both the American public and
people of Silk Road lands.

The Silk Road, a term coined in the 19th century with 20th-
century PR savvy, defines an exchange of products, both material
and intellectual, across Eurasia from China to the Mediterranean,
traditionally from the 2nd century B.c.£. and over the first 1,200
years of the Common Era. People who know something of the
Silk Road think first of the transport of silk to Rome or the expan-
sion of Buddhism from India to China, although certainly it is
much more. But why silk, and why a road to describe this
exchange? Silk provides the example of a mysterious luxury
product for which people throughout the region were willing to
pay high prices and even jeopardize lives. And the “road” refers to
the exchange of those material products that traveled by land,
although this literal meaning must be extended to include cultural
and spiritual exchanges that would be part of a metaphorical Silk
Road. Beyond these definitions the idea of the Silk Road is still
available for new interpretations. And in the present political envi-
ronment the idea is particularly evocative.

One reason Smithsonian staff has been particularly excited
to work on a Silk Road project at this time is the political trans-
formations that have taken place in the region over the previous
two decades. The opening of China and the collapse of the Soviet
Union have enabled researchers, businessmen, and travelers alike
to visit a vast area little known to Westerners in the past hundred
years. A new Silk Road is being traveled. The modest victories of

democracy and capitalism at the end of the second millennium

allowed strangers once again to meet along the ancient roads of
silk and once again exchange ideas and products. People spoke of
new economic and political realities, and it seemed that new
cultural realities were likely developing out of this transformation
as well. If oil was the new silk, and democracy the new religion,
then where did the old cultural traditions of the Silk Road stand?
Had they withstood the onslaught of the Mongols, the seafaring
European capitalists, and the more recent Russian and Chinese
communists? How had they been transformed?

The understanding of exchange along the Silk Road has
broadened with new archaeological discoveries throughout the
region. It is now clear that there has been trade between what is
now defined as Europe and Asia for many millennia. ‘Textiles,
beads, and languages all moved across the region centuries before

(Above left) Ahmed Sahin continued the centuries-old tradition of ¢ini
pottery in Kiitahya, Turkey. Cini pottery has its roots in the blue-and-
white tradition of China, elaborating the art with finely painted surfaces.
Photo by Henry Glassie/Pravina Shukla

(Above right) Pottery studios like this one in Jingdezhen, China, have
produced the famous blue-and-white porcelain for over 600 years.
Jingdeshen ware influenced ceramics in Japan, Turkey, and throughout
Europe.

Photo by Richard Kennedy © Smithsonian Institution

the Common Era. Traffic between India and Europe, including
Russia (a North/South component of the Silk Road), was always
an integral part of the Silk Road and continued long after the
collapse of the 13th-century Pax Mongolica that closed major land
routes across Eurasia. Products and ideas have been continuously
exchanged back and forth across the region, and that exchange
continues today. The Silk Road Festival features only a select few
of these living traditions, but their survival will tell surprising
stories of long-standing connections between peoples and nations.

Visitors to the Festival will be greeted by five “sentinels of
arrival,” landmarks along the ancient Silk Road — St. Mark's
Square in Venice, Hagia Sophia (Ayasofya) mosque/church/
museum in Istanbul, Registan Square in Samarkand, the Xian
bell tower, and the great gate to Todaiji Temple in Nara. Each will
house a stage that reflects a different performance tradition. The
performing arts selected for the Festival have been grouped into
spiritual activities, courtly entertainment, local celebrations and
entertainments, nomadic presentations, and new musics that draw
from tradition. Spiritual music, for example, provides the program
an opportunity to present the stories of the expansion of religion
— Buddhism, Islam, and Christianity — along the Silk Road.
Buddhist monks from Tibet and Sufi Muslim devotees from
Turkey and Bangladesh will highlight the central role that religion
played in Silk Road trade.

The Silk Road was not just a story of merchants, nomads,
and dusty caravanserais, but also functioned because of powerful
military forces based in urban centers along the route. These
centers not only hosted the travelers and exacted tolls but also
supported communities of artists of all kinds. Craftspeople and
musicians traveled throughout the region, sometimes freely,
sometimes subject to restrictions, and sometimes even as
prisoners of war. Music of the royal courts, some of which
survives, was an important tradition developed in these centers.
Magam ensembles from Azerbaijan to Xinjiang as well as
Chinese and Japanese courtly music still have a place in the lives
of people along the Silk Road.

These centers were also a place of cultural confluence and
celebration. Folk musics, then as now, were a part of everyday
life. Bukharan Jews settled in Central Asia and now in the United
States still celebrate traditional weddings, while contemporary
Armenian and Chinese folk ensembles share instruments if not a
language in their musics. Similarly, nomads from Iran to
Mongolia, who were so instrumental in supporting the caravans
on their journeys, share stories, songs and language. Their fine
Bukharan Jewish musician Ilyas Malaev plays the tanbur on the balcony
of his apartment in Queens, New York. Bukharan music, Chinese opera,
karate, and pizza all came to the U.S. with immigrants from Silk Road
countries. Photo © Hermine Dreyfuss

weaving skills are displayed in the
textiles that decorate camels, brought
to the Festival site to demonstrate
nomadic travel. In the twenty-first
century transport is more often by
painted trucks, on which similar
aesthetic skills are brought to bear.
‘Trade products are perhaps easier
to trace along the Silk Road than
music. Existing examples of ancient
silk, pottery, carpets, and glass all tell
very specific stories of travel and
exchange and remind us of the extent
to which people across the region have
been connected throughout history.
What may be surprising to some,
however, is how many such objects are
still made today. The curatorial staff
has chosen to feature ceramics, silk
and cotton textiles, carpets, paper, and
stone and metal products, including
glass. Each is in a different compound
— the Paper Garden, the Ceramics
Courtyard, the Silk Grove, the Family Oasis, and the Jewel
Garden — and tells a story from a different period along the Silk
Road, including, in some cases, a chapter from life in the United
States. Paper, for example, was invented in China and remained
a secret of the region for centuries; along with written language,
writing materials were thought to possess magical qualities.
Religious texts as well as commercial bills were written out and
transported along a route that, through such communication,
could more easily function. Each region added its own distinctive
features of paper art including Turkish marbling and Italian
watermarks. Similar elaborations have been made in the art of
calligraphy, which, particularly in Islamic and Chinese cultures,
has become highly refined and stylistically differentiated as to

Decorated camels participate in an Independence Day parade in
Ashgabat, Turkmenistan. Decorating camels displays the fine weaving
skills of nomads and mirrors the skills of Pakistani truck painters.

Photo © Hermine Dreyfuss

school and usage. Representatives of
these schools still train new genera-
tions of artists along the Silk Road and
in the United States.

Certain ceramics along the Silk
Road became particularly sought after.
Finely painted, pure porcelain from
China was greatly desired by the
Islamic elite and was traded from
China east to Japan and west across
Asia, and eventually on to Europe.
Japanese and Turkish potters put their
own stamp on this ceramic tradition.
On the coattails of porcelain came tea,
and with the passion for tea in the West
came the fine teapots of China and
Japan. Chinese, Japanese, and Turkish
ceramics traditions all remain vital.

Silk was the most highly visible
product to come to Rome during the
first large-scale Silk Road exchange
around the beginning of the Common
Era. In fact it was more than a symbol
for luxury exchange; it was an obsession of the Roman elite and
caused a serious drain of gold and silver to the East. As explained
by Richard Kurin in his article, silk moved easily and became a
“vehicle of cultural creativity wherever it went.” This continued
creativity can be seen in the fashion designers at the Festival from
Japan and Central Asia. But silk’s flexibility can also be seen in
the ikat and embroidery techniques still produced by hand in
India, Uzbekistan, and Syria. Cotton has a similarly long if less
expensive history. From India cotton traveled to Central Asia and
Europe, becoming the crop that almost ruined economies as
varied as those of 20th-century Uzbekistan and the 19th-century
American South. Cotton production became a symbol of India’s
independence in the 1930s and an ecological disaster in parts of
Central Asia. Both fibers, though, have for millennia been contin-
uously woven and embroidered to suit the fashion of people.

Carpets have a more nomadic history, which springs from
the looms of sheep herders in ancient Iran and Central Asia. One

of the extraordinary archaeological discoveries of the 20th century
was the 4th-century B.c.e. Pazyryk carpet, found perfectly
preserved on the Eurasian steppes west of Mongolia. This finely
woven carpet connected the frozen steppe with Persian civiliza-
tion and indicated that carpet weaving stretched back more than
three millennia. The carpet has been an important decorative
element of nomadic culture
that has carried its motifs
across the Silk Road region for
thousands of years. At the
Festival, audiences can see
Turkmen carpet weavers,
whose ancestors fled the tsars
persecution to Afghanistan
and now, in the most recent
upheavals, reside in Pakistan
still weaving patterns known
throughout the region. They
are joined by other exiles,
Tibetans who have brought
their weaving traditions to
India and

Nepal away from Chinese

new homes in

domination, and by settled Turkish weavers who carry on the
tradition and motifs of their nomadic ancestors.

Workers in stone and metals also fashioned luxury goods for
exchange. People all along the Silk Road sought jewelry and
engraved metal containers that were easily transported. Glass and
stone beads particularly were traded throughout history and are
often found far from their source. Lapis lazuli from the Pamir
Mountains, precious gems from India, and turquoise all found
their way to Rome, Byzantium, China, and Japan. Festival visi-
tors can meet contemporary jewelers from Syria, Turkey, and
India, and bead makers from Pakistan and Europe. Glass, which
like silk seemed magical to those who did not understand its
origins, was traded from the Middle East to China. Unlike
textiles and jewelry it did not travel well, and its exchange is more
difficult to trace. Glass and metalwork, however, are two of the

Painted trucks travel the ancient silk roads between Pakistan and China.

Photo by Mark Kenoyer © Smithsonian Institution

great Islamic decorative traditions that still survive. The
Venetians, in turn, took glass art perhaps to its highest form.

The movement of religious traditions around the world has
arguably been one of the most important forces throughout world
history. Both Islam and Buddhism were introduced to millions of
new adherents along the Silk Road, and these conversions
continue to alter the face
of our world. These reli-
gions, along with all of the
above exchange goods,
have also altered the face
of the United States.
Many Americans drink tea
in fine china, buy
“Oriental” carpets, and
certainly wear garments of
cotton, wool, and_ silk.
They are likely familiar
with Asian martial arts and
may attend an Islamic
mosque. The Silk Road
has extended to the
United States and, since
the tragic events of September II, understanding that connection
clearly has become more important. There is no better time, then,
to learn more about the roots of this vital connection and to cele-
brate the long-standing relationships that have existed between
East and West and North and South. This Festival provides a rare
opportunity to connect with other cultures as well as with one’s
own and in doing so, in a small way, to build trust between and
within cultures of the global Silk Road.

RicHarp Kennepy, Deputy DrrECTOR OF THE CENTER FOR FOLKLIFE
AND CuLTURAL HERITAGE, IS CO-CURATOR OF THE SILK ROAD:
CONNECTING CULTURES, CREATING TRUST.

a ae

a fe

are

Making the Silk Road Festival

by Rajeev Sethi

As a South Asian, the influence of the ancient Silk Road is part of my living reality. Helping create a Festival that
would constitute a major pan-Asian presence on the National Mall has been a rare opportunity. Interface between
the Asian diaspora in the United States, the American public, and hundreds of Silk Road artists can help us better
understand who we are as Asians and what we mean to the world.

In search of a comprehensible and meaningful Asian iden-
tity, | was most inspired by commonalities, still visible across
many countries, where the past and the present are never far
apart. The design for the Festival evolved through my search. As
I traveled through Uzbekistan, China, Japan, Italy, Turkey, and
South Asia, contemplating the Festival's possible scenography, |
was greeted with much proactive good will for the Silk Road
concept. It has been seen as well in related projects — Pakistan,
China, and various Central Asian nations have joined in devel-
oping their own Silk Road festivals, for example, while the
Japanese Silk Road Foundation has sought to map historic trade
routes across Eurasia using satellite technology. People are
enthused by the idea of being seen as part of a phenomenon that
predates globalization and yet continues to unite them in a variety
of contemporary adaptations and re-inspirations.

The Festival design on the Mall reflects this concept of
continuity and change. It offers a seamless journey in which each
visitor is a traveler. Positioned between the U.S. Capitol Building
and the Washington Monument, the vast Silk Road stretches
along Washington's central vista. The regions represented by
iconic monuments on the Silk Road are conceived as a series on
the east-west axis. | called them “sentinels of arrival.”

As portals of entry to their respective regions, these sentinels
welcome and bid farewell to “travelers.” As the guardians of terri-
tories and defenders of the great faiths of the world, | originally
wanted them to be experienced in their real scale; having to design
them within a limited budget and time frame was a challenge.

qn
COT Ti

“Ta me ye Ta
Pi Pn dai In ] V | ie my
f pir | Pi 4: | ) ot a!

My ri r ill
ili PY ane ||
a {

Architectural representation offers a slippery path.
Deviating from tradition can mean not knowing where you fall, if
you slip. How could we reinterpret in Washington these glorious
specimens of an immensely influential material heritage — a
heritage reflected in the very monuments and museums
surrounding the Festival site? Replication of ancient monuments
using existing skills would be one answer, but too expensive.
Reducing the scale and finding a new context on the Mall
without becoming Disney-esque became a huge concern, but one
in which, with the use of deconstruction, playfulness, and
contemporary artistic adaptation, | hope we succeed.

The Great South Gate of Todaiji Temple in Nara, Japan,
already influenced by Chinese architecture, is restructured with
bamboo and textiles. A body of suspended noren fabric screens
calligraphed by Japanese and Indian contemporary artists rede-
fined the architecture as an extension of traditional skills and as an
affirmation of their training as fine artists. The principles of the
Silk Road's artistic exchange were applied to the Festival.
Japanese screens were fabricated in villages of Andhra Pradesh,
India, where craftsmen had been exposed to Japanese shibori and
have worked with contemporary international designers.

The ancient Xian bell tower, a sentinel symbolizing China's
historical growth, required a contemporary interpretation. The
Festival's bell tower, painted on screen-printed silk organza,

(Above left) The Great South Gate of Todaiji Temple in Nara, Japan. Photo by Jiro Okura

(Above right) As interpreted by Rajeev Sethi Scenographers for the Folklife Festival.

hangs in the air like an exquisite memory of a glorious past beck-
oning a grand future.

The Buddhas of Bamiyan, carved in the niches of Afghan
cliffs, were symbols of a secure haven for weary travelers. Seen
from afar, the now destroyed Buddhas were the gateway to South
Asia and evoked awe and tranquility. Buddhism defied any repre-
sentation of the Buddha's body for many centuries after his death,
so the destruction of the statues would perhaps have made the
sage smile. As an act of contrition, a collective Asian catharsis,
three Muslim sculptors from Pakistan who excel in carving
Gandharan images create a plaster or soft stone Buddhist image at
the Festival.

The Registan Square in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, resplen-
dent in its austere symmetry and profuse ornamentation, offers a
play of distances. We used a part of an arch in its actual scale and
the monument in reduced ratio. The square presents a stunning
combination of tile mosaic, cwerda seca, and the bannai technique
where rectangular pieces of glazed tile alternate with unglazed
bricks to create magical patterns which at times spell out sacred
names. To suggest the way ceramic mosaics reflect and deflect
light, we created a varying color palette at the Festival with a
collage of layer upon layer of fine tissue paper!

Instead of recreating Istanbul's Hagia Sophia (Ayasofya) on
the Mall, we recreated its plan as architectural ornamentation.
The Byzantine configurations of ceramic blue tiles, the patterned
lead roofs and domes upon domes, as well as the inlaid stone
calligraphy that matured during the Islamic period, are repre-
sented. The continuity of architectural features is again seen at the
western end of the Mall, in the archways of the Venetian sentinel,
the Basilica of St. Mark (Basilica di San Marco), fabricated with
an overlay of different historical periods and cultural influences
that characterized that merchant city-state and terminus of the
Silk Road.

The process of designing the site required much research
and inspiration. Finding popular cultural metaphors and talented
professionals in different parts of Asia became necessary. India,
like an open palm stretched under a thriving Silk Road, became
an overflowing crucible with seminal churnings. The Asian
Heritage Foundation sought out skills within the Indian subcon-

tinent that would complement the work of craftspeople from other
Silk Road nations. Most of what has been fabricated on the Mall
at the Festival has come from the unique synthesis of crafts seen
on the Silk Road and would have been a part of the ancient trade.
So craftsmen of Khurja and Jaipur in Rajasthan were commis-
sioned to paint Turkish tiles. Sikkimese painters gilded Chinese
architectural elements. [kats from Uzbekistan and Japan were
eagerly emulated on looms in Andhra Pradesh and Bihar.
Screens, tents, and canopies from villages all over India were used
to shade and filter light in a variety of Asian styles. Mats and rugs
embellished with Silk Road iconography were easily understood,
copied, and improvised upon.

The resonance of common motifs — the felines from Venice
to Mongolia, the mosaic angels of Venice, the farishtahs of Central
Asia, the apsarases of India, and the celestial beings of China and
Japan — all appear as exhibits on stretched canvas walls demar-
cating the boundaries of the site. Pan-Asian composite beings, the
lozenge, the star and the sunburst, blue pottery as an architectural
ornament, and most of all the Tree of Life, an evocative metaphor
for the Silk Road, helped us define our story.

The story is not new; many schools and styles were assimi-
lated by this great grafted tree called the Silk Road. The more
thorough the interaction, the more vibrant the resulting bloom.
The Festival now takes its place among the living evidences of a
common ethos and sensibilities. Like a banyan the branches have
become roots and the spread is wide ... and widening.

RajJEEV SETHI IS THE PRINCIPAL OF RAJEEV SETHI SCENOGRAPHERS AND
FOUNDER OF THE AsIAN HERITAGE FOUNDATION, ORGANIZATIONS
SERVING AS FESTIVAL SITE DESIGN AND PRODUCTION PARTNERS. RAJEEV
SETHI WORKED WITH THE SMITHSONIAN ON THREE GROUNDBREAKING
EXHIBITIONS IN 1985 FOR THE FestIvAL OF INDIA: MELA! FOR THE
FesTIVAL, ADITI IN THE NATIONAL MusEuM OF NaTurRAL HisTory, AND
THE GotpeNn Eye IN THE Cooper-Hewitt, NationaL Museum oF
Desicn. HE WENT ON TO DESIGN THE Basic NEEDS PAVILLION AT THE
HANNOVER WorRLD Expo, AND IS NOW WORKING ON THE REDESIGN OF
THE BARCELONA WATERFRONT.

The Silk Road:

Connecting People and Cultures
by Richard Kurin

The Silk Road spanned the Asian continent and represented a form of global economy when the known world was
smaller but more difficult to traverse than nowadays. A network of mostly land but also sea trading routes, the Silk
Road stretched from China to Korea and Japan in the east, and connected China through Central Asia to India in
the south and to Turkey and Italy in the west. The Silk Road system has existed for over 2,000 years, with specific
routes changing over time. For millennia, highly valued silk, cotton, wool, glass, jade, lapis lazuli, gold, silver, salt,
spices, tea, herbal medicines, foods, fruits, flowers, horses, musical instruments, and architectural, philosophical,
and religious ideas traveled those routes. The roads themselves were generally in poor condition. Travelers in cara-
vans had to brave bleak deserts, high mountains, extreme heat and cold. They had to face bandits and raiders,
imprisonment, starvation, and other forms of deprivation. Those going by sea braved the uncertainties of weather,
poorly constructed ships, and pirates. Yet because the goods and ideas were in great demand and commanded high
prices, courtly rewards, or spiritual benefits, they were worth the trouble of transporting great distances.

Since the concept of “Seidenstrassen” or “Silk Roads” was
first invented by the German geologist and explorer Baron
Ferdinand von Richthofen in 1877, the “Silk Road” has been used
as a metaphor of European and Asian cultural interchange. While
largely commercial, the Silk Road provided the vehicle for all sorts
of creative exchange between tremendously diverse peoples and
cultures.

Given the Silk Road’s symbolic meaning of sharing and
exchange, it is somewhat paradoxical that the desire to control its
namesake commodity, silk, was so strong. The ancient Chinese
guarded the secret of silk production for centuries. The Ottoman
Turks and the Persians fought a war over it. The English and
French competed to restrict its markets. But despite such
attempts, silk moved across the planet with remarkable ease and
was a vehicle of cultural creativity wherever it went. The degree
of borrowings and choosing of techniques and patterns, the
invention and discovery of uses and styles is incredible. Every
culture that touched silk added to its adornment of humanity.

And silk turns up everywhere — aboard medieval Viking
ships sailing out of Constantinople and as kerchiefs from India
(bandannas, from bandhana) around the necks of cowboys in the
American West. The terms used for silk reveal its history and
influences. Damask silk, referring to the style of Damascus, Syria,
is actually Chinese in origin. Silk chinoiserie is not Chinese but a
European imitation of Chinese style. Martha Washington wore a
dress of Virginia silk to her husband's inauguration, and Native
Americans learned silk embroidery to decorate traditional apparel.
In the 19th century Paterson, New Jersey, of all places, declared
itself “Silk City.”

What is so special about silk? How did it go around the
globe, and connect diverse civilizations for millennia? And what
is the current significance of the Silk Road?

Chinese Silk Cultivation

Silk cultivation and production is such an extraordinary process
that it is easy to see why its invention was legendary and its
discovery eluded many who sought its secrets. The original
production of silk in China is often attributed to Fo Xi, the
emperor who initiated the raising of silkworms and the cultivation
of mulberry trees to feed them. Xi Lingshi, the wife of the Yellow

Emperor whose reign is dated from 2677 to 2597 B.c.£., is
regarded as the legendary Lady of the Silkworms for having
developed the method for unraveling the cocoons and reeling the
silk filament. Archaeological finds from this period include silk
fabric from the southeast Zhejiang province dated to about
3000 B.c.e. and a silk cocoon from the Yellow River valley in
northern China dated to about 2500 B.c.r. Yet silk cloth frag-
ments and a cup carved with a silkworm design from the Yangzi
Valley in southern China dated to about 4000-5000. B.c.r.
suggest that sericulture, the process of making silk, may have an
earlier origin than suggested by legend.

Many insects from all over the world — and spiders as well
— produce silk. One of the native Chinese varieties of silkworm
with the scientific name Bombyx mori is uniquely suited to the
production of superbly high-quality silk. This silkworm, which is
actually a caterpillar, takes adult form as a blind, flightless moth
that immediately mates, lays about +00 eggs in a four- to six-day
period, and then abruptly dies. The eggs must be kept at a warm
temperature for them to hatch as silkworms or caterpillars. When
they do hatch, they are stacked in layers of trays and given
chopped up leaves of the white mulberry to eat. They eat
throughout the day for four or five weeks, growing to about
10,000 times their original weight. When large enough, a worm
produces a liquid gel through its glands that dries into a thread-
like filament, wrapping around the worm and forming a cocoon in
the course of three or four days. The amazing feature of the
Bombyx mori is that its filament, generally in the range of
300-1,000 yards — and sometimes a mile — long, is very strong
and can be unwrapped. To do this, the cocoon is first boiled. This
kills the pupae inside and dissolves the gum resin or seracin that
holds the cocoon together. Cocoons may then be soaked in warm
water and unwound or be dried for storage, sale, and shipment.
Several filaments are combined to form a silk thread and wound
onto a reel. One ounce of eggs produces worms that require a ton
of leaves to eat, and results in about 12 pounds of raw silk. The
silk threads may be spun together, often with other yarn, dyed,
and woven on looms to make all sorts of products. It takes about
2,000—3,000 cocoons to make a pound of silk needed for a dress;
about 150 cocoons are needed for a necktie. The Chinese tradi-
tionally incubated the eggs during the spring, timing their

hatching as the mulberry trees come to leaf. Sericulture in China
traditionally involved taboos and rituals designed for the health
and abundance of the silkworms. Typically, silk production was
women's work. Currently, some 10 million Chinese are involved
in making raw silk, producing an estimated 60,000 tons annually
— about half of the world’s output. Silk is still relatively rare, and
therefore expensive; consider that silk constitutes only 0.2
percent of the world’s textile fabric.

There are other types of silkworms and of silk. Indian tussah
silk dates back possibly to 2500 B.c.£. to the Indus Valley civi-
lization and is still produced for domestic consumption and

foreign trade in various forms. Since traditional Hindu and Jain
production techniques do not allow for the killing of the pupae in
the cocoon, moths are allowed to hatch, and the resultant fila-
ments are shorter and coarser than the Chinese variety. The
ancient Greeks, too, knew of a wild Mediterranean silk moth
whose cocoon could be unraveled to form fiber. The process was
tedious, however, and the result also not up to the quality of
mulberry-fed Bombyx mori.

On this postcard (date unknown), women are shown in costume feeding
mulberry leaves to silkworms. DOE Asia: Japan: General: NM 90351 04668700,

courtesy Smithsonian Institution National Anthropological Archives

Silk has been long thought to be a special type of cloth; it
keeps one cool in the summer and warm in the winter. It is
extremely absorbent, meaning it uses color dyes much more effi-
ciently than cotton, wool, or linen. It shimmers. It drapes upon
the body particularly well. Silk is strong enough to be used for
surgical sutures — indeed, by weight it is stronger than steel and
more flexible than nylon. It is also fire and rot resistant. All these
natural characteristics make silk ideal as a form of adornment for
people of importance, for kimonos in Japan and wedding saris in
India, for religious ritual, for burial shrouds in China and to lay
on the graves of Sufis in much of the Muslim world.

Early in Chinese history, silk was used to clothe the
emperor, but eventually it was adopted widely through Chinese
society. Silk proved to be valuable for fishing lines, for the making
of paper, for musical instrument strings. Under the Han dynasty
(206 B.c.£.-220 c.x.), silk became a great trade item, used for
royal gifts and tribute. It also became a generalized medium of
exchange, like gold or money. Chinese farmers paid their taxes in
silk. Civil servants received their salary in silk.

Silk on the Road
Evidence of trade in ancient Chinese silk has been found in
archaeological excavations in Central Asian Bactria (currently the
region around Balkh and Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan) dating to
about 500 B.c.e. Strands of silk have been found in ancient Egypt
from about 1000 B.c.r., but these may be of Indian rather than
Chinese origin. Alexander the Great, who ruled much of the
known world from the Mediterranean to India in the late 4th
century B.c.E., wore robes of deep purple-dyed silk. The silk was
probably from China, which the Greeks knew as Seres — the
place where serikos or silk was made — and made optimum use
of the rare and expensive purple dye that was produced by the
Phoenicians of Tyre from the secretions of sea snails. Yet, in the
West, knowledge of silk and its trade were relatively limited. So,
too, in the Far East. Sericulture was carried to Korea by Chinese
immigrants in about 200 B.c.r. Though silk was extant in Japan
at the turn of the millennium, sericulture was not widely known
there until about the 3rd century c.r.

Conventionally, historians refer to three periods of intense
Silk Road trade: 1) from 206 B.c.£. to 220 c.r., between the

ancient Chinese Han dynasty and Central Asia, extending to
Rome; 2) from about 618 to 907 c.r., between Tang dynasty
China and Central Asia, Byzantium, the Arab Umayyad and
Abbasid empires, the Sasanian Persian Empire, and India, and
coinciding with the expansion of Islam, Buddhism, Assyrian
Christianity, Zoroastrianism, Manichaeism, and Judaism into
Central Asia; and 3) during the 13th and 14th centuries, between
China, Central Asia, Persia, India, and early modern Europe,
made possible by Mongol control of most of the Silk Road. Some
would add a modern Silk Road period, beginning in the 19th
century with the “Great Game — the competition between
Russian and British colonial powers for influence over Central
Asia — and extending through today.

From Han China to Rome

In 198 B.c.e., the Han dynasty concluded a treaty with a Central
Asian people, the Xiongnu. The emperor agreed to give his
daughter to the Xiongnu ruler and pay an annual gift in gold and
silk. By the Ist century B.c.k. silk reached Rome, initiating the first

‘

8 : . a ae
. ee
5 Ses —

Welt =<
ay Ss

Se. Pe

—

“Silk Road.” Pliny, writing about silk, thought it was made from
the down of trees in Seres. It was very popular among the Romans.
People wore rare strips of silk on their clothing and sought more;
they spent increasing amounts of gold and silver, leading to a
shortage in precious metals. Coinciding with the development of
ruling elites and the beginnings of empire, silk was associated with
wealth and power — Julius Caesar entered Rome in triumph
under silk canopies. Over the next three centuries, silk imports
increased, especially with the Pax Romana of the early emperors,
which opened up trade routes in Asia Minor and the Middle East.
As silk came westward, newly invented blown glass, asbestos,

amber, and red coral moved eastward. Despite some warnings
about the silk trade's deleterious consequences, it became a
medium of exchange and tribute, and when in 408 c.r. Alaric the
Visigoth besieged Rome, he demanded and received as ransom
5,000 pounds of gold and 4,000 tunics of silk.

(Opposite, above) When silkworm eggs hatch, they are placed on trays or
frames, fed for several weeks, and then, when they have grown to about
10,000 times their original weight, they form cocoons. Both of these
photos are from Karnataka State, India. One is a close-up of silkworms
and cocoons in a specially woven frame; the other shows the full frames.
Photos © Jean-Luc Ray, Aga Khan Foundation

vee
vee co
vane ney
wane Meeseavaesennnseninnnes
Pere mae
ea ee,

Ke , CHS
aaa (Tana) *, A\ZAKHSTAN :
\ enice :
ec “an, : :
” a as |
Rome ZBEKISTAN ie = I
: Ye of, ‘lssanilll (Constantinople) a
ee ei i . an Haan rt Bukhara," Tashk
iS ENISTAN s “spama rkand:
5 ” “n, i “ M ary 3 ae
“ " (Metv) 3
“es Antioch io 5 2
wn ail i a 3
panne %, ea sen ene _ Herat Hn,

e Cairo

Silk Road Travelers

BY James DEUTSCH AND STEPHEN KIDD

While the vast majority of connections along the Silk Road were
made through countless anonymous journeys, several historical trav-
elers have become famous for the scope of their discoveries and their
impact on Silk Road cultures.

As China participated in Silk Road trade during the 7th century
with the expansion of the Tang dynasty from its seat in Chang'an
(present-day Xi'an), the journeys of one traveler helped to alter the reli-
gious beliefs of the Tang leadership. A Buddhist monk, Xuanzang left
Chang'an around 629 ct. in search of greater understanding of
Buddhist religious texts that had been brought to China from Tibet and
India centuries earlier. Xuanzang’s quest took him to the Buddhist
center of Dunhuang in western China, across the Takla Makan Desert
to the great Central Asian cities of Bukhara and Samarkand, and then
through present-day Pakistan to the source of Buddhism in India. In

‘aa “Damascus

AFGHANISTAN %

PAKISTAN

Sn ee a le Rib a NS

Mecca

nisi etal oe

India he studied the most difficult Buddhist texts, which he translated
into Chinese and brought back to Chang’an around 645. On his return,
he persuaded Chinese elites to embrace Buddhism.

An even more renowned traveler, whose name is familiar to any
American child who has ever played the hide-and-seek game of "Marco
Polo,” is the legendary Venetian merchant who may have been the first
to travel the entire Silk Road from Italy in the west to China in the east.
Marco Polo (1254-1324) was more than a treasure-seeking trader; he
claimed to have lived in China for 17 years, primarily in the court of
Kublai Khan, acquiring knowledge that was instrumental in promoting the
cultural exchange of ideas and commodities. His detailed travel accounts
— compiled during the last 20 years of his life — were carefully studied
(albeit sometimes skeptically) by generations of cartographers,
merchants, explorers, and general readers who yearned to better

comprehend their world,

One year after Marco Polo's death, Muhammad Ibn Batuta (1304-
13682) left his native Morocco to make the customary Islamic
pilgrimage to Mecca. Ibn Batuta could not have known then, however,
that he would spend the next 24 years continually traveling throughout
Asia (particularly China and India), Africa, and the Middle East, before
returning to Morocco in 1349. During this time, he recorded everything
that intrigued him: from political and economic conditions to variations
in human anatomy. Like Marco Polo, Ibn Batuta’s reputation rests largely
on the published account of his travels (ca. 1354), which served not only
to illuminate the depth and diversity of human culture, but also to expand
the limited horizons of the medieval European world.

In our own time, when the countries of the Silk Road can be
traversed in a single day, there is another traveler who has begun to

explore the complexity of the Silk Road. Tracing the roots of European
classical instruments to Asia, cellist Yo-Yo Ma was inspired by the
cultural connections made as diverse peoples met along the Silk Road.
In 1998 he founded the Silk Road Project to celebrate and foster the
traditional cultures found along the ancient trade route. Today, fulfilling
this mission, the Project's Silk Road Ensemble crosses the globe
performing both traditional works from Silk Road cultures and new
commissions from composers who hail from Silk Road countries. In
an era of supersonic journeys, Yo-Yo Ma travels in search of lasting
cultural connections.

James DEUTSCH AND STEPHEN KIDD, BOTH HOLDERS OF PH.D.'s IN AMERICAN STUDIES
FROM GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY, ARE PROGRAM COORDINATORS FOR THE 2002
Fotk ire Festival.

Silk Road Travelers
By James DEUTSCH AND STEPHEN KIDD

As China participated in Silk Road trade during the 7th century
with the expansion of the Tang dynasty from its seat in Chang'an
(present-day Xi'an), the journeys of one traveler helped to alter the reli-
gious beliefs of the Tang leadership. A Buddhist monk, Xuanzang left
Chang'an around 629 c.e. in search of greater understanding of
Buddhist religious texts that had been brought to China from Tibet and
India centuries earlier. Xuanzang’s quest took him to the Buddhist
center of Dunhuang in western China, across the Takla Makan Desert
to the great Central Asian cities of Bukhara and Samarkand, and then
through present-day Pakistan to the source of Buddhism in India. In

India he studied the most difficult Buddhist texts, which he translated
into Chinese and brought back to Chang'an around 645. On his return,
he persuaded Chinese elites to embrace Buddhism.

—

comprehend their world.

One year after Marco Polo's death, Muhammad Ibn Batuta (1304-
13682) left his native Morocco to make the customary Islamic
pilgrimage to Mecca. Ibn Batuta could not have known then, however,
that he would spend the next 24 years continually traveling throughout
Asia (particularly China and India), Africa, and the Middle East, before
returning to Morocco in 1349. During this time, he recorded everything
that intrigued him: from political and economic conditions to variations
in human anatomy, Like Marco Polo, Ibn Batuta’s reputation rests largely
on the published account of his travels (ca. 1354), which served not only
to illuminate the depth and diversity of human culture, but also to expand
the limited horizons of the medieval European world,

In our own time, when the countries of the Silk Road can be
traversed in a single day, there is another traveler who has begun to

explore the complexity of the Silk Road. Tracing the roots of European
classical instruments to Asia, cellist Yo-Yo Ma was inspired by the
cultural connections made as diverse peoples met along the Silk Road.
In 1998 he founded the Silk Road Project to celebrate and foster the
traditional cultures found along the ancient trade route, Today, fulfilling
this mission, the Project's Silk Road Ensemble crosses the globe
performing both traditional works from Silk Road cultures and new
commissions from composers who hail from Silk Road countries. In
an era of supersonic journeys, Yo-Yo Ma travels in search of lasting
cultural connections.

James DeutscH AND STEPHEN KiDD, BOTH HOLDERS OF PH.D.’s IN AMERICAN STUDIES
FROM GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY, ARE PROGRAM COORDINATORS FOR THE 2002
Fouktire Festivat.

The Tang Silk Road: Connecting Cultures

Silk continued to be popular in the Mediterranean region even as
Rome declined. In Byzantium, the eastern successor of the
Roman state, silk purchases accounted for a large drain on the
treasury. In 552 c.e., legend has it that two Assyrian Christian
monks who visited China learned the secret of silk production and
smuggled out silkworms and mulberry seeds in their walking
sticks. They returned to Constantinople, the capital of the
Byzantine Empire, and provided the impetus for the growth of a
local silk industry. Under Emperor Justinian I, Constantinople's
silks were used throughout Europe for religious vestments, rituals,
and aristocratic dress. The Persians, too, acquired knowledge of
silk production; and Damascus became a silk center under Arab
rulers. By the time the second Silk Road developed under the
Tang dynasty (618—907 c.£.) in China, Central Asians had also
learned silk cultivation and developed the famed abr technique of
silk resist dying generally known today by the Indonesian term
ikat. Chinese silks, though, were still in demand for their excep-
tionally high quality. The Tang rulers needed horses for their mili-
tary. The best horses were in the west, held by the Turkic Uyghurs
and the peoples of the Fergana Valley. The Tang traded silk for
horses, +0 bolts for each pony in the Sth century.

Not only did silk move, but so did designs and motifs as well
as techniques for weaving and embroidering it. The Tang Chinese
developed a satin silk, readily adopted elsewhere. Chinese silk
weaving was influenced by Sogdian (Central Asian), Persian
Sasanian, and Indian patterns and styles. For example, Chinese
weavers adapted the Assyrian tree of life, beaded roundels, and
bearded horsemen on winged horses from the Sasanians, and the
use of gold-wrapped thread, the conch shell, lotus, and endless-
knot designs from the Indians. Byzantines were also influenced
by the Persians, weaving the Tree of Life into designs for
European royalty and adopting the Assyrian two-headed eagle as
their symbol. The Egyptian draw loom, adapted for silk weaving,
was brought to Syria, then to Iran and beyond. Japanese weavers
in Nara developed tie-dye and resist processes for kimonos. In
some cases, weavers were uprooted from one city and settled in
another; for example, after the Battle of Talas in 751, Chinese
weavers were taken as prisoners of war to Iran and Mesopotamia.
During the Tang dynasty, cultural exchange based upon silk

30)

reached its apex. Discoveries of the silk stowed in the Buddhist
caves of Dunhuang in about 1015 c.r. reveal the tremendous rich-
ness of silk work of the time, as well as an archaeology of shared
styles of silk weaving and motifs.

The growth of silk as a trade item both stimulated and char-
acterized other types of exchanges during the era. Curative herbs,
ideas of astronomy, and even religion also moved along the Silk
Road network. Arabs traveled to India and China, Chinese to
Central Asia, India, and Iran. Buddhism itself was carried along
these roads from India through Central Asia to Tibet, China, and
Japan. Islam was carried by Sufi teachers, and by armies, moving
across the continent from Western Asia into Iran, Central Asia,
and into China and India. Martial arts, sacred arts like callig-
raphy, tile making, and painting also traversed these roads. The
Tang capital city of Changan, present-day Xian, became a
cosmopolitan city — the largest on earth at the time, peopled with
traders from all along the Silk Road, as well as monks, mission-
aries, and emissaries from across the continent.

The Mongol Silk Road and Marco Polo

Though some new silk styles such as silk tapestry made their way
eastward from Iran to Uyghur Central Asia to China, the
transcontinental exchange of the Silk Road diminished in the later
Middle Ages and through the period of the Christian Crusades in
the Holy Land from 1096 to the mid-1200s. Yet Crusaders,
returning home with Byzantine silks, tapestries, and other spoils,
rekindled European interest in trade with Asia. Moorish influence
in Spain also had an enormous impact. It was through Arab
scholars that Europeans gained access to Indian and Chinese
advances in medicine, chemistry, and mathematics, and also to
ancient Greek and Roman civilizations that had survived in
Arabic translations and commentaries. This flow of knowledge
eventually helped to fuel the Renaissance.

With the Mongol descendants of Genghis (Chinghis) Khan
in control of Asia from the Black Sea to the Pacific, a third Silk
Road flourished in the 13th and 14th centuries. The emissary of
King Louis IX of France, Willem van Rubruck, visited the court
of the Mongol ruler in 1253, and, seeing the wealth of silks, real-
ized that Cathay, or China, was the legendary Seres of Roman
times. The Venetian Marco Polo followed.

Setting out with his uncles in 1271, Polo traveled across Asia
by land and sea over a period of 24 years. The tales of his travels,
narrated while a prisoner in a Genoa jail cell, spurred broad
European interest in the Silk Road region. He told of the
Mongols, who under Genghis and then Kublai Khan had taken
over China and expanded their dominion across Asia into Central
Asia, India, Iran, and Asia Minor. Polo related fantastic tales of
the lands he had visited, the great sites he had seen, and the vast
treasures of Asia.

The 13th and I4th centuries were characterized by consider-
able political, commercial, and religious competition between
kingdoms, markets, and religious groups across Eurasia.

Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, and Hindus vied for adherents

and institutional support. Conflict between and among the

Mongols, European kingdoms, Arab rulers, the Mamluk ‘Turks,
Hindu chiefdoms, and others made for unstable states, diplo-
matic jockeying, alliances, and wars. Yet the Mongols, with their
vast Asian empire skirting the edge of Russia and Eastern
Europe, were, through a mixture of hegemony and brutality, able
to assure a measure of peace within their domains, a Pax
Mongolica. They were also pragmatic and quite tolerant in
several spheres, among them arts and religion. Their Mongolian
capital of Karakorum hosted, for example, 12 Buddhist temples,
two mosques, and a church. The Mongols developed continental
In Bursa, Turkey, silkworm cultivators check cocoons that are about to be

auctioned at a bazaar. Photo © Hermine Dreyfuss

postal and travelers rest house systems. Kublai Khan welcomed
European, Chinese, Persian, and Arab astronomers and estab-
lished an Institute of Muslim Astronomy. He also founded an
Imperial Academy of Medicine, including Indian, Middle
Eastern, Muslim, and Chinese physicians. European, Persian,
Chinese, Arab, Armenian, and Russian traders and missionaries
traveled the Silk Road, and in 1335 a Mongol mission to the pope
at Avignon suggested increased trade and cultural contacts.

During this “third” Silk Road, silk, while still a highly
valued Chinese export, was no longer the primary commodity.
Europeans wanted pearls and gems, spices, precious metals,
medicines, ceramics, carpets, other fabrics, and lacquerware. All
kingdoms needed horses, weapons, and armaments. Besides, silk
production already was known in the Arab world and had spread
to southern Europe. Silk weavers and traders — Arabs,
“Saracens, Jews, and Greeks from Sicily and the eastern
Mediterranean — relocated to new commercial centers in
northern Italy. Italian silk-making eventually became a stellar
Renaissance art in Venice, Florence, Genoa, and Lucca in the
I4th and 15th centuries. New stylistic techniques were added, like
alto-e-basso for velvets and brocades, while old motifs, like the
stylized Central Asian pomegranate, took on new life.

Commercial trade and competition was of great importance
by the I5th century with the growth of European cities, guilds,
and royal states. With the decline of Mongol power, control over
trade routes was vital. The motivation behind Portuguese explo-
rations of a sea route to India was to secure safer and cheaper
passage of trade goods than by land caravans, which were subject
to either exorbitant protection fees or raiding by enemies. Indeed,
it was the search for this sea route to the East that led Columbus
westward to the “New World.” When Vasco da Gama found the
sea route to India and other Europeans subsequently opened
direct shipping links with China, contact with Central Asia
decreased dramatically.

The Modern Era

Trade in silks helped fuel the mercantile transformation of
Western Europe. French King Charles VII, the dukes of
Burgundy, and their successors participated vigorously through
markets in Bruges, Amsterdam, Lyon, and other towns. The prac-

tice of emulating Asian silk styles was institutionalized in Lyon,
France, with the development of imitative Chinese and Turkish
motifs, chinoiserie and turqueserie respectively. A steady stream of
European travelers and adventurous merchants moved luxury
goods between Europe, the Middle East, Iran, India, and China.
Jean-Baptiste Tavernier (1605-98), who traversed parts of the
Silk Road on six journeys and witnessed the building of
Versailles, Isfahan, and the Taj Mahal, traded in diamonds and
pearls, was awarded “Oriental” silk robes of honor by the Shah of
Iran and a barony by Louis XIV (for the sale of what later became
the Hope Diamond). The English developed their own silk
industry and tried silk cultivation in Ireland, and even in the New
World. Mulberry trees and silkworms went with settlers to
Jamestown in the early 1600s. Silk cultivation was successful but
only for a time; other attempts followed later in Georgia, among
the 19th-century Harmonists in Pennsylvania, and even among
the Shakers in Kentucky. Still, imported silks showed the long
reach of an international trade.

Silk styles and fashions were led, in Europe, by royalty, but
soon extended to a wealthy merchant class, and were broadened
further as a result of new manufacturing techniques. Silk produc-
tion became industrialized in 1804 with the Jacquard loom. This
loom relied upon punched cards to program the complex orches-
tration of threads into wonderful patterns; the cards later inspired
the computer punch cards of the mid-20th century. Throughout
the 19th century, chemists developed synthetic dyes. Designers,
who could create one-of-a-kind items for the elite but also
develop mass-produced lines of clothing, furnishings, and other
silk products, set up shop in Paris. Asia was the subject of
romantic allure and fascination by elites of the period. In the early
1800s, England's George IV built his Brighton palace in an Indo-
Persian style, decorated it with Chinese furniture, and wore silk
garments, thereby setting a trend, with his friend Beau Brummel,
for men’s formal fashion. Declared Empress of India in 1858,
Queen Victoria was feted with grand celebrations and a diamond
jubilee that included “Oriental” durbars or courtly convocations,
replete with marching elephants and parades of Asian troops
adorned in native dress. Parisians held costumed balls, dressed up
as sultans and Asian royalty. Kashmiri and Chinese silk scarves
were a big hit. Jewelers Cartier and Tiffany used Asian gemstones

Polo

In its earliest forms, polo dates back more than 2,500 years to the Central Asian steppes; the first recorded game took place in Iran in the
6th century 8.c.e., and by the Middle Ages polo was played across the Silk Road from Constantinople to Japan. The game has a number of varia-
tions, including, for example, one played by Chinese women during the Tang dynasty 12 centuries ago. American polo is derived from the game
viewed by British soldiers on the northwestern frontier of igth-century colonial India. There, the game known as buzkashi is a raucous, physical
exercise of competitive horsemanship. Two teams play against each other. The field might be a large meadow, with an area or pit designated as
the “goal.” A goat or calf carcass is the “ball.” Horsemen from one side must scoop up the carcass, ride around a pole or designated marker,
reverse course, and drop the carcass into the goal. The social purpose may be sport, but the game teaches and encourages excellent horseman-
ship skills — precisely those needed to attack caravans, raid towns, and rout opposing forces. Victorian Englishmen then turned this sport into one
that we now think of as very sophisticated and upper class. Polo is a fine example of how meanings and practices can be transformed as they
move across cultures, a wonderful Silk Road story.

Polo and variations on the game have been played along the Silk Road for thousands of
years. Pictured here is a1985 game in Susum, Pakistan.
Photo © Jean-Luc Ray, Aga Khan Foundation

and imitated Asian decorative styles. Tiffany and Lalique were
designing silk sashes, scarves, and other items. New silk textiles
like chiffons and crepes were developed in France, and silk culti-
vation centers sent raw silk to design houses and production
factories to meet demand. This demand extended to the United
States, and raw silk was imported from Japan and dyed using the
soft waters of the Passaic River in Paterson, New Jersey. Paterson
became the U.S. headquarters of silk supply, design, and
furnishing companies.

It was during this Orientalist period that the idea of the Silk
Road as a way of connecting European and Asian culture, history,
and art, was articulated by Baron von Richthofen. In 1786
William Jones had found the links between Sanskrit and Latin,
devising the idea of an Indo-European family of languages.
Throughout the 19th century, European philologists were working
on the relationships between European and Asian languages,
positing such “families” as Uralic and Altaic. European scholars
found common roots in religions and symbols spanning Eurasia
and relating Hinduism and Buddhism to ancient Greco-Roman
mythology, and with Judaism, Islam, and Christianity.
Archaeologists had begun to find links between widely dispersed
civilizations of Egypt, the Mediterranean, Mesopotamia, Iran,
India, and Central Asia. Cultural diffusion, particularly strong in
German and later English social science, became an explanatory
model for the similarities found in widely separated societies, and
an alternative to cultural evolutionary theories. These connections
across cultures, history, and geography still intrigue us today.
Consider, for example, the names of a number of stringed instru-
ments with the root tar (“string” in Persian), from the tar itself to
the dotar, dutar, lotar, setar, sitar, gitar, guitarra, and the guitar.

Silk became both a component and a symbol of this cultural
diffusion. It was seen as a valuable index of civilization with
regard to religious ritual, kingship, artistic production, and
commercial activity. Silk stood for the higher things in life. It was
a valuable, traded commodity, as well as a historical medium of
exchange. Silk both epitomized and played a major role in the

Silk turns up everywhere. This Cree caribou hide pouch from Roberval,
St. Johns Lake, Hudson Bay, Canada, ca. 1900, is decorated with silk
embroidery. Courtesy National Museum of the American Indian

Photo by Katherine Fogden

early development of what we now characterize as a global
economic and cultural system. Europeans of the 19th century saw
this new globalism not just as an interesting historical occurrence,
but also as something that resonated with the growing distribu-

tion of silk use and manufacturing of the time.

Central Asia and the Silk Road Today

In formulating the idea of the Silk Road, Richthofen saw Central
Asia as not only the land bridge between distant civilizations, but
as a source of cultural creativity in its own right. He also saw it as
disputed territory, a region that had served as the crossroads of
political and military influence. Indeed, control over the Silk
Road, particularly its Central Asian link, was serious business for
IS8th- century colonial powers playing the “Great Game.” Both
the Russians and the British vied for control over Afghanistan at
the limit of their territorial aspirations. Rudyard Kipling, the
English colonial writer, set the fictional tale of Kim against this
backdrop, with the hero traveling one of the historical trade routes
along what is now the Afghan-Pakistan frontier and partaking of
what we might today call a multicultural adventure.

Though eclipsed in trade volume by sea routes for several
centuries, Central Asia has in recent times and particularly after
September I] resumed its historical importance. Its geopolitical
significance has grown as a result of the demise of the Soviet
Union, the need to achieve stable political states in light of
competing interests, and the need to find an appropriate role for
religion, particularly Islam, in civic life. Most recently, the entry of
the United States in Central Asia, fighting the Taliban and
al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, using bases in Uzbekistan and Pakistan,
and being drawn into disputes over sovereignty in Kashmir,
democracy in Iran, rights for ethnic minorities in western China,
and freedom in Kazakhstan, mark a new development in the
contemporary jockeying for political influence and control.

The nations of the region are trying to build their own post-
Soviet and contemporary economies. They are struggling to
develop local markets, industries, and infrastructures, while at the
same time participating in an increasingly globalized world
economy. Some local entrepreneurs seek to rebuild economies
based upon a traditional repertoire of deeply ingrained Silk Road
commercial skills. Among emerging markets are those for recently

discovered oil in Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, and western China.
Pipelines are being planned and constructed, constituting new
pathways for moving a valuable commodity across the region to
the rest of the world.

New social institutions are being built universities,
hospitals, and financial systems. Some leaders like the Aga Khan
are encouraging a contemporary renaissance of traditional knowl-
edge, architecture, and artistry embedded in Central Asian
history that will allow local citizens the opportunity to flourish.
Famed and beautiful Uzbek ikat weavings are returning to the
world marketplace. Designers from the region are creating their
own distinctive fashions. Ancient musics performed by contem-
porary artists are making their way onto world stages. Historical
sites are being restored.

Given the needs in the region, the work to build politically
stable nations that are economically healthy, socially secure, and
culturally confident is of immense scope, and the prognosis far
from certain. But it does seem clear that people in the region stand
the best chance of bettering their lives and those of their children
by reclaiming their place in a transnational, transcultural flow of
goods and ideas exemplified by the historical Silk Road. It is
better to connect to the peoples and cultures around them and to
participate in the commerce of nations than to withdraw from
such interchange. By reclaiming the heritage of the Silk Road, the
region may, once again, play an important role in the cultural and
economic life of the global community.

For Further Reading

Elisseeff, Vadime, ed. 2000. The Silk Roads: Highways of Culture and
Commerce. New York: Berghahn Books; Paris: UNESCO
Publishing.

Scott, Philippa. 1993. The Book of Silk. London: Thames &
Hudson, Ltd.

Whitefield, Susan. 1999. Life Along the Silk Road. Berkeley:
University of California Press

Ricuarp Kurin Is THE DiRECTOR OF THE SMITHSONIAN CENTER FOR
FoLKLIFE AND CuLTURAL HERITAGE AND FIRST WORKED ON THE
FesTIVAL IN 1976. HE Is A CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGIST WHO HAS DONE
MUCH OF HIS FIELDWORK IN INDIA AND PAKISTAN. HE IS ALSO THE
AUTHOR OF REFLECTIONS OF A CULTURE BROKER: A VIEW FROM THE
SMITHSONIAN.

_—
1
=
-
_ : =~ .

By CS
3 %
S\N Ky;
RA yx

= hive ‘

SEN Veale

The Silk Road:

Crossroads and Encounters of Faiths

by Azim Nanji and Sarfaroz Niyozov

The Silk Road evokes images of places and peoples linked by the exchange of exotic goods and fabled treasures.
This limited notion of commerce, however, overshadows the fact that the Silk Road as a network of trade routes
also spread religious ideas and beliefs.

Communities of faith interacted, co-existed, competed, and influenced each other over long periods of time. These
include local traditions that evolved in ancient China, the Middle East, Central Asia, and Korea and Japan, and the
subsequent larger traditions that arose in the region — Judaism, Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, Christianity, and
Islam — as well as the shamanistic and animistic traditions of various nomadic peoples stretching across Central
Asia, some of which still are practiced today. The history of religions along the Silk Road is a remarkable illustra-
tion of how beliefs and indeed civilizations often reflect a broad pattern of synthesis, rather than clash.

Zoroastrianism
Various accounts place Zoroaster's birth sometime between the
IIth and the 6th century B.c.e. and somewhere between
Mongolia and Azerbaijan. He taught belief in one God (Ahura
Mazda), the Lord of Wisdom, and regarded the other Iranian
gods (daevas) as demons. He also saw an evil force in the
Universe called Ahriman (Angra Mainyu). Juxtaposing Ahura
Mazda against Ahriman, Zoroaster viewed human life in a
cosmology of an eternal dialectical struggle between good and
bad. Through this approach emerged profound messages of
realism and of a necessary struggle to sustain hope (good) by
means of ethical action.

In the 3rd century c.e., long after Zoroaster's death,
the Sasanian dynasty began its rule in Iran and embarked on a
period of conquest and expansion. It sanctioned Zoroastrianism
as the official religion of the state and supported the codification
of its texts, practices, and doctrines. Even so, Zoroastrianism
continued to interact with and be influenced by local traditions
and practices in different regions, and there were a number of
rituals that distinguished Central Asian Zoroastrians from their
Western Iranian cousins. In Central Asia, for example, the moon
was also seen as a divine force. The famous temple of the Moon
(Mah) in Bukhara was devoted to its veneration. Similarly, the
tradition of a New Year, Nawruz, is a regional ritual that predates
Zoroaster.

Judaism

The Silk Road became a meeting point between Iranian religions
and another ancient faith, Judaism. Judaism as expressed in both
its ancient oral and written traditions was centered on the belief in
one God, who revealed Himself to the people of Israel and made
a covenant with them to live according to His will, as articulated
in the ‘Torah (the first Five Books of the Hebrew Bible) and
concretized as Halakah, or “the way.” Part of this ancient history
is traced to Abraham, the great Patriarchal figure in Judaism, and
his descendants, who were chosen by God to lead the people from
slavery to freedom. The well-known event of the Exodus, under
the prophetic figure of Moses (ca. 1200 B.c.r.), led to their even-
tual settlement in Israel, the emergence of a kingdom, and the
writing down and codification of the first part of the Scriptures.

In 586 B.c.r., the southern part of the kingdom, Judah, was
conquered by the Babylonians, and this led to many Jews being
exiled to Central Asia. In 559 B.c.£., the Sasanian ruler Cyrus
freed the Jewish population, and, while some returned to Israel,
many chose to stay in Iran, where they continued to practice their
faith. They also created Jewish settlements along the Silk Road,
including in the cities of Samarkand and Bukhara. Jewish prac-
tices and beliefs were enriched by contacts with existing tradi-
tions and the intellectual heritage of Iran, and then Greece. Apart
from the original community of exiled Jews, it seems that Judaism
gained local converts, too, though these were not a result of pros-
elytization. The Jewish presence in the region continues to the
present.

Buddhism

The Silk Road provided a network for the spread of the teachings
of the Buddha, enabling Buddhism to become a world religion
and to develop into a sophisticated and diverse system of belief
and practice. Of the 18 Buddhist schools of interpretation, five
existed along the Silk Road. Among these was the less monastic
but very significant tradition of Mahayana, which preached the
continuity of the Buddha's compassionate nature through
bodhisattvas — embodiments of love and teaching who became
the bridge to local traditions, communities, and cultures. The
tradition suggests that all bodhisattva Buddhist seekers are equal
before the Buddha, have a Buddha-nature, and may aspire to
reach Buddhahood through right ways of living.

In Central Asia, Buddhism is associated with the rise of the
Kushan Empire, which lasted from the Ist to the 3rd century c.k.
While Kushan rule marked a significant period in the growth of
Buddhism, Kushan coins illustrate more than a narrow adherence
to Buddhism. They show that along the Silk Road there were
kings and rulers who sought to rise above certain groups, tribes,
and religious traditions. Along with figures of their own kings
such as Kanishka, Kushan coins depict Buddhist, Greek, and
Iranian nobility. Statues made by the Gandharan school also
feature a blend of Indian, Greek, and Iranian elements. The rulers
built monasteries and temples along the Silk Road that were often
used by the faithful of various religions. One such monastery is
believed to have been in the famous city of Bukhara, which later

became a major Central Asian cultural center of Islam. The oldest
manuscript of an Indian Buddhist text, the Dharmapada, has
been preserved in the Central Asian Kharosthi script. This combi-
nation of patronage, the founding of monasteries, and the rise of
Buddhist scholarship produced favorable conditions for the
general spread of Buddhism. Rulers, missionaries, monks, and
traders all contributed to make Buddhism a very significant pres-
ence all over Central Asia.

The greatest success of Buddhism came with its spread to
China, where it reinvigorated the existing philosophy, culture,
and literature. It also reached Korea and Japan. Its encounter with
Daoism and Confucianism helped establish deep roots among the
peoples of East Asia. Here Buddhism became a religious and
spiritual presence as well as the catalyst for greater links with

Eurasia. Thus, during the first millennium of the Common Era,
Buddhism was the strongest influence among the peoples of the
Silk Road. Great Buddhist scholars always looked at the Silk
Road as a connecting thread with what they regarded as the
founding values of Buddhism. Among them was the pilgrim-
monk, Xuanzang (595-664 c.r.), who undertook a challenging
16-year journey (629-45 c.r.) towards the West, crossing the

Dunhuang was an important trading post along the Silk Road in western
China for over 1,000 years and also was a center of Buddhist learning.
Near the city are almost 500 caves that were hollowed from cliffs as
dwelling places, meditation sites, and worship halls for Buddhist monks
beginning in the 4th century. These caves house an unparalleled collection
of ancient Buddhist art.

Mogao Grottoes, Dunhuang, China. Photo by Neville Agnew, May 1998.

Martial Arts along the Silk Road — from Bodhidharma to Bruce Lee

By Douc Kim

As a conduit for religion and commerce, the Silk Road was an
important means by which Asian martial arts were nurtured and dissem-
inated.

According to tradition, the process started with Bodhidharma, an
Indian missionary who introduced Chan Buddhism to China in the 6th
century. Called Damo, Tal-ma, and Daruma in China, Korea, and Japan
respectively, this monk from India’s warrior caste was the progenitor
of Shaolin martial arts — many of which have come to be known as
kung fu (gungfu). To improve the Shaolin monks’ physical and mental
ability to endure long meditation sessions, he is said to have taught them
18 exercises, probably derived from Indian yoga practices of the period.
These “18 Hands of Lohan” were built upon and expanded into Shaolin
“boxing.” Shaolin temples, often remote and secluded, evolved into
centers of meditation and martial arts training; they also attracted
soldiers and professional warriors seeking sanctuary, who added their
knowledge and skills to the training. Shaolin boxing strongly influenced
indigenous martial arts styles as itinerant monks and Shaolin disciples
spread religious and fighting principles throughout China and beyond.

It may seem curious that lethal fighting arts were elaborated and
regularly practiced by religious orders. However, study and use of these
skills were highly valued by the monks — to improve their ability to
focus and meditate in their quest for spiritual enlightenment, and for
self-defense against road bandits, would-be temple robbers, and, at
various times, government persecution. Shaolin missionaries carrying
Chan Buddhism eastward not only influenced Korean and Japanese
martial arts but also provided the basis for Zen Buddhism, which itself
became a fundamental part of the samurai tradition and bushido (the
Japanese “way of the warrior”). Numerous guardian figures in fearsome
martial poses can be found at Buddhist temples and shrines along the

Silk Road, clearly demonstrating the intimate connection between
Buddhism and martial arts.

Commerce played a crucial role as well in the diffusion of
Chinese styles to neighboring areas: monks and mercenaries skilled in
martial arts served as escorts for merchants traveling along the Silk
Road, providing protection against attackers. The recent award-winning
film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is a classic Chinese tale about such
"guards for hire.”

Asian martial arts first came to the United States with Chinese
immigrants in the mid-igth century but remained largely secret, guarded
within their community. Although President Theodore Roosevelt took
judo lessons from a Japanese instructor in the White House in the early
19005, it was almost half a century before Asian martial arts started to
attract widespread interest in America — the result of contact between
American servicemen and Japanese practitioners during the occupation
of Japan and Okinawa after World War II. The floodgates of interest
burst open as Bruce Lee’s kung fu movies hit the United States in the
19708. Virtually overnight kung fu, judo, karate, tae kwon do, and wu
shu schools, clubs, movies, and competitions became well-established
parts of everyday American life. Martial arts techniques. traditionally
taught only to blood relatives or fellow members of religious orders —
and never to non-Asians — can now be acquired openly by anyone who
wants to learn. Asian martial arts have become staples of international
competition; judo and tae kwon do are Olympic sports, and serious
efforts are underway to add wu shu to this list.

Douc Kim, A SECOND-GENERATION KOREAN AMERICAN, HAS BEEN ACTIVE IN MARTIAL ARTS
FOR OVER 25 YEARS, AND HOLDS BLACK BELTS IN TAE KWON DO AND HANKIDO. HE WAS A
PRESENTER AT THE 1982 FOLKLIFE FESTIVAL.

Takla Makan and Gobi deserts, the high Pamir Mountains, and
also visiting Buddhist monuments in Bukhara, Samarkand, and
Herat. Xuanzang returned to China laden with 650 books on
Buddhism and provided a colorful account of his journey and the
history of Buddhism in the region. He contributed greatly to the
survival and spread of Buddhism in East Asia.

Christianity

Along with the growth of Buddhism, the Silk Road nurtured
minority groups from other major faiths. Assyrian Christians, or
more accurately the Church of the East, were one such group.
Often mistakenly identified simply as Nestorianism, the Church
was strongest in eastern Syria, where as part of the Persian Empire
it gained recognition and subsequently flourished after the arrival
of Islam. In Syria, this tradition is a visible presence to this day,
attesting to the lasting influence of the Eastern Christian tradition
in the region. The Assyrian Christians played a crucial role in the
creation of an important intellectual center at Jundishapur, where
study of philosophy, astronomy, medicine, and astrology directly
influenced Muslim learning. Doctrinally, they shared with other
Christian groups the belief in the foundational and redemptive
role of Jesus Christ, but they also taught that Jesus Christ had two
distinct natures, divine and human, a view that brought the then
patriarch of Constantinople, Nestorius, into conflict with those
who held to the doctrine of the inseparability of the two natures of
Jesus. Subsequently, the followers of Nestorius were excommuni-
cated and eventually became a separate church with its own
distinctive hierarchy, liturgy, and theological tradition.

In Central Asia the Assyrian Christians influenced the
Sogdians, who, due to their strategic location, had already
become the commercial masters of the Silk Road and its cultural
transmitters. Sogdian became the lingua franca of the Silk Road,
spreading Christianity further east to China and north among the
Turks. The Eastern Christians succeeded in three major mass
conversions of Turks in Central Asia from the 7th to the Ith
centuries. Despite being seen as a faith of foreign traveling
merchants, Eastern Christianity gained acknowledgment as “the
Brilliant Religion” (Foltz 2000: 72) in China, with Christian
saints being referred to as Buddhas and their treatises as sutras.

Manichaeism

Manichaeism, founded by a royal Parthian called Mani
(b. 216 c.r.), was another important religion that emerged in West
Asia. A gnostic tradition, Manichaeism “posits a radically dual-
istic view of the universe, in which ‘good’ is equated with spirit
and ‘evil’ with matter” (Foltz 2000: 75). The cosmology drew
from Iranian figures such as Zurvan, Ahura Mazda, and Ahriman
and portrayed good and spirit as light and fire and evil as dark-
ness. Life was a struggle between good and evil in which the
former strives to liberate the self from evil matter. Knowledge
derived rationally became the basis of an awakening of the self.
Blending the major beliefs of Christianity, Buddhism, and
Zoroastrianism, the teachings of Mani reached the peoples of
India, Mesopotamia, Iran, Central Asia, and China in their own
languages and in concepts familiar to them. Central Asian
Sogdians with their pragmatic tolerance helped Manichaen ideas
to move further east to the land of the Uyghurs, where
Manichaean became the official state-sponsored religion for
about 70 years. Its powerful appeal, offered as a significant alter-
native to the other major traditions, resulted in tension and
conflict as it gained converts. Yet, despite its appeal,
Manichaeism was not able to survive the arrival and dominance of
new traditions and was eventually eradicated as a distinct reli-
gious tradition, though some of its ideas lived on, assimilated into
other faiths.

Islam: Arrival and Diffusion

Islam became the faith of the majority of people along the Silk
Road. The first Muslim community emerged in Arabia in the 7th
century in a region dominated by ancient civilizations and
empires. Muhammad, the Prophet of Islam, a family man and a
merchant by trade, was also committed to a life of contemplation.
The revelations that came to him are recorded in Arabic in the
Koran (Quran), the revealed book of Islam. It affirms a belief in
one God, unique and merciful; in past messengers and scriptures
sent by God to other societies; in the creation of a society ruled by
compassion, charity, and justice that would be a model for all
peoples. The initial establishment of Muslim rule in neighboring
territories in the 7th and 8th centuries was a result of conquest,
but the actual spread of Islam was achieved primarily by

preaching and conversion undertaken by scholars, merchants,
and devout men and women. Muslims are taught by the Koran to
spread the faith by example, not by compulsion.

The first Muslim expeditions to Central Asia were part of
the general pattern of conquest and expansion of territory during
the first centuries of Islam. The consolidation of these early
attempts at conquest was continued under early Umayyad rule
(661-750) and its successor, the Abbasid dynasty, which estab-
lished its capital in Baghdad in 762. Muslim armies conquered
territories beyond the River Oxus (Amu Darya), and by the end
of the 9th century the Samanids emerged as the first of the local
Muslim kingdoms in the area. The process of conversion and
Islamization of Central Asia that accompanied this spread and
diffusion of Muslim culture and influence lasted several centuries.
As the Silk Road once again became a vital international artery of
commerce and trade, Muslim travelers, preachers, mystics, and

merchants acted as mediators of faith, enlarging the communities

of Muslims in the various regions of Central Asia.
The famous North African traveler Ibn Batuta (1304-682),
taking advantage of a well-defended and secure pathway along

the Silk Road, managed to travel from his hometown of Tangier to
China and India, reporting on his travels and illustrating the
burgeoning trade, social activity, and vital religious life in the
region.

The history of the Silk Road under Muslim influence reveals
a diverse religious landscape, among different faiths and also
within the Muslim community. Sunni, Shia, and Sufi Muslim
groups interacted and flourished together. Charismatic Sufi
leaders such as Ahmad Yasawi (d. 1166) and Bahauddin
Nagshband (1318-89) built communities that nurtured vernac-
ular tradition and languages. The full diversity of Muslim law,

The Burana Tower in the Zhu River Valley, Kyrgyzstan, is a minaret
from the llth century, one of the first in Central Asia.

Photo © Hermine Dreyfuss

theology, culture, arts, and architecture spread across the Silk
Road. This multidimensional world of Islam contributed to a
broadly based society, bound by common ethical and cultural
assumptions but differentiated in its practices and local traditions,
that stretched from Afghanistan to Southeast Asia, China, and the
Philippines. Some of the greatest scholars of Muslim science and
technology lived in the region. The Ismaili Muslims who
founded Cairo in the 10th century also spread along the Silk Road
and with many other Muslims brought a tradition of philosoph-
ical inquiry and scientific knowledge across the Mediterranean to
Iran and the Karakoram and the Pamirs (Daftary: 1990). The
great Ismaili poet and philosopher, Nasir Khusraw (1004-88),
traveled along the Silk Road on a seven-year journey from Balkh
across the Middle East, North Africa, and on to his pilgrimage
destination, Mecca. His Safarnamah (travelogue) describes in
vivid detail his meetings with famous scholars and visits to the
region's religious communities and sites.

Conclusion

A historical view of the Silk Road reveals a world in which reli-
gions were living traditions. Central Asia, then one of the most
pluralistic religious regions in the world, has again become a
center of attention, and perhaps the most important lesson learned
on the Silk Road — the ideal of religious pluralism and tolerance
— may yet enable it to become a bridge between cultures once
more.

Some of the oldest inhabited places in the world can be
found along the Silk Road. Each faith has left its signature there,
in ideas, art, music, and buildings, and in traditions of learning,
remembering, celebrating, and sharing. This cumulative resource
from different traditions of knowledge and faith can still, as in the
past, help us build trust, reinvigorate civilizational dialogue, and
move away from the constraints and ignorance that exacerbate
division and generate conflict.

Azim Nanjr 1s DirecTror OF THE INSTITUTE OF IsMAILI STUDIES,
Lonpon. SARFAROZ Nryvozov Is THE CENTRAL ASIAN STUDIES
Co-ORDINATOR AT THE INSTITUTE.

References Cited
Daftary, F. 1990. The Ismailis. Their History and Doctrines.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Foltz, R. 2000. The Religions of the Silk Road: Overland Trade and
Cultural Exchange From Antiquity to The Fifteenth Century.
New York: St. Martin’s Press.

For Further Reading

Bennigsen, A. 1985. Mystics and Commissars: Sufism in the Soviet
Union. London: C. Hurst & Company.

Bentley, J. 1993. Old World Encounters: Cross-Cultural Contacts and
Exchanges in Pre-Modern Times. New York: Oxford University
Press.

Frye, R. 1996. The Heritage of Central Asia: From Antiquity to
Turkish Expansion. Princeton: Marcus Wiener Publications.

Harvey, P. 1990. An Introduction to Buddhism: Teaching, History and
Practices. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

History of the Civilizations of Central Asia. (1996-98) Vol. 1-4.
Various eds. Paris: UNESCO.

Krader, L. 1975. Peoples of Central Asia. Hague: Mouton & Co.

Liu, T. 1976. “Traces of Zoroastrian and Manichean Activities in Pre-
Tang China.” In Selected Papers from the Hall of Harmonious
Winds. Leiden: Brill.

Major, J., J. Barnatt, and J. Betrles. 2001. Silk Road Encounters:
Sourcebook. New York: Asia Society and The Silk Road
Project, Inc.

Moflett, S. 1992. History of Christianity in Asia. Vol. 1. San Francisco:
Harper.

Nanji, A., ed. 1996. The Muslim Almanac. Detroit: Gale Research
Inc.

Palmer, M. 2001 The Jesus Sutras. New York: Ballantine.

Shaked, S. 1984. “Iranian Influence on Judaism: First Century B.c.E.
to Second Century c.z.” In Cambridge History of Islam, edited
by W. Davies & L. Finkelstein, Vol. 1. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.

Wriggins, S.H. 1997. Xuanzang: A Buddhist Pilgrim along the Silk
Road. Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press.

us
OG
52

The Tree of Life

by Elizabeth Moynihan

The remote, mountainous Kohistan district of Pakistan was one of the most difficult and dangerous passages along
the historic Silk Road as described by the Chinese Buddhist pilgrim Faxian at the beginning of the 5th century. If
travelers from Xinjiang survived crossing the rope suspension bridges that linked narrow footpaths chiseled into the
rock walls above the Indus River, they then had to avoid marauding tribesmen.

The constant tribal wars of these fierce mountaineers kept
the northern provinces isolated and largely unexplored by
Westerners until the 1890s. However, in the 1970s you could
follow the old Silk Road in relative safety. In early spring the
valleys were alive with wildflowers, but, colorful and evanescent
as a rainbow, they disappeared, and within a few short weeks the
arid valley floor became shrouded in dun-colored dust. It shim-
mered in the sunlight, and everything — travelers, donkeys, the
car, even the birds — was covered with a fine coat of dust.

The road skirts the base of the mountains which rise steeply
here, and many small, ancient Buddhist shrines are carved in the
rock walls. Said to lead to a sacred site, one of the side tracks
lacing across the historic route was a difficult path up a rocky, dry
riverbed bounded by buff banks that wound through the sere
landscape. Around a deep curve on a bluff stood a solitary tree,
old, wind-whipped, and crooked, its roots partially exposed

where the bank had been scoured out below. Its branches were
adorned with a few prayer flags, faded and frayed beneath a layer
of dust. The surprise of this unexpected, vivid image swept away
the centuries and intervening cultures and elicited a reverential
response to the tree.

This sacred tree in Kohistan represented one of the oldest
known forms of veneration; tree cults were common to all ancient
cultures and civilizations, and the tree as a symbol of rebirth was
universal. The prominence of votive trees in religious ritual was
particularly well developed very early along the Eurasian routes of
the Silk Road. For example, a wonderful carving, now in the
British Museum, shows Ashurnasirpal, who ruled Assyria in
885-60 B.c.k., pouring the Water of Life on the Tree of Life.

An image of the Tree of Life is delicately carved in stone in the
16th-century Sidi Sayyid Mosque, Ahmedabad, India.
Photo by Elizabeth B. Moynihan

Using the familiar objects of trees and water as symbols was
well established 5,000 years ago in the Middle East. In 1937
Dr. Phyllis Ackerman of the American Institute for Persian Art
and Archaeology devised an enchanting explanation of the Tree
of Life or Moon Tree based on the early Mesopotamian concep-
tion of the sky as a triangle and depicted as a mountain. The
moon, which brought relief from the relentless sun, was repre-
sented as a tree atop the mountain of the sky. As trees mark an
oasis and the moon is a life-giver, so the sap of the moon tree must
be water, the elixir of life.

From prehistoric times there was communication between
the civilizations of the Indus Valley, Mesopotamia, and the
Iranian plateau. Indus Valley seals incised with a Moon Tree
resembling the peepul tree native to the subcontinent were found
at Susa, an ancient Persian site.

The myth of the miraculous Cosmic Tree not only repre-
sented regeneration and immortality but in some cultures symbol-
ized a means of ascent to heaven. In the ancient Brahmanical
tradition of India and the shamanism practiced throughout much
of Central Asia, the sacred tree symbolized the Axis Mundi, the
central axis of the earth. Such a World Tree is a powerful unifying
symbol, the center of the universe, binding the heavens to the
earth.

Often a shaman’s ritual garments were decorated with the
Tree of Life to aid him in invoking spirits and reaching an ecstatic
state. An actual tree or pole representing the tree as a ladder to the
heavens was central to the ceremony in which the shaman made
a celestial journey or descended to the underworld.

Sacred trees are mentioned in the literature of the world’s
major religions as the Tree of Knowledge or the Tree of Good and
Evil. In the Book of Revelation (22:1-2) and in Genesis (2:9) the
Tree of Life in Paradise is associated with the rivers of life. The
Koran (13:38) mentions the Tuba Tree in Paradise. The Cosmic
Tree is depicted in an inverted position growing downward
toward the earth with its roots in heaven in the Upanishads of
ancient India and in medieval cabalistic writings. In the Middle
Ages, the Tree of Life, associated with the Cross of Christ, was a
major allegorical theme in religious art and writings.

From ancient times, priests in India maintained groves of
sacred trees at temple sites and used the blossoms in religious

ritual. Certain trees and flowers were thought to symbolize deities
or possess qualities which could enhance man’s spiritual life.
Such was the sacred Bodhi ‘Tree under which the Buddha
attained perfect knowledge. There is a legend that in the 3rd
century B.c.e., before his conversion to Buddhism, the great
Ashoka burned this sacred wild fig tree, and it was miraculously
reborn from its own ashes. In the 7th century c.£., a cutting from
this tree was the greatest gift an Indian ruler could send to the
emperor of China. Such a gift would have been carried along the
Silk Road in the footsteps of the monks who first brought
Buddhism to East Asia.

Another gift the Chinese emperors coveted were “flying
horses’ from Fergana, now in Uzbekistan, famed for their speed
and endurance. In the early 15th century, when the importance of
the Silk Road had greatly diminished, Babur, a feudal prince from
Fergana who ruled Kabul, conquered northern India and founded
the Mughal dynasty. His ancestor, the Central Asian conqueror
Timur, had brought the tradition of the paradise garden to
Samarkand from Persia, and Babur introduced these walled
gardens with their symbolic trees and water in India.

In the wake of the caravans along the southern route
crossing the high Pamirs, as well as the northern route across the
Heavenly Mountains, cross-cultural influences were reflected in
the arts, architecture, and handicrafts of the city-states and
throughout the mountains, steppes, and deserts of the Silk Road.
Classic and stylistic representations of the Tree of Life are still
ubiquitous, rendered on everything from richly embroidered
Uzbek coats and Chinese robes to block-printed cottons, carpets,
porcelain, and bronze. Today, centuries after commerce moved
away from the Silk Road, the Tree of Life motif remains, its
tendrils binding the multitudes along the route that crosses
boundaries and the ages, reaching even to the National Mall of
the United States.

Ex1zaBeETH B. MoyNIHAN BEGAN RESEARCH IN INDIA IN 1973
ON MUGHAL ARCHITECTURE, ESPECIALLY THE GARDENS. UNTIL
ITS DISSOLUTION IN 1996 SHE WAS A MEMBER OF THE INDOo-U.S.
SuB-CoMMISSION ON EDUCATION AND CULTURE AND IS THE AUTHOR OF
PARADISE As A GARDEN IN PERSIA AND MuguHat INp1A, THE MoontiGHT
GaRDEN: New Discoveries AT THE Tay MAHAL, AND NUMEROUS
ARTICLES.

&-,:@
nae &)
“eine Ponce?
® fe ®
OO Se IOs
e-* : *éab ®
DS [ANOS
old whe] Le

a FeO Ols

® 2

Visual Arts of the Historical Silk Road

by Elizabeth ten Grotenhuis

Although people, ideas, and goods had been traveling across Eurasia for millennia, the historical Silk Road is
considered to have been established in the 2nd century B.c.£E. when a Chinese envoy journeyed into Central Asia
in search of horses and allies to fight marauders on the borders of China. Soon afterward, Buddhism began to
spread from India north along Silk Road land routes to Central Asia, China, Korea, and Japan and south by sea
routes to Southeast Asia. Buddhist art and architecture, of course, were transmitted along with the religious
doctrines. One of the major architectural monuments of Buddhism is the stupa, in India a solid hemispherical
mound signifying the death and final great enlightenment of the historical Buddha Shakyamuni who lived and
taught ca. 450 B.c.£. Influenced by the shape of Chinese watchtowers, the stupa was transformed into a multisto-
ried pagoda in China, Korea, and Japan, but it retained its original symbolism.

Until about the beginning of the
Common Era, the Buddha was repre-
sented by signs such as the Bodhi Tree
under which he experienced enlight-
enment and the Wheel of the Law, a
term given to Buddhist teachings. By
the time Buddhism was spreading to
the rest of Asia, in the Ist-2nd
centuries C.E., worship was aided by
anthropomorphic images. The human
image of the Buddha first developed in two places on the Indian
subcontinent — in Gandhara (present-day northwest Pakistan)
and in north-central India. The Gandharan figures were partly
inspired by provincial Roman images, such as grave portraits
produced in Palmyra on the eastern shores of the Mediterranean,
a trading terminus of the Silk Road. These Gandharan figures
wear heavy, toga-like robes and have wavy hair. The figures from
north-central India (particularly the city of Mathura) were partly
modeled on indigenous Indian male fertility deities and wear
cool, lightweight garments.

With the development of the tradition of Mahayana
(Greater Vehicle) Buddhism from the beginning of the Common
Era onward, the number of sacred Buddhist figures greatly
increased. Devotion was focused not only on the historical
Buddha Shakyamuni, but also on a growing number of celestial
Buddhas and bodhisattvas. (Bodhisattvas are agents of salvation
who attend the Buddhas, postponing their own complete eman-
cipation from the world of suffering until they can save all sentient
beings.) The celestial Buddhas did not have historical biogra-
phies like Shakyamuni but, like Shakyamuni, were embodiments
of the wisdom and compassion of the faith. The hierarchy of
Buddhism includes many other angelic and guardian figures, all

of whom were represented in painting
and sculpture throughout South,
Central, East, and Southeast Asia.
Cave-temples were often carved out of
rock escarpments to house these
images in India, on the Central Asian
Silk Road routes, and in China.
Bamiyan, in Afghanistan, with its
(now destroyed) colossal Buddhas was
one such site. Another well-known
site, comprising almost 500 cave-temples filled with some 45,000
wall-paintings and thousands of sculptures, is found near the
town of Dunhuang in northwest Gansu province. Dunhuang was
the first Silk Road oasis trading center within the borders of
China proper, and merchants grown wealthy from Silk Road
trade were among the patrons of the cave-temples.

Another visual form associated with Buddhism is the
mandala, a representation of an enlightened realm where union
between the human and the sacred occurs. Most often, for
example in Tibetan Buddhist art or in Japanese Esoteric Buddhist
art, the mandala is a circular or square configuration, with a center
that radiates outward into compartmentalized areas. The deity at
the center of the configuration, who signifies absolute truth,
engages in reciprocal interactions with figures in the outer
precincts, who signify manifested aspects of that truth. The prac-
titioner unites the outer manifestations in the center of the
mandala and then internally absorbs the mandala as a whole.

During and after the 8th century c.£., mandalas were drawn
on paper or cloth through all of Asia. These two-dimensional

Fifty-three-meter (175 feet) Buddha at Bamiyan, Afghanistan,
ca. 600 c.k. (destroyed 2001). Photograph © John C. Huntington
Photo courtesy The Huntington Archive of Buddhist and Related Arts

mandalas were hung on
temple walls as focal points
for veneration, for contempla-
tion, and for rituals, or they
were spread out on altar tops
for specific ceremonies. A
two-dimensional mandala,
however, is meant to be trans-
formed into a three-dimen-
sional realm, usually a palatial
structure, by means of contemplation and ritual. In their two-
dimensional forms, these mandalas often look like architectural
ground plans, seen from an aerial viewpoint.

Buddhism was well established in India, Central, East, and
Southeast Asia by the 7th century c.£. when another religion,
Islam, and its visual images began to spread across Eurasia on
Silk Road routes. By the 8th century, just one century after the
death of the prophet Muhammad in 632 c.£., Islam had spread
from its homeland in Arabia west across Egypt and North Africa
to Spain and east to Sasanian Persia. Early Islamic art showed a
mixture of Roman, Coptic, Byzantine, and Sasanian styles.
Although the holy text of Islam, the Koran (Quran), does not
prohibit figural images, the non-figural character of Islamic deco-
ration began early, based on traditional theological prohibitions
against imitating God's creation. The earliest extant Islamic
structure is the Qubbat al-Sakhra (often called the Dome of the
Rock by Westerners) in Jerusalem. Built in 691-92 to commem-
orate the place from which Muhammad is believed to have
ascended to heaven, this shrine with its golden dome displays
vivid mosaics of scrolling vines, flowers, crowns, and jewel forms
in greens, blues, and gold. Sacred calligraphy — writing from the
Koran — also adorns this shrine, reflecting the importance of the

Word of God in the Islamic
tradition. The Koran was
sometimes written in gold
script on parchment deco-
rated with floral interlaces.
An interesting parallel to this
form of sacred writing is
found in East Asia where
Buddhist scriptures were
often written in gold charac-
ters on bluish-purple paper. The Buddhist tradition of sacred
writing developed independently but reflected a similar yearning
on the part of devotees to sanctify holy utterances with the color
gold.

Many other religions were practiced in Silk Road lands —
Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Assyrian Christianity,
Manichaeism, Confucianism, Daoism, shamanism — but
Buddhism and Islam spread most pervasively throughout this
region, leaving the greatest imprint on Silk Road culture.

The Silk Road was at its height during the 7th through 9th
centuries, when Muslims ruled in West Asia and the Tang
dynasty presided over a cosmopolitan culture in China. Various
land and sea routes stretched from the shores of the
Mediterranean to Japan, the easternmost terminus of Silk Road
culture. Ceremonies that took place in the year 752 at the
Buddhist monastery of Todaiji in present-day Nara, Japan,
provide a vivid testament to the internationalism of Silk Road
culture. The occasion was the consecration of an enormous gilt
bronze Buddha about 50 feet tall, weighing some 250 tons.

Womb world mandala, Japan, mid-13th century. Gold and color on
indigo-dyed silk; hanging scroll; 90.3 x 79 cm. Collection of Sylvan Barnet and
William Burto

Paper
by Valerie Hansen

Philosopher-statesman Francis Bacon (1561-1621) identified paper as
one of inventions that separated the modern world from the traditional
world: the others were the magnetic compass, gunpowder, and printing.
He never realized that every one of them originated in China.

Chinese craftsmen first discovered the secret of making paper
when they washed rags and left them out to dry on a screen. This new,
flexible material could be used to wrap things, and indeed the first use
of paper, in the and century B.c.e., was as a packaging material for
medicine. Within a century, paper had begun to displace bamboo strips
as China’s main writing material, and by the 3rd and ,th centuries c.e.
the Chinese used paper for all their writing.

Those in attendance included monks from India, Central

Chinese paper moved along the Silk Road into Central Asia before
the technology of papermaking did. Archaeologists have found paper
with Chinese writing on it as far afield as the Caucasus mountains (at
the site of Moshchevaya Balka) on an alternate route to Constantinople.
Similar paper was in use in the years before 712 at a small fortress on
Mount Mugh outside Samarkand. There a local ruler imported Chinese
paper that had already been used on one side — so that he could write
on the blank reverse when the occasion arose.

From the writing on the back of one sheet of paper found at
Mount Mugh we know that it came from Liangzhou, Gansu, an impor-
tant city on the Chinese silk route, 2,000 miles to the east. Mount Mugh’s

( as men on rearing horses facing backward to shoot
Asia, and China. Among the many rituals and performances _, ® rampant lions or two animals in ritual confrontation
: A A. D4 , 5 :
that took place was a ribald dance-drama performed by (8a. Q\p with one another. Another West Asian specialty,
Veo WAS (2
¢ cas (

masked and costumed dancers. A Chinese lion-dog led = Q@ eS

the dancing procession. He was followed by a hand- _/
some prince from South China and a beautiful

Le
fo
Chinese maiden. An ugly, fanged lecher tried to Is>

seduce the Chinese lady but was restrained by two / =
fierce, muscular Buddhist guardian deities. Then \_/ <—
appeared Garuda, from Indian Hindu and Buddhist
mythology, a mythical bird who obtains the elixir of
immortality and devours his enemy, the dragon.
Garuda was followed by an old Brahmin priest-sage from India
and by another elderly figure wearing a Turkish hat. The dancing
procession ended with a group of intoxicated, red-faced barbar-
ians and their Persian king. Occasionally the Persian king and his
drunken entourage are identified as the Greek god of wine
Dionysus and his companions. Most scholars seem to feel,
however, that this was really a group of Persians. Probably, for
Sth-century Japanese, the distinction between Persians and
Greeks was nebulous. They were all “barbarians” from the
Western Lands.

Chinese Tang dynasty objects also attest to the cosmopoli-
tanism of the era. Many textiles show Persian motifs, most
notably the pearl-encircled roundel with figurative designs such

oo gold and silver metalwork, was also imported into
J ay 5
mY)

‘Tang China. Metal bowls, plates, and cups, deco-

rated with such West Asian motifs as griffins,

mouflons, and deer, are found in the graves of the
upper classes. These tombs also contain ceramic
figures of foreign musicians and dancers. Other
figures on horseback — both men and women —
seem to be playing polo, a game that may be derived
from a 6th-century B.c.£. Persian sport.

In 750, just before that festive consecration of the Great
Buddha in Nara, the Muslim Abbasid dynasty established its
capital in Baghdad, which became a fabled city of learning. The
Sth century saw the building of the Great Mosque of Samarra and
the Great Mosque of Cairo. It was during this period that lustre,
an opalescent metallic glaze used on ceramics, was developed.
The shimmering square lustre tiles set in lozenge patterns on the
Great Mosque of Al Qayrawan (ca. 862) are a splendid example.

The 8th century saw the Muslim advance into Central Asia.
One of the material results of this conquest was the Muslim adop-

Line drawing of an 8th-century wooden mask representing the drunken
Persian king called Suiko-6. Height of original: 37.7 cm. Shdsd-in
Collection, Nara, Japan. Drawing by Linda Z. Ardrey

imported paper was so expensive that the ruler used it only for corre-
spondence. For his ordinary household accounts he used willow sticks,
cut from willow branches with the bark removed. Other common writing
materials were leather and, in the Islamic world at the time, papyrus.
Legend has it that the secret of papermaking entered the Islamic
world with the 751 battle of Talas (in modern Kyrgyzstan) when Islamic
armies captured several Chinese craftsmen, who taught their captors
how to make paper. Most scholars today think the technology, which
was not very complex, could have moved out of China into western
Iran before 751, though no examples of early, non-Chinese paper
survive. Embracing the new technology, the founders of the Abbasid

caliphate (750-1258) sponsored a papermaking factory in Baghdad in
796. Soon all scholars in the Islamic world were copying manuscripts
onto paper, which was transmitted to Europe via Sicily and Spain by the
12th century (Bloom 2001).

Reference Cited

Bloom, Jonathan M. 2001. Paper Before Print: The History and Impact of Paper in
the Islamic World. New Haven: Yale University Press.

VALERIE HANSEN TEACHES CHINESE HISTORY AT YALE. AUTHOR OF THE OPEN EMPIRE:
A History OF CHINA TO 1600, SHE IS NOW WRITING A BOOK ON THE SILK ROAD.

tion of paper, a substance that had been developed much earlier
in China. Muslims began to transcribe onto paper the knowledge
that they had gained from many people — including Greeks,
Central Asians, and Indians — and made these pages into books.
Paper helped link the Islamic Empire across three continents
(Asia, Africa, and Europe), and paper itself, the process of
making it, and the knowledge written on it were eventually trans-
mitted to Europe, helping to inspire the European Renaissance.
Another great period for cross-cultural interaction along Silk
Road lands was the age of the Mongol Khanate (13th and 14th
centuries), when the Polo family traveled from Venice to China
and back. In the 13th century the Mongols (Turkic-Mongolian
nomads) conquered China and pressed as far west as the
Ukraine. They entered Islamic Iran and conquered Baghdad in
1258. Although the Mongols massacred tens of thousands of
Muslims, soon many Mongols converted to Islam. Within ten
years of their conquests Mongol Muslims were building great
mosques and stimulating arts and letters by their patronage. One
way they encouraged and transformed the arts in West Asia was
by importing Chinese artifacts, artisans, and styles. A group of
Chinese workmen directed a papermaking establishment in

Islamic Sufi dance from a manuscript of the Divan by Hafiz, present-day
Afghanistan, Herat, dated 1523. Opaque watercolor, gold, and silver on
paper; 15.8 x 10.3 cm.

Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.; Purchase F1932.54

Blue-and-White
by Robert McCormick Adams

It is commonly assumed that worldwide technology rivalries and
the interdependence of trade are modern developments. But the history
of Chinese blue-and-white porcelain and its Middle Eastern, Japanese,
European, and New World derivatives challenges this view.

Blue-and-white was traded southward and then westward late in
the 14th century (about a hundred years after it was first introduced),
although by that time other Chinese export wares were centuries old.
They had long moved in both directions between China and the Islamic
world (and its antecedents), along the ancient overland Silk Road
through Central Asia and in the cargoes of Arab and Persian seafarers.
Indirect though it was, this distribution system efficiently communicated
back to the Chinese information on the tastes of their Muslim
customers.

Meantime, there also developed in the Middle East a wave of
cheaper local copies. When they began appealing to customers in their
own right, these products no longer needed to be so strictly imitative.

Soon the West got into the act. After a resolute process of
exploration at least as consequential in the eyes of contemporaries as
the voyages of Columbus, the Portuguese finally rounded the Cape of
Good Hope late in the isth century, opening the Orient to sea trade.
Quantities of blue-and-white were being shipped to Lisbon as early as

Samarkand under Mongol patronage in the 13th and |4th
centuries.

Blue-and-white ceramics are a good example of East-West
interchange along Silk Road lands during this period. Islamic
potters had decorated tin-glazed vessels with cobalt from about
the 9th century onward. Muslim merchants in South Chinese
coastal cities introduced this ware to China where, in the late 13th
century, it was copied by Chinese potters creating high-fired
porcelain ware. The white porcelain vessels decorated with cobalt
blue designs were then exported to West Asia and to Southeast
Asia where they became enormously popular and were copied,
although not in high-fired porcelain. A good example of cobalt-
decorated ware inspired by the Chinese examples is Turkish
stoneware from the Iznik kilns, dating from the late 15th century
onward. In the 15th century the Chinese court finally began to
patronize blue-and-white porcelain, encouraging domestic
production and use of the wares, not just their export.

1530, becoming no less prized in European markets than they were else-
where.

Once again the Chinese producers were quickly responsive to the
changing demands, helped along in this case by painted wooden models
that the Dutch sent along with their huge orders.

The Japanese part in all this is equally fascinating. Their taste for
blue-and-white did not develop until they had begun to master the tech-
nology themselves, which they succeeded in doing about 1600. Not long
afterward they made their own entry into world markets. Splendid Dutch
records tell a story of massive shipments of Chinese blue-and-white
into Japan at first, followed by a Japanese invasion of Southeast Asian
and European markets when Chinese production was temporarily inter-
rupted by a civil war. Only in the later part of the 17th century did the
Chinese reemerge as competitors. By then the producers of Japanese
Imari wares, originally crude and derivative, had developed their own
vigorous, indigenous styles for which there was a secure niche in the
upper tiers of European and Middle Eastern markets.

Then there is a New World element. Spain came comparatively
late to the Pacific by way of the Philippines. Annual shipments of
Mexican silver from Acapulco quickly followed, eventually reaching China
in quantities sufficient to drive out Manchu paper currency and greatly

The importance of the historical Silk Road, with its
emphasis on overland routes, declined after the 15th century,
when Europeans began to dominate the sea routes connecting
Europe, the New World, and Asia. These sea routes increased the
ease of travel and the availability of goods. Objects and ideas
continued to influence East and West as Westerners adopted
Asian fashions and collected Asian objects, and, in turn, Asians
developed a taste for Western fashions, food, and technologies.
The exchange of objects continues today in the global market-
place at an accelerated rate, with camel caravans and clipper ships
replaced by e-commerce and overnight air delivery.

ELIZABETH TEN GROTENHUIS, AN ASSOCIATE IN RESEARCH AT THE
REISCHAUER INSTITUTE OF JAPANESE StTuDIES AT HARVARD
University, 1s AssOcIATE PROFESSOR OF ASIAN AND JAPANESE ART
HISTORY AT BosTon UNIVERSITY.

disrupt the internal economy. The return trade was in silks — and, of
course, blue-and-white. Dispersed across Mexico, pieces found their way
even to the rude northern frontiers of New Spain. Sherds still turn up
from time to time in historic Indian villages along the upper Rio Grande,
just as they do more frequently along the Arabian coasts.

Initially imitative industries sprang up in northwestern Europe, in
Italy, even in Mexico. Out of these, in time, came the splendid tradition
of Delftwares and the English porcelains that still grace our tables. But
what is most interesting is the antiquity as well as the worldwide range
of the shifting patterns of supply and demand, stimulus and response.
An ebb and flow of technological and trading leadership long antedates
the modern era.

Ropert McCormick ADAMS, AN ARCHAEOLOGIST, WAS SECRETARY OF THE SMITHSONIAN
INSTITUTION FROM 1984 TO 1994. THIS ARTICLE ORIGINALLY APPEARED IN SMITHSONIAN
MAGAZINE, MARCH 1986.

For Further Reading
Blair, Sheila, and J. Bloom. 1994. The Art and Architecture of Islam
1250-1800. New Haven and London: Yale University Press.

Brend, Barbara. 1991. Islamic Art. Cambridge: Harvard University
Press.

Fisher, Robert E. 1993. Buddhist Art and Architecture. London:
Thames and Hudson.

Hattstein, Markus, and Peter Delius, eds. 2000. Islam: Art and
Architecture. Cologne: Koneman.

Hayashi, Ryoichi. 1975. The Silk Road and the Shoso-in, translated
by Robert Ricketts. New York: Weatherhill.

Juliano, Annette L., and Judith A. Lerner. 2001. Monks and
Merchants: Silk Road Treasures from Northwest China, Gansu
and Ningxia, 4th-7th Century. New York: Harry N. Abrams,
Inc., and Asia Society, Inc.

Left: Plate. Turkish, Ottoman dynasty, ca. 1500-1525.

Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.

Center: Dish. Chinese, Yuan dynasty, ca. 1350.

Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.

Right: Dish. Japanese, Edo period, ca. 1690-1710. Freer Gallery of Art,

Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.

Milleker, Elizabeth J., ed. 2000. The Year One: Art of the Ancient
World, East and West. New York: The Metropolitan Museum
of Art.

Schafer, Edward H. 1963. The Golden Peaches of Samarkand: A
Study of Tang Exotics. Berkeley: University of California Press.

ten Grotenhuis, Elizabeth, ed. 2002. Along the Silk Road. Asian Art
and Culture, no. 6. Washington, D.C.: Arthur M. Sackler
Gallery, Smithsonian Institution.

. 1999. Japanese Mandalas: Representations of Sacred

Geography. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.

Vollmer, John E., et al. 1983. Silk Roads, China Ships: An Exhibition
of East-West Trade. Toronto: Royal Ontario Museum.

Watt, James C.Y., and Anne E. Wardwell. 1997. When Silk Was
Gold: Central Asian and Chinese Textiles. New York: The
Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Artists along the Silk Road

by Henry Glassie and Pravina Shukla

The Silk Road, historically a tangle of trade routes across Asia, raises for us the idea of connections between East
and West, providing an evocative prelude to the globalization of the present. The Silk Road chastens us to
remember that transnational connections are not unique to our age. And then, we are chastened further to recall that
the connections of the past were not merely commercial. The most splendid yield of the connections made along
the Silk Road was art, and evidence of old motion and past exchange is still to be found in the living arts of Asia.

West

At the western edge of Asia, on the Aegean coast of ‘Turkey, a
great mountain lifts, rolls, and slides into the sea. Mount Ida to
the ancients, Goose Mountain to the Turks, it holds in its folds a
scatter of compact villages built upon the sites of their winter
encampments by nomadic Turks. The land is rocky, unfit to the
plow. Sheep pick among the rocks and grow the wool that is
sheared and combed, spun, dyed, and woven into beautiful
carpets, red with the rosy glow of dawn.

Fatma Balct sits at the loom, between her mother and aunt,
in their stone home in the village of Ahmetler. They use no plan,
no cartoon, but weave kafadan, from the head, sitting together and
improvising like jazz musicians, weaving their separation into
symmetrical unity. Rolling the carpet on the wooden beam below,
they cannot see what they have done as they tie knots to the warp,
color by color, trapping rows of dyed dots between shoots of weft.
After weeks of work and hundreds of thousands of knots, they cut
their creation from the loom. Praise God: from their heads,
through their fingers, perfectly formed geometric motifs rise on a
placid red field, framed by busy borders. This carpet, into which
they have poured themselves in concentration, in dedication, is

sanat, art — a palpable sign of their skill, taste, and commitment.

It incarnates them and symbolizes their place, being one of the

dozen designs found on the floor of their village mosque.
Ahmet Balci, Fatma’s father, says that his people — he calls
them the Turks — followed their flocks out of Central Asia,
settled, and continued to weave the carpets that are emblems of
their Y6riik, nomadic, identity. The scholar, looking closely at the
motifs on their carpets, can retrace the trail of their migration east-
ward, finding comparable motifs in the weavings of northwestern
‘Turkey, south-central Turkey, northern Iran, and Central Asia.
Fatma Balci will keep the best of the carpets for her dowry.
Others she will donate to her mosque in commemoration of
deceased loved ones. Most will go to market in the town of
Ayvacik, and then to Istanbul, before finding their places of rest
on the floors of fine homes in Washington or London, Stockholm
or Melbourne. In this there is nothing new. Paintings by the
masters of the Renaissance, showing rugs draped over altars and
spread beneath the feet of princes, prove that carpets woven in
Fatma’s region of Turkey have been purchased and prized in the
West for 600 years.
Connecting Central Asia with Turkey through migration,

Women sell carpets woven in nearby villages at the market in Ayvacik,
Canakkale, Turkey. Photos by Henry Glassie/Pravina Shukla

Turkey with the world through commerce, the Oriental carpet has
achieved universal appreciation. Asserting order in its geometry,
subverting order in its spontaneous handcraft, intensely human,
the Oriental carpet — a womans art, a folk art, a fine art — has
become one marker of the presence of our species on the earth. It
is rivaled in its global spread and acceptance only by Chinese
porcelain.

Istanbul is the key node in the network of trade through
which Turkish carpets have traveled the world. Soon after
Mehmet II, Fatih, took Istanbul and made it the capital of the
Ottoman Empire in 1453, a strong hall was built for fine textiles,
and the streets around it were vaulted to create the Covered
Bazaar. There the land routes from the East ended, and elegant
commodities were sent by sea to Europe. Spices
and cotton from India, silk and porcelain from
China came by stages through the cara-
vanserais of Anatolia to make Istanbul —
the natural capital of the world, said
Napoleon — the center of global trade.
The Ottoman sultans wore caftans of
silk, and they so appreciated Chinese
porcelain that a vast collection remains
at the Topkapi Palace in Istanbul. In
the ambit of imperial favor, Turkish arti-
sans were inspired to experimentation,
working through the last decades of the 15th
century to invent a variety of pottery called ¢ini
(cognate with “china’), which, though low-fired
and technically unlike porcelain, emulates its ring and
sheen.

At two centers in western Turkey, in the cities of Iznik and
Kiitahya, Turkish potters at first imitated the blue-and-white
porcelain of Jingdezhen. Then in a surging series of innovations,
they made it their own in the 16th century, adding new colors,
notably a luscious tomato red, and pushing the designs toward
natural form and Islamic reference. Iznik failed early in the 18th

This plate is painted with the Besmele (Bismila), the opening formula
of the Koran (Qur'an): In the name of God, the Merciful, the
Compassionate. It was designed and painted by Nurten Sahin, Kiitahya,
Turkey. Collection of the Indiana University Art Museum

century, but the tradition has faltered and flourished through a
sequence of revivals in Kiitahya, where today, in ateliers
numbering in the hundreds, ¢ini is made.

The master of the atelier, a man like Ihsan Erdeyer at Siisler
Cini, directs a team of workers. Men mix seven elements to make
a composite white substance — they call it mud — that is shaped,
slipped, and fired. Women pounce and draw the designs, filling
them with vibrant color before the ware is glazed and fired again.
They make tiles to revet the walls of new mosques. They make
plates, domestic in scale and association, that do at home what
tiles do in the mosque, bringing shine and color and religious
significance to the walls.

The master and his team depend upon a designer. In the
20th century, Kiitahya’s greatest designer was a
gentle, confident, marvelous artist named Ahmet

Sahin. As a young man, he was one of two
potters who brought the tradition from the
brink of extinction at the end of World War
I. As an old man, he drew the majority of
the designs used in the dusty ateliers, he
painted magnificent works to inspire his
city, to keep quality high, and he taught
all who came to him. Ahmet Sahin died
in 1996 at the age of 90, but his robust
style continues. Two of his sons, Zafer and
Faruk, are masters. Zafer’s son, Ahmet
Hiirriyet Sahin, and his wife, Nurten, number
among the foremost artists of contemporary Kitahya.
As many as 40,000 people are involved in the ¢ini
trade, but a small number of artists who design and paint the ware
lead the city. Their styles are diverse. Sitki Olgar seeks the new,
Ismail Yigit copies the old, and Ktitahya’s tradition advances in
the hands of those who have shaped personal versions of the
works of the old masters. Nurten Sahin, famed for new calli-
graphic designs, paints with clarity and supernatural precision.
Ibrahim Erdeyer, son of Ihsan, paints in a bold manner, reminis-
cent of Ahmet Sahin. Mehmet Giirsoy, teacher and entrepreneur,
paints with delicate finesse, accepting and then breaking the
rules, and he has set the new standard, becoming the leader most
artists choose subtly to follow.

Their art, and they insist it is art, not mere craft, depends on
material quality, on a smooth white surface and gem-like colors
set beneath a lustrous glaze. It depends on meticulous painting,
on faultless lines drawn and filled with paint in an altered state of
concentration, when, with passion, the artists transfer themselves
into their work, making ¢ini an embodiment of their devotion.
And their art depends on Islamic significance, gifts to the mind
and soul: calligraphic designs that repeat beautifully the very
word of God; geometric designs that represent the will of the one
God bringing order to the universe; floral designs that symbolize

a harmonious society, governed by love.

East
As Kiitahya is to Turkey, Arita is to Japan. It is a small city of
potters on the southern island of Kyushu, where a Korean potter

discovered porcelain clay at the beginning of the 17th century. As

in Turkey, the first pieces of Japanese porcelain were inspired by
Chinese examples, but, as in Turkey (though a century later),
Japanese artisans soon adjusted porcelain to their place, adding
colors to the blue-and-white palette and creating new designs,
some to meet a Japanese taste, and others that, sent out on Dutch
ships, achieved commercial success in Europe. The ware
intended for the West came to be known as Imari, after the city
through which it was traded. Among Arita’s traditions favored in

Japan, one — Kakiemon, named for the family that has continued

its practice to the 14th generation — is remarkable in its parallels
with Kiitahya. Kakiemon porcelain features the color red and
exhibits bright floral patterns on a snow-white field. And, as the
potters of Kiitahya strove in the 20th century — first in the days
of Ahmet Sahin, then in the days of Mehmet Giirsoy — to accom-

Mustafa Orus works at the wheel at Nakis Cini, one of hundreds of
potteries in Kiitahya, Turkey.

(Opposite page) One of Noria Agawa’s lion sculptures comes into being in
this sequence: from an early phase, to the middle phase, ready for glazing,
and finally glazed and boxed for shipping.

| plish anew the technical excellence of the 16th century, so did the

potters of Arita struggle in the 20th century to match the technical
excellence of the 17th century.

Sadao Tatebayashi, a designer and painter in the Kakiemon
atelier, was a member of the team that restored old excellence to the
porcelain of Arita. Upon his retirement, he established his own
workshop, Korin-An, where his son, Hirohisa, is the master today.

Hirohisa Tatebayashi says that porcelain is so complex that
no one can make it alone. It takes ten years to master each facet of
production, and he has assembled a team, including his son,
Naonori, who work to the highest standard. Their inspiration is
Sadao Tatebayashi, who died in 1992. They use his designs, as
Ahmet Hiirriyet and Nurten Sahin use those of Ahmet Sahin, but
they have also widened their reach beyond the Kakiemon tradi-
tion, painting blue-and-white plates based on Chinese originals,
and, to close the circle perfectly, they have begun painting plates
with Turkish designs — the very designs favored in modern
Kiitahya — lifted from recent publications.

“Delicate” is the word Hirohisa Tatebayashi consistently
uses to describe his painting. Delicacy of brushwork suits the
smooth, luminous surface, the immaculate white ground, and the
fine forms of porcelain. The contrast is complete with the roughly
touched surfaces, dripping glazes, and earthy distorted forms of
the stoneware made for the tea ceremony, practiced by millions in
modern Japan. Tea ware provides an opportunity for another story
of cultural connection.

When the aristocratic tea ceremony was at the peak of its
fashion, early in the 17th century, the lord of the Mori clan brought
two Korean potters to Hagi in western Japan to make ceremonial
vessels. Evolved from Korean precedent in the lineage of the Miwa
and Saka families, Hagi yaki is made now in 200 ateliers in the city
and its environs. In his sunny shop on the banks of the Hashimoto
River, Norio Agawa works alone, making tea bowls, thrown to

retain the track of his fingers and flowing over with a thick white

glaze that drifts on the gritty surface like snow on a gravelly beach.

Reflecting the paradoxes of a Zen view of the world —
smooth and rough, bright and dull — Norio Agawa's bowls and
vases for the tea ceremony exemplify Hagi’s tradition, but the
heart of his practice lies in sculpture. Late in the 17th century, a
brilliant potter of the Saka family added sculpture to Hagi's reper-
tory, and Norio Agawa has studied his works and continued his
line. Norio Agawa’s pride is the lion. He calls it a Chinese lion.
Lions come in pairs, one female, one male. In China, they sit, the
male with a ball, the female with her cub. In Hagi, they pounce,
the female with her mouth open to speak the sound of the begin-
ning, the male with his mouth closed to murmur the sound of the
end. Together they utter the sound of eternity — “om” — and
vigilantly guard the Buddha's way.

Miraculously raising clay by hand around nothing into
expressive hollow forms, Norio Agawa also shapes human
images. One is the brooding Daruma, a monk who came from
India to China in the 6th century to establish both the Zen inflec-
tion in Buddhism and the discipline of the martial arts. But, like
his brother Hachiro Higaki, who learned from him, Norio Agawa
images most often the Seven Gods, ubiquitous in Japan as the
recipients of popular devotion, the donors of good fortune.

The Seven Gods are also the prime subjects of the ceramic
sculptors of Seto, an ancient city of potters in central Japan. Their
handling of the clay expresses the range of their personalities.
Susumu Kato slowly shapes images that are refined and precise.
Denko Maekawa hastily makes impressionistic figures that
display the pinch and pull of the clay yielding to the artist's hand.
Shigeyuki Masuda works between them, enjoying, like Susumu
Kato, the counterpoint of glazed and unglazed surfaces, while
creating figures that embody his own calm and gentle personality.

Assembled into a set since the 15th century, the Seven Gods

bespeak old connections. The one figured most often is Hotei, a

Chinese Zen priest of the 10th century, merry and fat, big with
compassion for the people of the world. Next is the pair Daikoku
and Ebisu, a carpenter and a fisherman, smiling bringers of
wealth, native to Japan. Then there are the bearded Chinese
deities of wisdom and longevity, Jurojin and Fukurokuju. At last
there are Bishamon in armor and Benten, the only woman among
them, the Japanese incarnation of Saraswati, the Hindu goddess
of learning and art — both ultimately from India. From Japan, the
Seven Gods carry us westward to Daoist and Buddhist China,
and southwestward to Hindu India.

South

From the world’s tallest mountains, great rivers run to the sea.
Where the sacred Ganges, the Brahmaputra, and the mighty
Meghna meet and merge, their silt has built the world’s widest
delta, the territory of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh. The
land is lush and green, relentlessly flat, free of stones, and rich in
clay for the potter.

There are 680 villages of potters in Bangladesh. Most of the
potters are Hindus, bearing the same surname, Pal, designating
them as members of the craft-caste of the workers in clay. They
make vessels to carry water and cook food, and the most talented
men among them also sculpt murtis, images of the deities for
worship. The greatest of them all is Haripada Pal, who works in a
cramped, damp shop on Shankharibazar in the capital city of
Dhaka. Trained by his grandfather in the village of Norpara,
Haripada traveled west and east to India, perfecting his craft.

Haripada Pal frames an armature of sticks, wraps it with rice
straw, and covers the straw with clay. In the clay, he says, there is
the seed of all creation, a drop of God that springs to life with
prayer. In his body, too, there is a drop of God, the soul that
enables all action. As he works, massaging the clay into symmet-
rical form, the God in his body erupts through his fingertips to
reunite with the God in the clay, and his sculpture is infused with
power. Then he sands the surface and paints it for beauty.

On the day of worship, the deity is invited into the clay.
Delighted with the beautiful image, the God descends and stays
as long as the lights dance, the incense smokes, and the songs of
praise continue. The devotees press forward, taking darshan,
connecting eye to eye with the potters creation, asking for the
boons that make life on this earth tolerable. Then the night
passes, the songs end, the God leaves. The statue is empty, a
pretty shell. It is borne to the river in a jubilant, carnivalesque
procession and immersed, sacrificed, melted back into the water
that carries the silt from which the murtis of the future will be
shaped. The rivers go on running.

Haripada Pal’s technique differs from that of the Japanese

Haripada Pal, of Dhaka, Bangladesh, sculpted and painted this clay image
of Kali (standing), which is worshiped in the Shankharibazar Kali
Mandir.

Opposite page: Weaving shops line the road through the village of
Kazipara, Rupganj, Bangladesh, at one of the eastern ends of the Silk
Road trade routes. Here, weaving traditions are being passed on in the
workshop of Askar Ali.

potters. Their images are hollow, his are filled with sticks and
straw. Theirs are fired, his are dried without firing because heat
and flame would destroy the power that abides in dampness. Yet,
Haripada’s technique was once employed in Japan, where it was
carried, out of India, through China, with Buddhism. And like
the potters of Japan, Haripada serves the needs of his community,
though, for him, the highest goal is to make art so excellent, so
pleasing to God that, upon his death, Haripada will be released
from the endless cycles of reincarnation into a state of eternal
bliss.

Haripada Pal says he is a poor man, but happy because he
spends his days shaping the body of God. In clay, he depicts the
full Hindu pantheon, but he specializes in the prime deities of
Bengal: Radha and Krishna, the very vision of love, and Durga,
the great goddess, with her children: Saraswati, the goddess of
wisdom; Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth; Kartik, the dapper god
of war; and Ganesh, the Lord of Beginnings, with his opulent
paunch and elephant’s head. Hindu artist in the predominantly
Muslim nation of Bangladesh, Haripada Pal connects, in his
work, westward to India, to Calcutta and Banaras, where sculp-
tors in clay work as he does.

Upriver from Dhaka, the Ganges bends to embrace Banaras,
the city of light and smoke, the holiest city of Hinduism, the best
place to die. As it was when the Buddha delivered his first sermon
just outside the city, Banaras is a place of industry and commerce
as well as perpetual prayer in its temples more numerous than the
rice grains in a ten-kilo sack.

Sculptors work in stone, carving images of the Hindu
deities. Jewelers hammer gold and set precious stones, repeating
luxurious ornaments from Mughal times. But the most renowned
of the city’s artistic creations is the silk sari that Indian women
hope to wear for their weddings. In three neighborhoods
mazes of alleys clicking and humming with the report of the loom
— Muslim men weave the long strips of brocaded silk that Hindu
brides drape as saris, that Muslim brides cut and sew into salwar
kameez, matching pants and tunics.

What Hirohisa Tatebayashi said of porcelain, Hashim
Ansari said of the Banarasi sari. Its production is too complex for
one person to master. Silk weaving requires teamwork. Hashim
Ansari divides the tasks with his three brothers in one of the four

workshops run by cousins on the first floor of the tall building
where all of them live. Hashim’s father, Abdul Qaiyoum, decides
upon the designs. Drawn on paper, the design is taken to Manuj
Kumar, the cardwallah, who punches holes rapidly, translating
the design, line by line, onto perforated cards. Linked in
sequence, the cards are fed into a Jacquard apparatus that dangles
from the ceiling above the loom in the dark workshop. A French
invention of the early 19th century, used extensively in North

America to weave coverlets, the Jacquard device changes the

pattern when the weaver tramps on a pedal that brings a new card

into position above him. Metal fingers poke through the holes in

the card, causing some warp threads to lift. The weaver —
Hashim Ansari in one shop, his cousin Sadique Ansari in another
— runs an extra weft through the pattern and follows it with quick
shots of the shuttle. The loom is a pit loom of the old Indian sort,
married to a European machine to create shimmering silk strips,
intricately brocaded in shades of gold.

All the brothers in Hashim Ansari’s shop are weavers, but
Mohsin is the color king, the master of dyeing, Shameem repairs
the finicky machines, and Hashim takes their creations to market.
The streets of the city are lined with stores selling the very finest
saris. Most of the saris are the citys product in silk, but they are
displayed along with saris brocaded on cotton so sheer that the
designs seem to float on air.

‘To find the source of these fine cotton saris, we return down
the Ganges to the delta of Bengal, where, in the countryside east
of Dhaka, brocaded — jamdani — saris are woven by Muslim
men and women on thousands of looms. Weaving shops line the
road through the village of Kazipara, Rupganj. Bamboo sheds
shelter pit looms like those of Banaras, but there is no machine to
set the pattern. Instead, masters like Showkat Ali and Enamul
Haque sit to the right, with a helper to the left, and pierce the weft
by hand and eye, running an extra weft into the warp and then
securing it with two passes of the shuttle. The designs, heavy or
light, are angular and geometric, less intricate than those of

Azizul Hagim weaves a jamdani sari in the workshop of Enamul Haque
in Kazipara, Rupganj, Bangladesh.

Banaras, but jamdani saris are prized for their handcraft and for
the diaphanous web that surrounds the woman who wears them
with a gauzy haze of light. The jamdani sari of Bangladesh, like
the Banarasi sari of India, is expensive. The women of Rupganj
weave jamdanis, Showkat Ali said, but they do not wear them.

At Rupganj, on the wide green delta of Bengal, we are at one
of the eastern ends of the trade routes that carried goods and
inspiration westward. Fine cotton cloth, woven in remote
villages, sold in the markets at Demra, then Dhaka, went by
caravan through Mosul in Iraq, gaining the name muslin, and
Bengali muslins have been treasured by European consumers for
more than 2,000 years.

The routes across Asia, convenient for warriors and mystics

as well as merchants, for the movement of ideas as well as

commodities, carried spice and cotton from India, silk and porce-
lain from China, and carpets from Central Asia, Iran, and Turkey
to the great cities of the Ottoman Empire. At Bursa, the first
Ottoman capital, the Silk Road ended at the Kozahan, a stone
building near the Great Mosque, where today silk is woven and
farmers bring silk cocoons for sale in a market that puts the
American observer in mind of the tobacco auctions of North
Carolina. At Istanbul, the Covered Bazaar spreads between the
Forum of Constantine and the mosque of Beyazit, offering a
bounty of Asian goods, of textiles and ceramics, that provoke the
historical imagination.

Carried overland to be shipped from Turkish cities, or trav-
eling the long route by sea from China and Japan, Asian works of
art found such appreciation, and inspired so many imitations, that
they have been absorbed into the culture of the West, so thor-
oughly absorbed that we do not stop to notice our debt to the
East, when, say, in a small hotel in rural Ireland, we walk across
linoleum embossed with a design from a Turkish carpet, and sit
down for a breakfast of oatmeal served in a willowware bow] that
is an English version of an original from China.

Henry GLassiE AND PRAvVINA SHUKLA TEACH IN THE FOLKLORE
INSTITUTE AT INDIANA UNIVERSITY.

Expensive brocaded cotton jamdani saris are sold at market in Demra,

Bangladesh. Fine cotton cloth woven in remote villages, sold in the
markets at Demra, then Dhaka, went by caravan through Iraq and have
been treasured by European consumers for more than 2,000 years.

For Further Reading

Atasoy, Nurhan, and Julian Raby. 1989. Iznik: The Pottery of
Ottoman Turkey. London: Alexandria Press.

Barnard, Nicholas. 1995. Arts and Crafts of India. London: Conran
Octopus.

Briiggemann, W., and H. Bohmer. 1983. Rugs of the Peasants and
Nomads of Anatolia. Munich: Kunst and Antiquitaten.

Carswell, John. 1985. Blue and White: Chinese Porcelain and Its
Impact on the Western World. Chicago: The David and Alfred
Smart Gallery.

. 1998. Iznik Pottery. London: British Museum Press.

Coomaraswamy, Ananda K. 1989 (1909). The Indian Craftsman.
New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal.

Dutt, Gurusaday. 1990. Folk Arts and Crafts of Bengal: The Collected
Papers. Calcutta: Seagull.

Glassie, Henry. 1993. Turkish Traditional Art Today. Bloomington:
Indiana University Press.

. 1997. Art and Life in Bangladesh. Bloomington: Indiana
University Press.

. The Potter’s Art. 1999. Bloomington: Indiana University
Press; Philadelphia: Material Culture.
Kumar, Nita. 1988. The Artisans of Banaras: Popular Culture and
Identity, 1880-1986. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Lynton, Linda. 1995. The Sari: Styles, Patterns, History, Techniques.
New York: Abrams.
Nayatake, Takeshi. 1981. Kakiemon. Tokyo: Kodansha.

Sethi, Rajeev, Pria Devi, and Richard Kurin. 1986. Aditi: The Living
Arts of India. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press.
Tichane, Robert. 1983. Ching-te-Chen: Views of a Porcelain City.
Painted Post: New York State Institute for Glaze Research.
Wilson, Richard L. 1995. Inside Japanese Ceramics: A Primer of

Materials, Techniques, and Traditions. New York: Weatherhill.

Yanagai, Soetsu. 1972. The Unknown Craftsman: A Japanese Insight
into Beauty. Tokyo: Kodansha.

Silk Road Cooking: A Culinary Journey

by Najmieh Batmanelij
H J gil]

Join me on a voyage of culinary discovery that stretches through the ages and across half the world, from China in
the east to Persia and on to the Mediterranean in the west, along the ancient network of trading routes known today
as the Silk Road. Each place on the Silk Road itself, be it splendid city, rich trading town, or green oasis, has its
own distinctive character and culture and yet is linked across desert and mountain to every other place. The same
is true of salads, soups, breads, rice, kabobs, and pastries from Xian to Samarkand, from Isfahan to Istanbul and
then northwest to Italy. It was along the caravan trails (and later the sea routes) that vegetables, fruits, grains, and
seasonings — and the techniques for cooking them — passed from one civilization to another, to be absorbed and
transformed into local specialties.

In markets in Uzbekistan, one finds huge melons of
surpassing sweetness and vibrant orange carrots unlike any
others. In Iran the familiar flat bread — also called nan in India,
Pakistan, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, much of Central Asia and
Western China and cooked in a tandoor (clay oven) or on a saqj (a
convex cast iron plate placed over fire) — is offered on wooden
carts, loaves scented with onion, garlic, and sesame, cumin, or
nigella seeds. In Xian, stalls groan under bright persimmons,
pomegranates, big red jujubes, and figs, peaches, and grapes.
Aromatic ginger, onions, and leeks are everywhere to be found as
well. I like to call these “Silk Road ingredients’ — and the
wonderful produce, fresh from the earth, stalk, vine, or branch,
has come to the markets of America, too.

The dishes to be made from this rich bounty appear in infi-
nite variety. Consider only that tempting assembly of little dishes
found throughout the Middle East (mezze) and into Spain (where
they are called tapas). In China they refer to a similar layout of
little dishes as dim sum, while in Italy they are the antipasti.

The noodles of my childhood are present in almost every
country along the ancient Silk Road. In northern China a noodle
master, in what looks like sleight of hand, can stretch and swing a
lump of dough into perfect individual strands in 15 minutes. The
sauces and soups that enhance these noodles exist in as rich a
variety in China as they do in Italy.

Such mastery would seem to support the old legend that
Marco Polo brought noodles from China to Italy in the
13th century. Recent archeological and linguistic scholarship
shows, however, that the transfer was much earlier and in both
directions. ‘Today, culinary food historians agree that pasta prob-
ably originated in Iran. The first pasta dish is recorded in a 10th-
century Arab cookery book, Kitab al-Tabikh wa-islah al-Aghdiyah
al-Ma‘kulat, which calls it by the Persian word lakhshah, meaning
to slide, presumably because of the slipperiness of noodles. (The
Russian lapsha and the Yiddish lokshn, for example, derive from
lakhshah.) The same book also mentions that the dish was
invented by the Sasanian Persian King Khosrow I (531-79 c.k.).
It was probably the Arabs who introduced noodles, and the hard
durum wheat necessary for making them, to Italy in the
9th century via Sicily (noodles) and Genoa (ravioli).

No one knows exactly how the technique for making pasta

reached China. What is known is that before the Han dynasty
(206 B.c.£.—220 c.£.), China lacked the mills for large-scale flour
grinding, which it acquired as she expanded to the west via the
newly explored Silk Road. As soon as the mills appeared,
however, Han cooks adapted or invented a vast array of “noodle
foods,” as they were called by writers of the time. By the end of
the dynasty, China already had developed the technique for
swinging dough into individual strands. These were boiled and
served with a range of seasonings, and, although they were gener-
ally considered common food, they were so delicious that even
the emperor ate them. Other pasta foods include dumplings,
steamed buns, and little wheat cakes. Some were invented by
ordinary people, a 3rd-century chronicler reports, and some came
from foreign lands.

The many types and names of Chinese noodle food offer the
sorts of clues that delight linguistic scholars, who find hints of
food origins in the wanderings of words. Among the Chinese
favorites, for example, is mantou, a steamed, sweetened, bread-
like bun. The term appears in Japan as manzu, meaning steamed
bread with a filling; and in Korea as mandu, a kind of ravioli filled
with beef. Tibetans make stuffed dumplings in a variety of shapes
and call them momo. In Central Asia, manti is a small steamed
pasta that may contain meat, cheese, or vegetables and is served
with yogurt or vinegar; in Turkey and Armenia the same word
refers to a stuffed pasta shell steamed, poached in broth, or baked;
and in Iran it is a wonton-like pasta cooked in a broth. Although
some suggest a Central Asian origin for such dishes, no one
knows for sure. What is more important than the origin is that the
dishes and their names are all related. They form a culinary bond
— a sign of early and peaceful communication — that links
distant and sometimes hostile cultures.

It is a curious fact that the noodles that reached culinary
heights in China and Japan, not to mention Italy, occupy only a
humble place in the cookery of their Iranian home. Rice, on the
other hand, is the same story in reverse. The grain, cultivated in
China and India for at least 5,000 years, seems to have reached
Iran only in the 4th century s.c.r. It did not begin to play an
important part in Iranian cookery, however, until the 8th century.
Since then, rice has become something special in Iran. It is not
the anchor of a meal as it is in China, but the basis of festive and

elaborate dishes called polows (parboiled and steamed rice). A

polow may be cooked with a golden crust; it may be flavored with
tart cherries, quinces, pomegranates, barberries, or candied bitter
orange peel; it may include pistachios, almonds, walnuts, or rose
petals. Like other good dishes, polow has spread far beyond its
Persian source. Under such related names as pilau, pilavi, pilaf,
paella, and pullao, and with such additions as chickpeas and
raisins or onions and carrots, it graces celebrations from
Afghanistan to Albania, and from India to Spain.

Similar tales linking east and west, north and south, could be
told for rice pudding, for bread, and for dozens of other prepara-
tions based on vegetables, grains, fruits, herbs, and spices. This
cuisine from the region that was once home to the Silk Road
seems to have certain characteristics in common: foods and tech-
niques that have been passed from region to region; a philosophy

(Left) A girl sells scallion bread at a Xian market.

(Right) Flat bread is a staple at this market in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

of healthy, balanced eating from Chinas yin-yang to India’s
ayurveda and from Iran's “hot and cold” to the Salerno Regimen
of the Italian Middle Ages; and a particularly generous insistence
on hospitality. That is the result of a long shared history, which
began with an intrepid Chinese traveler of the 2nd century B.c.F.,
Zhang Qian.

‘Today, Italian and Chinese cooking together with Indian,
Persian, Uzbek, and Turkish cuisine represent the tasty, inexpen-
sive, down-to-earth, and cheerful food that is a lasting influence
of the ancient Silk Road. And with the increase in culinary aware-
ness and health concerns, and a trend toward simpler, more rustic
ingredients such as flour with bran, brown rice, and fresh and
seasonal food, America has become a kind of modern Silk Road
entrepot where wonderful ingredients from all over the world —

and instructions for cooking them — are available to everyone.

Venice

CHINA

Few cultures were as enthusiastic

as China’s about culinary imports,
but then, few cultures were as food
oriented. as» China's.

While the central philosophy of
eating, in early periods as now, was»that a meal
should consist of fan (grain) as the primary food and cai
— vegetables and/or meat and fish, cut small, carefully blended and
flavored, and quickly cooked — the possibilities for variation were
infinite.

The possibilities for cai were great before the opening of trade
routes. People ate meat and fish as well as such vegetables as bamboo
shoots, water mallow (something like spinach), turnips, yams, radishes,
lotus root, scallions, shallots, and mushrooms. During the Han and later
dynasties, new vegetables arrived from Western Asia and Iran, including
spinach, rhubarb, onions, cucumbers, broad beans, peas, and melons; the
Chinese classified them, developed them, and found new ways to cook
them.

It was the same with fruits and nuts. China was blessed with
superb produce, including peaches, plums, apricots, and persimmons,
and from the south came mangoes, bananas, and citrus. The Chinese
also carefully cultivated new fruits arriving from the Silk Road — figs
and dates, cherries, melons, pomegranates, grapes, almonds, pistachios,
walnuts, caraway, coriander, and sugar cane.

Then there were fermented and pickled foods, used for flavoring
but also useful to travelers. The soybean was as central to Chinese
cuisine, then and now, as ginger. It provided bean curd and soy sauce,
among other preparations.

Still, the first rule of Chinese dining was “nothing to excess”; even
children were admonished to eat only until they were 70 percent full.
Thus gourmets developed the fashion for “natural foods,” which fit
China’s Daoist roots as well as Buddhist precepts. What was natural
food? It was food gathered in the mountains or woods — edible plants,
herbs, mushrooms, and the like — cooked as simply as possible so as
to reveal its unique flavor: It was the kind of culinary philosophy good
cooks advocate today.

IRAN

The Persians had inherited a millennia-old tradition of Mesopotamian
cookery from the empires of Sumeria, Babylon, Assyria, and Akkad, to
name a few. Sumerian tablets record about 20 kinds of cheese, 100
soups, 300 breads. Their cooks dried grains, beans, dates, grapes, and

figs; they preserved fruits in honey; they flavored their various stews
with garlic, onions, leeks, and possibly mint, mustard, cumin, and
coriander. The various Mesopotamian kingdoms borrowed dishes from
one another, as recorded in their names.

regi é
Baghdad

* Mecca

According to Roman historians — hardly friendly commentators — the
Parthians, who ruled an empire that at its height in the ist century B.C.E.
stretched from the Euphrates to the Indus rivers and from the Oxus
(Amu Darya) to the Indian Ocean, were very fond of palm wine and ate
lightly of grains, vegetables, a little fish and game. We may suppose that
the later Parthians, originally nomadic horsemen, ate such dairy prod-
ucts as clarified butter (ghee, which keeps well in hot climates) and
yogurt (often fermented with cracked wheat and still common in
Kurdistan, where it is called tarkhineh). As the prime middlemen control-
ling the Silk Road, they taxed and no doubt enjoyed exotica arriving
from east and west.

All these elements converged in the court cooking of the second
Persian empire of the Sasanians (221-651 c.e.), whose magnificent
capital, Ctesiphon, not far from what is now Baghdad, was the bustling
entrepot of Silk Road trade. A gth-century poem, “Khosrow and His
Knight,” outlines the most favored dishes of those with discriminating
tastes; among them are desserts such as almond and walnut pastries,
coconuts from India, and Iran’s own dates stuffed with walnuts or
pistachios.

» Iran’s mint, coriander, saffron, and caraway, as well as cinnamon and

ginger from Ceylon and China, and cloves from the East Indies. Ground
almonds and walnuts thickened the rich sauces. Pomegranates and
limes, combined with dates, honey, and sugar, produced the sweet-and-
sour contrasts that characterize Persian cuisine today. Persianized Arabs
adopted the braises, salads, breads, cheeses, and omelets of Iran, and

lurpan

nie
Xian

(Chang'an)

«Lhasa

Th Bodh Gaya

created magnificent polows from rice that had been imported for culti-
vation centuries before from the East.

Such classic Persian preparations spread throughout western Asia
and into Europe with the Arab diaspora; the Mongols, like the Arabs
before them, combined their own nomadic traditions with those of the
Persian court and exported the new cuisine. It was the Mongols’
descendants who helped shape the cuisines of India as we know them
today.

INDIA
Successive waves of settlement as well as trade gave India early access
to the fruits, vegetables, and spices of cultures both East and West. The
Aryan invaders who came from Central Asia to India in about 1500 8.c.e.
left in their Sanskrit language a number of clues to the origins of
various foods. Foods native to India such as the eggplant, for instance,
often have names derived from pre-Aryan languages. Imports are given
prefixes that indicate their origins, and the names of later imports are
often versions of the names from their home countries. Thus the
stuffed pastries known as samosa in India are called (like Arab
sanbusagq, Turkish samsa, and Central Asian sambusaivaraqi) after their
medieval Persian originals, sanbosag. And, especially in the southwest,
there are dishes adapted from and named after those of the
Portuguese, who ruled a colony at Goa for 400 years. Indian cooks
gave their recipes complexity with the addition of such spices as
cardamom, mustard seeds, cloves, cumin, and ginger, not to mention
generous lacings of chili peppers, imported by the Portuguese from the
New World in the 16th century.

Such a cosmopolitan past inspired as many cuisines as there are
regions in India. As in China, a broad division exists between rice eaters
in the south and wheat eaters in the north. Northern cuisine centers on

°
Nara

a variety of breads; because of the north’s long communication with
central Asia, the cooking fat is usually ghee, and yogurt plays a greater
part in the cuisine. Northern fruits are those such as peaches, which
thrive in temperate to cold climates; dried fruits and vegetables flavor
many dishes.

Until the 16th century, Indian food consisted of boiled grains and
pulses, fried bread, and stewed vegetables. With the advent of the
Islamic Mughal empire, however, came the Persian-based cuisine of
Western Asia. The Muslims were meat eaters, and even today the north
of India, where they were dominant, is known for its meat dishes. But
Mughal innovations — including polows, pastries, stuffed vegetables,
baked bread, sherbet, and such sweet confections as halvah — trans-
formed Indian cookery. Indian cooks adapted the luxurious creations for
vegetarian dining to suit their own tastes. Mughal cookery and later
imports from the New World helped shape Indian cuisine into the rich
tapestry it now is.

ITALY

After the collapse of the Roman Empire, Italy became a series of city-
states and remained so well into the igth century. Nonetheless, from the
14th century on, it was the cradle of the renaissance of European arts,
including culinary ones. This was in no small measure because of its
contacts with Arab and Jewish traders through Venice, Naples, and
Genoa. Arab traders excelled at absorbing and passing on local cooking
styles and ingredients at each of their stops along the Silk Road. Italian
upper classes were greatly influenced by Arab, Chinese, and Japanese
courts and copied the dining style, refinement of cuisine, manners, and
etiquette of the Arab courts. Exotic spices and sugar became symbols
of their wealth. The great Italian court cooks discarded the techniques
of purees and porridges as well as the tendency to disguise ingredients,
common at the time, and brought out the flavor of individual ingredi-
ents by careful seasoning and moderate cooking. Historically, it was
usually the upper classes that set culinary trends — cooking with rose
water, saffron, orange peel, dried fruits, sugar, and the use of almond
pastes were all picked up from the Arabs (who in turn had taken them
from the Persians) and passed them on to the rest of Europe.

NayMIEH BATMANGLIJ HAS SPENT THE PAST 22 YEARS LIVING IN FRANCE
AND THE UNITED STATES, RESEARCHING PERSIAN TRADITIONS,
COLLECTING RECIPES, AND PRESENTING AUTHENTIC PERSIAN FOOD AND
CEREMONIES IN BOOKS, ARTICLES, LECTURES, AND COOKING CLASSES.
HER NEWEST BOOK IS SILK Roap CookinG: A VEGETARIAN JOURNEY;
THIS ARTICLE IS ADAPTED FROM THE INTRODUCTION.

:
ose

= * -

rad
-_
_

—-

7 _

ate
i - 7 a

.
: -
7 ne

eas |

Bout culinary imports,
fen. few cul

ee
| he De
Chinese classified them, developed them, and found

them.

Still the first rule of Chinese dining was “nothing to excess”: even
children were admonished to eat only until they were 70 percent full.
Thus gourmets developed the fashion for “natural foods,” which fit
China's Daoist roots as well as Buddhist precepts. What was natural
food? It was food gathered in the mountains or woods — edible plants,
herbs, mushrooms, and the like — cooked as simply as possible so as
to reveal its unique flavor: It was the kind of culinary philosophy good
cooks advocate today,

IRAN SSS ees
The Persians had inherited a millennia-old tradition of Mesopotamian
cookery from the empires of Sumeria, Babylon, Assyria, and Akkad, to
name a few. Sumerian tablets record about 20 kinds of cheese, 100
soups, 300 breads. Their cooks dried grains, beans, dates, grapes, and
figs; they preserved fruits in honey; they flavored their various stews
with garlic, onions, leeks, and Possibly mint, mustard, cumin, and
coriander. The various Mesopotamian kingdoms borrowed dishes from
one another, as recorded in their names,

new ways to cook

According to Roman historians — hardly friendly commentators — the
Parthians, who ruled an empire that at its height in the ist century B.C,
stretched from the Euphrates to the Indus rivers and from the Oxus
(Amu Darya) to the Indian Ocean, were very fond of palm wine and ate
lightly of grains, vegetables, a little fish and game. We may suppose that
the later Parthians, originally nomadic horsemen, ate such dairy prod-
ucts as clarified butter (ghee, which keeps well in hot climates) and
yogurt (often fermented with cracked wheat and still common in
Kurdistan, where it is called tarkhineh). As the prime middlemen control-
ling the Sik Road, they taxed and no doubt enjoyed exotica arriving
from east and west.

All these elements converged in the court cooking of the second
Persian empire of the Sasanians (221-651 c.e.), whose magnificent
capital, Ctesiphon, not far from what is now Baghdad, was the bustling
entrepot of Silk Road trade. A ath-century poem, "Khosrow and His
Knight,” outlines the most favored dishes of those with discriminating
tastes; among them are desserts such as almond and walnut pastries,
coconuts from India, and Iran's own dates stuffed with walnuts or
pistachios.

Indeed, it was Persian cooking, already international, that helped
to define the courtly cuisines of the conquering Arabs of the
7th century and the Mongols of the 13th. In medieval Arab cookbooks
appear the Persian foods and preparations that were to travel with the
conquerors far beyond Iran’s borders, The herbs and spices are familiar:
Iran's mint, coriander, saffron, and caraway, as well as cinnamon and
ginger from Ceylon and China, and cloves from the East Indies. Ground
almonds and walnuts thickened the rich sauces. Pomegranates and
limes, combined with dates, honey, and sugar, produced the sweet-and-
sour contrasts that characterize Persian cuisine today, Persianized Arabs
adopted the braises, salads, breads, cheeses, and omelets of Iran, and

created magnificent polows from rice that had been imported for culti-
vation centuries before from the East.

today,

INDIA
Successive waves of settlernent as well as trade gave India early access
to the fruits, vegetables, and spices of cultures both East and West. The
Aryan invaders who came from Central Asia to India in about 1500 B.c.e.
left in their Sanskrit language a number of clues to the origins of
various foods, Foods native to India such as the eggplant, for instance,
often have names derived from pre-Aryan languages. Imports are given
prefixes that indicate their origins, and the names of later imports are
often versions of the names from their home countries. Thus the
stuffed pastries known as samosa in India are called (like Arab
sanbusaq, Turkish samsa, and Central Asian sambusaivaragqi) after their
medieval Persian originals, sanbosag. And, especially in the southwest,
there are dishes adapted from and named after those of the
Portuguese, who ruled a colony at Goa for 400 years. Indian cooks
gave their recipes complexity with the addition of such spices as
cardamom, mustard seeds, cloves, cumin, and ginger, not to mention
generous lacings of chili peppers, imported by the Portuguese from the
New World in the 16th century.

Such a cosmopolitan past inspired as many cuisines as there are
regions in India. As in China, a broad division exists between rice eaters
in the south and wheat eaters in the north, Northern cuisine centers on

~ many

y of breads; because of the north’s long communication with
Asia, the cooking fat is usually ghee, and yogurt plays a greater

cuisine. Northern fruits are those such as peaches, which
ive if temperate to cold climates; dried fruits and vegetables flavor
es.

ITALY

NaymreH BATMANGLIJ HAS SPENT THE PAST 22 YEARS LIVING IN FRANCE
AND THE UNITED STATES, RESEARCHING PERSIAN TRADITIONS,
COLLECTING RECIPES, AND PRESENTING AUTHENTIC PERSIAN FOOD AND
CEREMONIES IN BOOKS, ARTICLES, LECTURES, AND COOKING CLASSES.
HER NEWEST BOOK Is SitK RoAp Cooking: A VEGETARIAN JOURNEY;
THIS ARTICLE IS ADAPTED FROM THE INTRODUCTION.

ots os

*6
%e

Music and Musicians along the Silk Road

by Theodore Levin

So many musicians, so many stories — each a window into a life, a society, a history. Each story is unique, yet
connected to other stories, other histories. The lands of the Silk Road contain a remarkable musical cross-section
of this dense web of human connectedness. What are the origins of musical connections? How is it that musicians
separated by great distances play similar instruments or perform in similar musical styles? And conversely, why, in
some cases, do musicians living only a valley or mountain pass away perform music that is utterly different?

Musicians, musical instru-
ments, and music itself have surely
been on the move since antedilu-
vian times. The astonishing diver-
sity of the world’s music is matched
only by the reassuring similarity of
the basic tools used to produce it:
foremost, of course, the human
voice, followed by instruments
made from ubiquitous natural
materials such as wood and animal
parts and classified into groups
such as flutes, fiddles, lutes, and
drums; melodies and scales usually
containing no more than three to
seven separate pitches; rhythms
that organize the temporal dimen-
sion of sound. Indeed, music along
the Silk Road illustrates overar-
ching regularities not only in the
way it is physically produced, but
also in the role it plays in society
and culture.

In music, as in other aspects
of culture, the history of the Silk
Road has largely been the history of
interaction between two _ large
cultural domains: the sedentary
world and the nomadic world. Nomadic and sedentary people
have coexisted in Eurasia for millennia, and their relationship has
not always been an easy one. In the 13th century, for example,
Genghis (Chinghis) Khan's nomadic armies laid waste to great
cities such as Samarkand and Baghdad, while in the 20th
century, the Soviet Union, an empire built on the power of
industry and agriculture, tried forcibly to sedentarize some of
Inner Asia‘s last nomads. Yet despite periods of hostility, pastoral-
ists and sedentary dwellers have both relied on an intricate
commercial and cultural symbiosis that is one of the hallmarks of
Inner Asian civilization. This symbiosis is evident in the way that

music and musical instruments have traveled from one cultural

realm to the other.

It may well have been along
the Silk Road that some of the first
“world music jam sessions took
place. For both Europeans and
Asians, the mesmerizing sound of
exotic instruments must have had
an appeal not unlike the visual
allure of exotic textiles, ceramics,
and glass. Innovative musicians
and luthiers adapted unfamiliar
instruments to perform local

music while simultaneously intro-
ducing non-native rhythmic
patterns, scales, and performance
techniques. Before the Crusades,
numerous instruments from the
Middle East and Central Asia had
already reached Europe: lutes,
viols, oboes, zithers, drums, and
other percussion. Following trade
routes in both directions, many of
these instruments also turned up
in China, Japan, India, and
Indonesia. For example, the
Central Asian short-necked lute
called barbat is the ancestor of the

Middle

European lute as well as the Japanese biwa and Chinese pipa —

Eastern oud and

an instrument that Chinese documents record as belonging to the
“northern barbarians,” which is to say, nomads. Turkic and
Mongolian horsemen from Inner Asia were not only lutenists, but
also were probably the world’s earliest fiddlers. Upright fiddles

Armenian instrument maker Hakob Yeritsyan displays a qanun (rear),

oud (on table), and violin, which illustrate the migration of musical
instruments along the historical Silk Road. The qanun originated in the
Arabic Middle East, the oud is related to the European lute and Chinese
pipa, and the violin and other European strings may have evolved from
horsehead fiddles first played by Turco-Mongol herders.

Photo © Sam Sweezy

strung with horsehair strings, played with horsehair bows, and
often featuring a carved horse's head at the end of the neck have
an archaic history among the nomadic peoples of Inner Asia and
are closely linked to shamanism and spirit worship. Such instru-
ments may have inspired the round-bodied spike fiddles played in
West Asia (kamanche, ghijak) and Indonesia (rebab) and the
carved fiddles of the subcontinent (sorud, sarinda, sarangi). Loud
oboes called surnai in Central Asia became the shahnai in India,
suona in China, and zurna in Anatolia. Central Asia in turn
imported musical instruments from both East and West.

Nomad Performance Competition in Central Asia
Two bards take their place before an audience of several hundred

onlookers, who squat in a loose semicircle on a grassy hillside. One
of the bards ceremoniously addresses the gathering in an elevated
rhetorical style, then sings a lyrical poetic text while strumming an
accompaniment on a small lute. The other bard follows, repeating the
same performance sequence but with greater eloquence, livelier
gestures, and crisper strums on the lute. Such oratorical contests, vari-
ously called aitys, aitysh, or deish in local Turkic languages, are one of
the cornerstones of nomadic culture in Central Asia. An analogous
event for virtuoso instrumental soloists is called tartys.

The rules of the contest vary widely and depend on the particular
genre in which the competitors excel. For example, bards may impro-
vise poetic verse without ever using the sounds "p” or “b,” or reply to
the verse of a competitor using the same rhyme scheme. Virtuosos on
strummed lutes like the dombra or komuz may try to outdo one
another in complex fingering techniques and hold their instrument in
eccentric postures — upside down, behind the neck, with crossed hands,
and so on — while continuing to play it.

Each bard tries to outdo the other in strength, eloquence, and
humor. Strategies are numerous. Mockery is one, but watch out for the
reply! A single word can cause a technical knockout, and indeed, the
public watches such contests as if they were viewing boxing matches.

The power of the bardic word has always been useful to persons
in authority both to defend their own supremacy and attack the posi-
tion of an adversary, Just as the great religions have ascribed the power
of the sacred to the physical sound of particular words and syllables,
nomadic spirituality, rooted in an intimate relation with the natural world,
maintains the magical power of words and music through the vocation
of the bard. Like shamans, bards are often regarded as healers who can
summon spirits and as living repositories of cultural memory. For one
who performs such a vital social role, qualifications are crucial. And
what more democratic way to certify excellence than through competi-
tion? All of the nimble qualities of mind and body required to endure

Notwithstanding millennia of cultural exchange, however,
pastoralists and sedentary dwellers preserve distinctive musical
identities. Moreover, music may serve as a telltale vestige of a
nomadic past among groups that are presently sedentarized. In
nomadic cultures, the preeminent musical figure is the bard: a
solo performer of oral poetry who typically accompanies himself
or herself — for women have played an important role in the Inner
Asian bardic tradition — on a strummed lute with silk or gut
strings. Nomadic cultures have also produced virtuosic instru-

mental repertories performed by soloists on strummed lutes, jew s

and flourish in the harsh conditions of the Inner Asian grasslands
are exuberantly summed up in the nomadic performing arts and their
quintessential traditional showcase, the aitys.

ADAPTED BY THEODORE LEVIN FROM A TEXT BY JEAN DURING, A DIRECTOR OF RESEARCH
AT FRANCE’S CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE. CURRENTLY BASED IN
TASHKENT, UZBEKISTAN, HE ALSO SERVES AS PROGRAM MANAGER OF THE AGA KHAN Music
INITIATIVE IN CENTRAL ASIA.

Abdurahman Nurak, a Kyrgyz musician, strums a three-stringed komuz.
Photo by Jean During

g
ae

harps, flutes, fiddles, and zithers. The distinguishing feature of
these repertories is their narrative quality: pieces typically tell
stories by using a kind of musical onomatopoeia, for example, the
pounding of horse's hooves or the singing of birds, all represented
through musical sound. Individual innovation is highly valued,
and bards are performance artists who combine music with
gesture, humor, and spontaneous improvisation to entertain their
audience. One of the most intriguing aspects of nomadic music is
thythm, which tends toward asymmetry and is never expressed
on percussion instruments (with the exception of the ritual drum
used by shamans). Such rhythmic asymmetry may be an abstract
representation of the natural rhythms of wind and flowing water,
the shifting gait of a horse as it adjusts its pace to changes in
Aygul Ulkenbaeva plays the dombra, a Kazakh long-necked lute.

Yedil Huseinov is a jew’s harp virtuoso from Kazakhstan.

Photos by Cloé Drieu

terrain, or the loping of a camel — all central to the nomadic
soundworld.

In sedentary cultures, by contrast, metrical drumming is a
highly developed art. Reflecting perhaps the deep impact of Islam
as a spiritual and cultural force among Inner Asia's sedentary
populations (in contrast to its relatively limited impact among
nomads), the central artifact of musical performance is the elabo-
ration and embellishment of words and texts by a beautiful voice.
Singers are typically accompanied by small ensembles of mixed
instruments that almost always include percussion. The beauty of
the voice may also be represented symbolically by a solo instru-
ment such as a plucked lute, violin, or flute, which reproduces the
filigree embellishments and ornamentation characteristic of a
great singer.

From Istanbul all the way to Kashgar (Kashi), in the west of
China, the highest artistic aspirations of urban musicians were
realized in the performance of classical or court music known as
maqam (or cognate terms such as mugham, mukam, makam) and
in Iran, as dastgah. Local styles and repertories of maqam are like
regional dialects of what is at root a common musical language.
The magam represents a vast yet integrated artistic conception
that encompasses music, metaphysics, ethics, and aesthetics
within a worldview that is specifically Islamic. Like classical
music in the West, magam demands specially trained musicians
and has evolved over at least a millennium in conjunction with
erudite traditions of music theory and poetics.

Islam is not the only great religion to be represented in
musical life along the Silk Road. Buddhism has shaped the form
and style of monastic chanting which, like magam, exists in a
variety of local and regional traditions bound by common spiri-
tual and aesthetic ideals. It has also created a cultural context for
a vast array of music that celebrates festive events tied to holidays
and life cycle rituals. Assyrian Christianity, based on the doctrine
of the Sth-century Syrian bishop Nestorius, spread eastward
along the Silk Road between the 7th and 10th centuries and
survives as a living spiritual tradition among adherents in Syria
and in diaspora communities in the West. Present-day Assyrian
choirs represent an ancient tradition of liturgical song and chant
rooted in the same “Oriental” scales and melodic modes as
Middle Eastern music commonly associated with the Islamic

world. Similar scales and modes also turn up in the music of
Armenia, one of the Middle East's oldest Christian cultures, and
in Jewish music and chant, for example, cantillation of the Torah
and spiritual songs sung on the Sabbath and other holidays.
Jewish communities have lived since ancient or early medieval
times in the great cities of the Middle East and Central Asia:
Baghdad, Bukhara, Balkh, Damascus, Samarkand, and others.
As a minority living in a culturally symbiotic relationship amid a
Muslim majority, Jews both absorbed elements of Muslim
musical traditions and served as musical performers at Muslim
courts and for Muslim festivities. On the subcontinent,
Hinduism inspired a rich practice of Vedic chant, devotional
songs, and sacred dance, as well as framing the aesthetics and
metaphysics of raga, one of the world’s great art music traditions.

Much music along the Silk Road is not linked to a single
faith or religious worldview, but is the result of syncretism and
intermingling. For example, the mystical songs of the Bauls of
Bengal reveal a synthesis of Hinduism and Sufism, the mystical

trend in Islam. The ecstatic chant and dance favored by some Sufi
groups is itself very likely an adaptation of archaic shamanistic
practices. Shamanism and animism have also syncretized with
Buddhism to create forms of vocal chant, instrumental music,
sacred dance, and theater that pay homage not only to Buddhist
deities, but also to the spirit world. The brilliantly eclectic form of
early Japanese masked dance-drama known as gigaku exemplifies
just such Silk Road syncretism, bringing together ritualized
performance that may have been influenced by contact with the
mask art of ancient Greece, Iran, India, and China.

The great religions each have their own liturgical reperto-
ries, but the lines between sacred and secular so sharply drawn in
Western music are muted in the traditional culture of the Silk
Road lands. Festive calendar and life-cycle celebrations inspire
music that covers the entire spectrum of human spiritual needs,
from meditation and prayer to rejoicing and dance. In the tradi-

Chinese men playing hugqin (a two-stringed Chinese fiddle).
Photo © Jean-Luc Ray, Aga Khan Foundation

‘i

tional world, boundaries between sacred and secular dissolve: the

world is sacred, life is sacred. Moreover, in traditional societies,
there are no “traditional” musicians. There are simply musicians.
The essence of tradition is transmission from one generation to
the next, and it is common to see people of diverse ages enjoying
the same songs, tunes, dances, and stories. The association of
particular musical styles and repertories with specific age groups
sO pervasive in contemporary Western music is largely absent in
traditional Silk Road music.

While music along the Silk Road is strongly rooted in local
traditions, not all of it is strictly speaking “traditional.” Ensembles
such as Sabjilar from Khakasia and Roksanake from Kazakhstan
represent what one might call neo-traditionalism, that is, music
consciously modeled on tradition yet itself the product of a post-
traditional world. How could it be otherwise, for in music, as in
everything else, todays Silk Road links not only territorial

communities, but also imagined communities — communities

Musicians from the city of Khiva in the Khorezm region of northwest
Uzbekistan perform music for dancing. Photo © Theodore Levin

Ghewar Khan, from Jaisalmer, Rajasthan, India, plays the kamaicha, a
long-necked bowed lute with a skin-covered body.
Photo by Henry Glassie/Pravina Shukla

scattered by emigration and diaspora yet joined by common
cultural ideals. For example, expatriate Afghan musicians living
in Peshawar, New York, Toronto, and Fremont, California, are all
writing new chapters in the history of Afghan music. Bukharan
Jewish music barely exists in its homeland, the city of Bukhara,
but is vibrantly alive in Tel Aviv and New York. Some of the most
imaginative music by Chinese composers is being written and
performed not in China but in the United States. The music of
this new Silk Road responds quickly and resourcefully to changes
in fashion and taste in the communities it serves. Indeed, it is this
connection, between musicians and the spiritual needs of living
communities, that is the lifeblood of musical tradition, or neo-
tradition. Each in its own way, the personal stories of the musi-
cians who have journeyed from afar to perform at this year's
Folklife Festival are testimony to the abiding strength of the
communities that have inspired and supported their art.

THEODORE LEVIN BEGAN MUSICAL FIELDWORK IN INNER ASIA IN 1977
AND IS A FREQUENT VISITOR TO THE REGION. HE TEACHES IN THE Music
DEPARTMENT AT DARTMOUTH COLLEGE AND IS CO-CURATOR OF THIS
YEAR’s FoLkuire FestivaL, THe SitK Roap: CONNECTING CULTURES,
CREATING TRUST.

Baul musicians from Bangladesh performing: Sunil Karmakar, violin;
8 g

Momimul Islam, tabla; Bably Ami, flute; Anjali Ghosh, singing with
harmonium; and Belal Siddique with cymbals.
Photo by Henry Glassie/Pravina Shukla

For Further Reading

Baily, John. 1988. Music in Afghanistan: Professional Musicians in the
City of Herat. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

During, Jean. 1991. The Art of Persian Music. Washington: Mage
Publishers.

Garland Encyclopedia of World Music, Vol. 6, “The Middle East,”
eds. Virginia Danielson, et al., 2001; Vol. 7, “East Asia,” eds.
Robert C. Provine, et al., 2001. New York: Routledge.

Jones, Stephen R. 1995. Folk Music of China: Living Instrumental
Traditions. New York: Oxford University Press.

Levin, Theodore C. 1996. The Hundred Thousand Fools of God:
Musical Travels in Central Asia (and Queens, New York).
Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

Pegg, Carole. 2001. Mongolian Music, Dance ®s Oral Narrative:

Performing Diverse Identities. Seattle: University of

Washington Press.

Sadie, Stanley, ed. 2001. The New Grove Dictionary of Music and
Musicians. “Azerbaijan,” “Iran,” “Uzbekistan,” and other
country articles. New York: Grove.

For Further Listening

The Art of Mugham: Alim Qasimov Ensemble. 2001. Ocora Radio
France C560112.

Asie Centrale: Traditions classiques (2 CDs). 1993. Ocora Radio
France C560035-36.

Buddhist Chant of Shuni-e Ceremony, Todaiji. 1997. King Record Co.
KICCE 5215.

Bukhara: Musical Crossroads of Asia. 1991. Smithsonian Folkways
SFW 40050.

Classical Music of Iran: The Dastgah Systems. 1991. Smithsonian
Folkways SFW 40039.

Ilyas Malayev Ensemble, At the Bazaar of Love. 1997. Shanachie
Records.

Iran: Les maitres de la musique traditionnelle (3 volumes). 1991. Ocora
Radio France C560024-26.

Lalezar: Music of the Sultans, Sufis, and Seraglio (4 volumes). 2000.
Traditional Crossroads CD 4301-4304.

Ouzbekistan: The Art of the Dotar. 1997. Ocora Radio France
CS5é60l1I11.

Shashmaqam, Music of the Bukharan Jewish Ensemble. 1991.
Smithsonian Folkways SFW 40054.

Shoghaken Ensemble (Armenia Anthology). 2002. Traditional
Crossroads CD 4211.

The Silk Road: A Musical Caravan. 2002. Smithsonian Folkways
SFW CD 40438.

Tajikistan: Chantes des bardes. 1998. Collection AIMP, Musee
d'ethnographie Genéve, VDE-GALLO CD-973.

Turkey: The Djem Alevi Ceremony. 1998. Ocora Radio France
C560125.

Ustad Mohammad Omar, Virtuoso from Afghanistan. 2002.
Compiled, produced, and annotated by Hiromi Lorraine
Sakata. Smithsonian Folkways SFW CD 40439.

Uyghur Music from Xinjiang: Music from Oasis Towns of Central
Asia. 2000. Ace Records CD ORBD 098.

Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Raod Ensemble, Silk Raod Journeys: When
Strangers Meet. 2001. Sony Classical SK 89782.

Nomads

by Alma Kunanbay

Nomads and nomadism have been intimately linked to Silk Road trade and culture since ancient times (“nomad”
derives from Greek nomos, pasture’), and, at the debut of the 2Ist century, still constitute a vital if all too often
endangered economic and social force in large parts of Inner Eurasia. From Siberian reindeer herders and
Mongolian horse breeders to Turkmen shepherds and Tibetan yak drivers, modern-day pastoralists preserve a way
of life that embodies some of the Silk Road region's most time-tested and ingenious traditions.

Marking the frontiers of the great civilizations of China,
Iran, India, and Greece, the historical borders of the nomadic
world have been indefinite and diffuse. Nomads and settled
peoples have long existed in a complementary relationship, and in
the history of trans-Eurasian trade and cultural exchange, nomads
have been like blood vessels that circulated the oxygen of ideas
and distributed new technologies and products along the Silk
Road. In particular, nomads provided temporary accommodation
and security, stabling and fodder for the animals of merchants and
blacksmiths for making horseshoes, kept vitally important wells,
established markets for the exchange of goods — that is, every-
thing without which international trade along such a huge rodd
would not have survived long. Nomads can be proud of their
historical achievements, which include movable dwellings,
clothing suitable for riding horseback, felt and leather utensils,
and the equine harness. They invented kumiss (fermented mare's
milk), the art of hunting with birds of prey, and bowed stringed
instruments that are the ancestors of the cello and violin.

Nomadism on the steppes of Eurasia is thought to have
originated around 3,000 years ago. It was not, however, the first
source of human livelihood on the steppes. Archaeological
evidence shows that migratory herding had been preceded by a
complex livestock-raising and agricultural economy. Nomadism
arose in response to ecological and climatic factors: first and fore-
most, inadequate food and water resources, which led people to
depend increasingly on hunting. They then began to migrate in
pursuit of the animals they hunted, following the seasonal migra-
tions of wild mammals in Eurasia’s arid steppe zone. In turn,
selective breeding created an ecological niche that favored
domesticated animals over their wild counterparts.

Present-day nomadic groups — Buryats, Kalmyks,
Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, Mongols, Turkmens, and Yakuts, to name a
few — practice diverse types of stockbreeding and patterns of
migration, belong to different religions, and speak different
languages. At root, however, they represent two distinct linguistic
groups, Turkic and Mongolian, and this binary distinction
resonates in other aspects of nomadic culture. For example, the
dwellings of Turkic nomads have spherical roofs, while those of
Mongolian groups have conic roofs. Turkic nomads orient the
entrance of their dwelling to the east, while among Mongolians,

the entrance always faces south. Turkic nomads wear soft
footwear, drink clear tea, and slaughter sheep in a way that drains
away the blood; Mongolian nomads wear hard footwear, drink
tea mixed with milk, butter, salt, and flour, and slaughter sheep in
such a way as to preserve the blood (which is made into blood
sausage).

Nomad civilization has its own laws governing the organi-
zation of time and space, and nomads follow very sensitively the
cycles of nature. In the words of one song, they are in continual
pursuit of eternal spring. The primacy of movement serves as the
basis of the nomads’ entire worldview. For them, everything that
is alive is in movement, and everything that moves is alive: the
sun and moon, water and wind, birds, and animals.

The low fertility of the soil does not allow nomads and their
herds to stay in any one area for a long time. Overgrazing can
have dire results — at the extreme, removing a pasturage from
economic use for a period of years. In order to maximize the yield
of a pasturage, nomads have to judge precisely when to drive their

herds from one pasture to the next, leaving the abandoned area to
rejuvenate over the course of a year. Migration with livestock is
an unavoidable fact of survival, and during the process of natural
and forced selection, sheep, goats, cattle, camels, and horses have
been selected for their suitability for lengthy migrations. Indeed,
the symbol of nomadism is the horse, whose praise is sung in
songs, epic tales, and stories. The winged flying horse, called by
various names — e.g., Tulpar, Jonon Khar — like Pegasus of the
ancient Greeks, is a beloved character of legends and a source of
poetic inspiration.

At the earliest signs of spring, nomads drive their cattle to
spring pastures where the animals give birth to their young, and
sheep have their spring dip and are shorn. Spring is a time of hope
and the beginning of the new cycle of life marked by the obser-

Nomads who spend the long winters in lower altitudes in the southern
areas of Badakhshan Province, Afghanistan, ascend to higher regions in
the summer to take advantage of the rich grazing land.

Photo © Ali Naemi, Aga Khan Foundation

vance of the New Year, called Nawruz (in Persian, “new day’)
among the Turks and Tsagan Sara (literally, “white sacred
month’) among the Mongols. Without lingering long, nomads
drive their animals on to summer pastures, where the happiest
time of the nomadic year begins. Summer is a season of fattening
for the animals and is characterized by an abundance of food,
games and holidays for the young, and meetings with relatives as
different migratory paths crisscross. At the same time there are
preparations for the hard winter ahead: sewing clothes, weaving
rugs, beating felt. With the onset of the first cool days, nomads
undertake their migration to fall pastures where they shear sheep
and camels, prepare milk and meat for the winter, and return to
winter quarters.

This nomadic cycle is not exactly the same each year, for the
seasons themselves are not the same from one year to the next. Yet
what remains constant for the nomad is the sensation of a natural
thythm of movement, stable forms of social organization, and
abiding relationships among people. Success in nomadic life
depends on mastery of a vast body of collective knowledge
amassed over centuries. This knowledge, passed on from father to
son and mother to daughter, embraces an entire complex of trade-
craft, domestic know-how, and moral norms.

A nomad’s memory preserves thousands of sounds, colors,
and smells: the smell of smoke rising from the hearth of a yurt and
flatbread frying in fat; of felt and fluffy hides warming from body
heat in the cold night; of steppe grasses and flowers in the spring,
especially wild tulips and irises; of the bitter dust of fall and the
fresh snow of winter. Those smells bring back memories of places
where the senses received their first lessons in the never-ending
variety of life.

Nomadism would be impossible without transportable
dwellings, and among Eurasian nomads, evidence of such
dwellings comes from ancient times. Describing the campaign of
the Scythians against the Persian armies of Darius in the 5th
century B.c.E., the Greek historian Herodotus mentions felt
dwellings on carts. Herodotus’s observation is echoed in the
description of “felt Turkic carts” by Friar Willem van Rubruck,
who, as the envoy of Louis IX of France, traveled the Eurasian
steppes in 1252-54 on his voyage to Karakorum, then the capital
of the Mongol empire. The carts that carried such felt homes were

—— 7

ieee leioe See SY

CL FRUIT cd

Marking the frontiers of the great civilizations of China,
Iran, India, and Greece, the historical borders of the nomadic
world have been indefinite and diffuse. Nomads and settled
peoples have long existed in a complementary relationship, and in
the history of trans-Eurasian trade and cultural exchange, nomads
have been like blood vessels that circulated the oxygen of ideas
and distributed new technologies and products along the Silk
Road. In particular, nomads provided temporary accommodation
and security, stabling and fodder for the animals of merchants and
blacksmiths for making horseshoes, kept vitally important wells,
established markets for the exchange of goods — that is, every-
thing without which international trade along such a huge road
would not have survived long. Nomads can be proud of their
historical achievements, which include movable dwellings,
clothing suitable for riding horseback, felt and leather utensils,
and the equine harness. They invented kumiss (fermented mare's

milk), the art of hunting with birds of prey, and bowed stringed _

instruments that are the ancestors of the cello and violin.

herds from one pasture to the next, leaving the abandoned area to
rejuvenate over the course of a year. Migration with livestock is
an unavoidable fact of survival, and during the process of natural
and forced selection, sheep, goats, cattle, camels, and horses have
been selected for their suitability for lengthy migrations. Indeed,
the symbol of nomadism is the horse, whose praise is sung in
songs, epic tales, and stories. The winged flying horse, called by
Various names — e.g., Tulpar, Jonon Khar — like Pegasus of the
ancient Greeks, is a beloved character of legends and a source of
poetic inspiration.

J eee a Sean ag es c mk
Nomads who spend the long winters in lower altitudes in the southern
areas of Badakhshan Province, Afghanistan, ascend to higher regions in
the summer to take advantage of the rich grazing land.

Photo © Ali Naemi, Aga Khan Foundation

vance of the New Year, called Nawruz (in Persian, “new day”)
among the Turks and Tsagan Sara (literally, “white sacred
month’) among the Mongols. Without lingering long, nomads
drive their animals on to summer pastures, where the happiest
time of the nomadic year begins. Summer is a season of fattening
for the animals and is characterized by an abundance of food,
games and holidays for the young, and meetings with relatives as
different migratory paths crisscross. At the same time there are
preparations for the hard winter ahead: sewing clothes, weaving
rugs, beating felt. With the onset of the first cool days, nomads
undertake their migration to fall pastures where they shear sheep
and camels, prepare milk and meat for the winter, and return to
winter quarters.

Nomads Today

Arid zones constitute one-quarter of the earth’s surface. With
annual precipitation in the range of 200-400 mm, these regions
of steppe, desert, semi-desert, and mountains are inhospitable to agri-
culture, and the only economically viable source of livelihood is
nomadic stockbreeding. An estimated 150 million people in more than
30 countries still practice some form of nomadism. An additional
30 million who live in the huge territory of Inner Asia that extends from
the west of China almost to the Black Sea can trace their ancestry to
nomads who lived as recently as a century or two ago.

Taking a census of nomads is difficult, not

settlement threatened their tradition and culture and brought about a
decline in their population, yet the spirit of nomadism did not completely
disappear. As in the past, nomads demonstrated their ability to adapt and
survive. The nomadic worldview became a part of contemporary
society. For example, these days traditional yurts or gers are found not
only in the countryside but in urban centers. In city apartments, the
place of honor is opposite the entrance, just as in a yurt. The rituals
of nomadic hospitality are alive and well, as is the art of nomadic

cuisine. Traditional nomadic dress has influenced

modern fashion and preference in fabric colors.

only because they do not have addresses and
passports, but also because nomadism itself can
be transitory. Political turmoil or changes in
climate can suddenly sweep masses of sedentary
dwellers into a nomadic existence, or the
reverse: nomads may be forced by external
conditions to adapt to a sedentary life.

The most critical period for nomadism in
the Silk Road region has been the last hundred
years, when nomads lost their independence and
under political pressure from neighboring
empires were forced to settle down. Forced

30 feet wide and pulled by 33 pairs of oxen.
While probably quite comfortable, such
structures were cumbersome to transport,
and could only be moved at a very slow
pace.

The yurt is the universal dwelling of
nomads in Inner Eurasia and represents a
unique achievement of human genius. As the name of a kind of
dwelling, “yurt” entered general usage from Russian. In Central
Asia itself “yurt” is a polysemous word that can mean “commu-
nity, “family,” “relatives,” “people,” “land,” or “countryside.”
Turkic-speaking nomads call their dwellings kiyiz tiy, “felt
home.” Mongolian speakers use the term ger.

For nomads, the yurt is rich in symbolism that represents
both the macrocosmic and microcosmic world. The yurt dupli-
cates the endless hemisphere of the sky, called Tengri, which is
also the name of God among nomadic animists, with the round
opening of the smoke hole symbolizing the sun. Set on the

Ancient musical instruments are still heard in
both traditional and contemporary environments.
Authentic folk songs, epics, tales, and legends
are widely used as a resource for the creation
of new types of music, poetry, theatrical plays,
and films, as well as for educational purposes.
The essence of nomadic ideas is evident not
only in the preservation of folk art but also in
modern architecture, design, and literature. At the
dawn of the 2ist century nomads have much to
offer the world at large, and they hope to be
received respectfully,

emerald green grass of a mountain slope,
covered with white felt and richly orna-
mented, the yurt suggests a bird alighting on
the slope to rest. At first glance quite simple,
the yurt is at the heart of the traditional
nomadic worldview. It provides a model and
symbol of humanity and the universe, and is
the key to understanding nomadic civilization.

Putting together a yurt is a magical act that for nomads
represents the original creation: the transformation of Chaos into
the Cosmos, Disorder into Order. Conversely, dismantling the
yurt creates a reverse transformation. Each step in erecting a yurt
has a symbolic meaning, of which participants in the process are
keenly aware. Moreover, the yurt has been anthropomorphized so

Nomads surround themselves with decorative objects that signify the link
between art and life and that are associated with dryness and warmth.
These felt straps cover the outside of a yurt in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.

Photo © Hermine Dreyfuss

that its parts are described by the same words used to name parts
of the human body. For example, the center of the yurt where the
hearth is located is known as the “navel”; walls are “thighs”; the
interior of the lattice frame is the “womb’; the roof is called
“shoulders ; the opening in the smoke hole is an “eye’; the
wooden frame is called “bones” or “skeleton,” and the felt
covering is “clothing.” Herders say that each yurt has its own
spirit, which is why guests bow their heads and pronounce greet-
ings when entering a yurt, even if no one is home.

The inside of a yurt has a sacred character and is also
imbued with its own symbolism. The spot opposite the entrance
is the place of honor and is reserved for people who are closer to
the Upper World by virtue of their social status, age, or artistic
gifts. At the same time, this seat provides a vantage point from
which the occupant can view the entire yurt, with men conven-
tionally seated on the right side and women on the left. The spot

This traditional yurt in Tajikistan is a nomad’s summer home.

Photo © Katherine Hinckley, Aga Khan Foundation

close to the door is for people considered to be closest to the
Lower World, for example, the poor and the sick.

The center or “navel” of the yurt is the hearth, which should
never be crossed, even when no fire is burning. Violating this
taboo may even be dangerous, as it can evoke retribution from the
spirits. The hearth is a sacred territory, the place of fire through
which the worldly axis passes as it unites the Upper, Middle, and
Lower worlds. It is along this axis that life itself rotates, and, in
particular, the life of the inhabitants of the felt dwelling.

In their traditional daily lives, nomads do not know an
unadorned space. All of their surroundings, beginning with the
internal appointments of the yurt, are adorned or ornamented by
their own skilled hands. ‘To “ornament” is to domesticate, to turn
an object into a part of one’s own cultural universe. Thus every-
thing that is locally produced, from simple household necessities
like drinking vessels and blankets to specially crafted items like
horse harnesses and jewelry, represents an inviolable link
between art and life. Moreover, ornaments are not simply decora-

tion, but comprise a special language that is essential knowledge
for an understanding of nomadic arts.

From a tactile point of view, all the objects used by nomads
in their daily lives exemplify the qualities of dryness and warmth.
Leather is warm and dry, as are rugs, textiles, and wood that has
been worked. But the warmest of all is felt. One might even ask
through what magical process felt preserves its warmth for what
seems like thousands of years. A well-dressed felt withstands the
merciless ravages of time and provides a link between the
nomadic past and nomadic present.

The yurt is not just a place of residence, but a home full of

Nomads herd sheep, goats, cattle, camels, and horses, all animals that can

endure long migrations. These sheep herders are from Kazakhstan.

Photo © Hermine Dreyfuss

life — a place of daily work and rest, of festivities and holidays, of

socializing and taking meals. The nomadic diet is high in protein
and consists mostly of meat and milk products. Such food
provides the energy people need to engage in hard physical labor
and symbolizes not only physical, but also spiritual survival. The
daily meal, with its symphony of tastes, customs, and rituals
played and replayed in the life of every nomad since childhood,
serves as a cornerstone of self-identity, and the shared meal is in
its turn at the very epicenter of traditional nomadic culture. The
ritual of seating guests around the yurt neatly sums up the social
and familial relations of people in any given group, demonstrating
hierarchy and priorities.

Nomadic hospitality rituals are strongly regulated; they
provide an opportunity to exchange news and for guests — at the

behest of their host — to talk about themselves, their travels, and
events in the place where they live. Genealogical ties between
hosts and guests are thoroughly discussed, and elders recount
historical legends and stories. Among the means of communica-
tion particular to life on the steppe is a unique form of transmit-
ting information known as the “long ear : whatever is discussed
around the dastargan (tablecloth) can already be known the next
day for hundreds of miles around. How, and by what means?
Who knows!

Nomadic life is marked by eternal circles — the circle of the
sun, the open steppe, the circumference of the yurt, the horned
circular scroll of ornaments, the life cycle of the miishels or
“twelve-year animal cycle.” The completion of one circle leads to
the beginning of the next, and each moment of transition is
consciously and carefully marked by the appropriate customs,
rituals, and holidays. One of the turning points is Nawruz, the
beginning of the calendar year that occurs on the vernal equinox,
March 21-22.

Preparations for Nawruz begin early; homes are cleaned,
new clothes are sewn. On the eve of Nawruz, nomads light
bonfires and jump over them, young people wander about with
lighted torches, women gather to cook large pots of a soup called
sumelak or Nawruz kozhe made of seven ingredients — water,
salt, meat, wheat, millet, rice, and milk. Stirring the soup, they
sing special songs and pronounce blessings. With the sunrise,
they sit down to the first meal of the new year and, as they eat,
wish one another a long life. Then they call upon relatives, who
await them in their yurts with spreads of delicious food. The
holiday continues with horse competitions. At meals, elders are
offered a boiled sheep's head, there are songs, and bards engage
in verbal dueling competitions. Meanwhile, young people play
games like “White Bone,” which consists of looking for a sheep's
tibia bone that has been thrown into the open steppe — into a
magical night full of laughter and freedom under a spring sky
filled with stars.

The holiday has provided a short but joyous respite on the
path of life, and as it recedes into memory, a new morning arises
in the endless steppe, signifying yet another beginning, another
rebirth. It is a rebirth in which nomads believe wholeheartedly, a
rebirth that carries them through snowstorms and intense heat,

losses and disappointments, betrayals and challenges, and all the

tests of fate that lead to the future.

For Further Reading

Barfield, Thomas Jefferson, 1993. The Nomadic Alternative.
Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall.

Basilov, Vladimir, ed. 1989. Nomads of Eurasia. Seattle and London:
Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County in association
with University of Washington Press.

Benson, Linda. 1998. China’s Last Nomads: The History and Culture
of China’s Kazakhs. Armonk, N.Y.: M. E. Sharpe.

Berman, Morris. 2000. Wandering God: A Study in Nomadic
Spirituality. Albany: State University of New York Press.

Faegre, Torvald. 1979. Tents: Architecture of the Nomads. Garden
City, N.Y.: Anchor Press/Doubleday.

Ginat, Joseph, and Anatoly M. Khazanov, eds. 1998. Changing
Nomads in a Changing World. Brighton, England; Portland,
Ore.: Sussex Academic Press.

Goldstein, Melvyn C., and Cynthia M. Beall. 1994. The Changing
World of Mongolia’s Nomads. Berkeley: University of
California Press.

Jones, Schuyler. 1996. Tibetan Nomads: Environment, Pastoral
Economy, and Material Culture. New York: Thames and
Hudson.

Khazanov, Anatoly. 1994. Nomads and the Outside World. 2d ed.
Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.

Kwanten, Luc. 1979. Imperial Nomads: A History of Central Asia,
500-1500. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.

Olcott, Martha Brill. 1995. The Kazakhs, 2d ed. Stanford: Hoover
Institution Press, Stanford University Press.

ALMA KUNANBAY SPECIALIZES IN ETHNOMUSICOLOGY, CULTURAL
ANTHROPOLOGY, AND LINGUISTICS. SHE IS THE AUTHOR OF MORE THAN
30 ARTICLES AND TWO BOOKS, THE SouL oF KAZAKHSTAN (WITH PHOTO-
GRAPHS BY WayYNnE EasTEP) AND Boris ASAFYEV ON FoL_k Music (WITH
IzaLy ZEMTSOVSKY) AND HAS TAUGHT AT UNIVERSITIES IN THE UNITED
SraTEs, RussiA, AND KAZAKHSTAN. PORTIONS OF THIS ARTICLE HAVE
BEEN ADAPTED FROM THE SOUL OF KAZAKHSTAN.

go _- Participant Biographies
100 ~=—- Schedule

uo —_- Evening Concerts and Special Events

it Of Related Interest

Festival Hours

The Opening Ceremony for the Festival takes place at
Samarkand Square at Il a.m., Wednesday, June 26. Thereafter,
Festival hours are I] a.m. to 5:30 p.m. daily, with evening
concerts at specified stages.

Festival Sales

Traditional Afghan, Chinese, Italian, and Japanese food is sold.
See the site map on page 126 for locations.

A variety of crafts, books, and recordings related to the Festival
are sold in the Lotus Bazaar on the Mall-side lawn of the Freer

Gallery.
Press

Visiting members of the press should register at the Press ‘Tent
on the Mall near Jefferson Drive and 12th Street.

First Aid

A first aid station is located near the Metro station on the Mall at
Jefferson Drive and 12th Street.

Restrooms & Telephones

There are outdoor facilities for the public and visitors with
disabilities located near all of the program areas on the Mall.
Additional restroom facilities are available in each of the museum
buildings during visiting hours.

Public telephones are available on the site, opposite the National
Museums of American History and Natural History, and inside
the museums.

4 Sponsors and Special Thanks
u8 Staff
126 = Site Map

Lost & Found/Lost People

Lost items may be turned in or retrieved at the Volunteer Tent
near the Metro station on the Mall at Jefferson Drive and 12th
Street. Lost family members may be claimed at the Volunteer

Tent.

Metro Stations

Metro trains will be running every day of the Festival. The
Festival site is easily accessible from the Smithsonian and
Federal Triangle stations on the Blue and Orange Lines.
Services for Visitors with Disabilities

To make the Festival more accessible to visitors who are deaf or
hard of hearing, audio loops are installed in the main music
tents. Sign-language interpreters are on site every day of the
Festival. Check the printed schedule and signs for interpreted
programs. Special requests for interpreters should be made at the
Volunteer Tent. Service animals are welcome. Oral interpreters
are available for individuals if a request is made three full days in
advance. Call 202.786.2414 (TTY) or 202.275.1905 (voice).
Large-print copies of the daily schedule and audio-cassette
versions of the program book are available at Festival informa-
tion kiosks and the Volunteer Tent. A limited number of wheel-
chairs are available at the Volunteer Tent. Volunteers are on call
to assist wheelchair users and to guide visitors with visual
impairments. There are a few designated parking spaces for
visitors with disabilities along both Mall drives. These spaces
have three-hour time restrictions.

FESTIVAL PARTICIPANT BIOGRAPHIES

PERFORMANCE TRADITIONS

AFGHAN MUSIC

(AFGHANISTAN/ UNITED STATES)
Homayoun Sakhi, vocal/rubab

Toryalay, tabla

Araa Zalmai, vocal/doira

Homayoun Sakhi, a virtuoso performer on
the rubab, recently arrived in Hayward,
California, after leaving his native Kabul and
living as a refugee in Pakistan. Toryalay and
Araa Zalmai earlier followed the same route
to Hayward, where they have helped to open
a school of Afghan musical traditions.

AITYS: NOMADIC TOURNAMENT

In Inner Asian pastoral societies, tourna-
ments of poets and musicians called aitys or
tartys are a central feature of traditional life.
Participants display their skills in a spirit of
friendly competition.

(IRAN)

Masheallah Akbari (Azeri), vocal/balaban
Asheq Hasan (Azeri), vocal/saz

Asheq Hasan, a great Azeri bard from Tabriz,

in northwest Iran, began his career in the
popular teahouses of amateur Azeri musi-
cians. Masheallah Akbari accompanies on the
balaban, an Azeri double-reed woodwind
related to the Armenian duduk.

Youssef Dibaei (Turkmen), vocal/kamanche
Anaberdy Vejdani (Turkmen), vocal/dutar

Youssef Dibaei and Anaberdy Vejdani are
well-known bards in northern Iran, home
to a large Turkmen community. The use
of two instruments is an anomaly in the
bardic tradition, where the norm is solo
performers accompanying themselves on
a single instrument.

(KAZAKHSTAN)

Almasbek Almatov, vocal

Sayan Aqmolda, vocal/qylqobyz

Rysbek Ashimov, vocal

Sholpan Beimbetova, vocal

Yedil Khussainov, jew’s harp

Amandik Komekulu, vocal/dombra

Serzhan Shakrat, vocal

The Kazakh bardic tradition includes both the
vocal art of epic singers and the instru-
mental art of virtuoso performers on
stringed and bowed instruments. Epic singers
are keepers of a collective memory that
connects Kazakh oral traditions with

shamanic spirituality and nomadic philosophy.

The heart of the instrumental tradition is a
form known as kui that tells the story or
recounts the legend purely through musical
sound.

(KYRGYZSTAN)

Ruslan Jumabaev, komuz
Kenjekul Kubatova, komuz/vocal

Ruslan Jumabaev, a highly regarded master
of the Kyrgyz komuz, a three-stringed lute,
is recognized for his performance virtuosity
across genres, a versatility that joins
technical dexterity with artistic interpretation.
Kenjekul Kubatova is a gifted vocalist
originally from Narin, a city known for its
musical milieu.

(TAJIKISTAN)

Sator Fozilov, doira

Oumar Temouroy, ghijak

Oumar Temouroy is distinguished among
Tajik bards for his original style in which he
brings the ghijak, a Central Asian spike
fiddle, to Sufi music.

(TURKMENISTAN)

Lale Begnazarova, vocal
Maksat Begnazarov, vocal
Osman Gujimov, dutar

The performance of epic poetry by women
is common among the Turkmen. Originally
from the region of Akhal, Lale Begnazarova
and Maksat Begnazarov are conservatory-
educated professional musicians who now
reside in Ashgabad, Turkmenistan’s capital.
They are accompanied on the dutar by
Osman Gujimov.

(QARAQALPAKSTAN, UZBEKISTAN)
Zulfiya Arzumbetova, vocal/dutar
Salamatdin Kaipnazarov, ghijak

The Qaraqalpaks are a traditionally nomadic
Turkic group whose territory — now called
Qaraqalpakstan — lies in the northwest of
Uzbekistan. Though close in style to their
Turkmen neighbors to the south, Qaraqalpak
bards do not use the low guttural sounds of
the Turkmen bards, which perhaps explains
why the profession of bard is widely open
to women. Zulfiya Arzumbetova, foremost
student of the esteemed bard Turganbey
Qurbanoy, is accompanied by Salamatdin
Kaipnazarov.

BADAKHSHANI MUSICAL
TRADITIONS (TasikisTAN)

Nobovar Tchanorov, satar/rubab/vocal
Mouborakcho Djoumaev, rubab

Zarina Kobilova, dancer

Djoumakhon Madjidov, rubab/vocal

Ulfatmo Mamadambarova, vocal/doira/ chang
Moussavar Minakov, satar/ghijak/rubab
Gulbek Saodatov, satar

Isolated from the rest of Central Asia by the
Pamir Mountains, the “Roof of the World,”
Badakhshan preserves unique traditions of
music, dance, and theater in which remnants
of animism combine with musical genres
and instruments from the Islamic period.
Moussavar Minakov is the leader of a well-
known folk music ensemble that performs a
traditional Badakhshani repertory.

BEIJING OPERA FEATURING

Qi Shu Fane (CHINA)

Ding Mei-Kui

Huang Chen Lin, second fiddle

Huang Shi Rong, big drum

Li Peng

Li Shi-sheng, gong

Liu Chunnuan

Qi Shufang

James Qian, fiddle

Sun Ya Hui

Zhao Zhen Ping, moon mandolin

Zhao Zong Quan

Beijing Opera, one of over 300 operatic
styles in China, is perhaps the best-known
and most widely practiced theatrical tradition
in the world. Blending song, dance, and
acrobatics, this popular Chinese art form can
be traced as far back as the 1600s.

BEZMARA (Turkey)

Kemal Caba, kamanche

Ayse Serap Caglayan, kanun
Walter Feldman, kudum

Aziz Senol Filiz, ney

Fikret Karakaya, ¢eng

Osman Kirklikgi, sehrud

Birol Yayla, tanbur/kopuz/ guitar

Founded in 1996 by Fikret Karakaya, Bezméra
is dedicated to historical performances of
Ottoman music based on early manuscripts
and using reconstructed period instruments,
a number of which show strong links to
Central Asia. Bezmara was the first Turkish
group to resurrect instruments which had
not been heard for three or four centuries
and to study the two major notated sources
of Ottoman music in detail.

In the duo YaNsimatar (“Reflections”), Aziz
Senol Filiz on ney and Birol Yayla on tanbur
and guitar give musical expression to the
experience of Istanbul’s numerous Anatolian
immigrants through contemporary Turkish
popular compositions.

BUKHARAN JEWISH MUSIC
AND DANCE (Unitep States)

Ilyas Malaev Ensemble

Yusuf Abramov, tar

Matat Barayev, doira

Ochil Ibrahimov, vocal/tar/ ghijak
Tamara Kataev, dancer

Ilyas Malaev, vocal/tar

Izro Malakov, vocal

Muhabbat Shamoeva, vocal

Shashmaqam

Aboshaul Aminov, vocal

Osher Barayev, doira

David Davidov, tar

Firuza Junatan, dancer

Boris Kuknariyev, vocal/accordion
Shumiel Kuyenov, doira

Izro Malakov, vocal

Shoista Mulldzhanova, vocal

Sazandas

Travis F. Jarrell
Firuza Junatan
Tamara Kataev
Tofahon Pinkhasova

The Ilyas Malaev Ensemble and Shashmaqam,
both based in Queens, New York, represent
the musical traditions of a Bukharan Jewish
diaspora community numbering some 30,000
people that have emigrated from Uzbekistan
and Tajikistan over the last 25 years. A
prominent figure in this tradition is the
sazanda — a female wedding entertainer
who dances, sings, and plays frame drums.
Tofahon Pinkhasova, one of Bukhara’s most
famous sazandas, presently lives in Denver,
Colorado, where she has transmitted her
tradition to American students, including
Travis Jarrell. Shumiel Kuyenov, leader of
Shashmagqam, came to the United States
from Uzbekistan in 1980. Ilyas Malaev, a
renowned performer in Uzbekistan,
emigrated to Queens in 1992.

FESTIVAL PARTICIPANT BIOGRAPHIES

CALICANTO (Itaty)

Claudia Ferronato, vocal

Nicola Marsilio, clarinet/flute/sax/duduk

Giancarlo Tombesi, double bass

Roberto Tombesi, vocal/mandola/diatonic
accordion/ bagpipes

Paolo Vidaich, percussion

Founded in 1981, Calicanto is one of the

best-known groups performing Italian folk

music. They are committed to the recovery

of Venetian traditional music, and base their
style on the fusion of old and new traditions

from Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean.

CHINESE STORYTELLING (CuiNnA)
Chong Yujie, Jingyun dagu

Jai Jainguo, Kuaiban

Jiang Yunxian, Suzhou tanci

Lian Liru, Beijing pingshu

Mu Xiangzheng, sanxian accompanist

Tang Gengliang, Suzhou pinghua

The earliest evidence of Chinese storytelling
is found in the Mogao caves of Dunhuang,
likely carried by Buddhist monks along the
Silk Road. Acknowledged masters who have
toured across China and in the United States,
the storytellers perform northern and
southern Chinese oral narrative arts, of
which more than 300 different genres have
been identified in spoken, sung, and chante-
fable (alternatively sung and spoken) types.

FESTIVAL PARTICIPANT BIOGRAPHIES

ETHNOS SHINGIGAKU:
AsIAN Mask DANCE THEATER (JAPAN)

Mannojo Nomura, producer

Théodore Bah (Guinea), actor

I Made Djimat (Indonesia), actor

Fujita Shuji, staff

Hashimoto Katsutoshi, actor

Hatakeyama Yuko, musician

Ino Makiko, actor

Irino Tomoe, musician

Challissery Antony Joy (India), actor

Kang Cha Wook (Korea), musician
Kawamura Kohei, musician

Kim Do Yoen (Korea), actor

Kim Yong Mok (Korea), actor

Koga Kumiko, staff

Lakshmipathy Narendra Kumar (India), actor
Kuwabara Kayo, staff

Lee Dong Yong (Korea), actor

Lu Hairong (China), actor

Miura Tsuneo, actor

Qian Tenghao (China), musician

I Ketut Rudida (Indonesia), actor

Sugawara Kaori, actor

Latyr Sy (Senegal), musician

Shinsuke Suzuki, staff

Ye Fang (China), actor

Shingigaku (“new gigaku") is the creation of
Mannojo Nomura, who studied traditions of
masked theater and dance from many parts
of Asia and Europe with the aim of recre-
ating the pageantry of one of Japan’s most
venerable art forms. Based in Tokyo,
Mannojo is at the beginning of a 10-year
performance project that he calls the "Mask
Road” — a theatrical analog to the Silk
Road.

HUA FAMILY SHAWM AND
PERCUSSION BAND (Cuina)

Hua Jinshan, drum

Hua Lei, small cymbals

Hua Yinshan (leader), shawm

Hua Yun, shawm

Xie Jian, gong

Shawms were imported to China from Iran
and Central Asia. Around the 15th century,
they started to become common among the
Han Chinese and assumed a central place in

celebrations of life-cycle and calendar events.

Hua Jinshan and Hua Yinshan learned from
their father as young children, and are
among the few players who know the
ancient military repertory of shawm and
percussion music.

INDIAN MELA PERFORMERS (Ino1a)
Aziz Khan, magician
Aziz Khan started his magic career at the

age of 5 as an assistant to his father, then
began performing independently at 14.

Kishan, son of Laxman Bharti, juggler

Kishan learned juggling from his father.
Today he performs in the streets of Delhi as
well as at international fairs and festivals.

Kishan, son of Sharwan Nath, behrupia
Kishan learned the art of behrupia (imper-

sonation) from his father. His specialty is
impersonating monkeys.

INDIAN OCEAN (Inp1A)

Ashim Chakravarthy, tabla/drums

Amit Kilam, drums

Rahul Narasimha Ram, bass

Susmit Sen, guitar

Formed in 1990, Indian Ocean has toured
throughout India and is known for the
innovative way it blends traditional music
with jazz and rock.

KATHPUTLI PUPPET THEATRE (Inp1A)

Guddi Bhatt
Jagdish Bhatt
Puran Bhatt

Guddi, Jagdish, and Puran Bhatt have trained
in string puppetry since childhood. They now
share their talents at festivals throughout the
world.

MANGANIYAR MUSIC OF
RAJASTHAN (Inp1a)

Gazi Khan Barana, dholak/khartal/morchang
Anwar Khan, vocal

Kheta Khan, vocal

Chanan Khan Manganiar, khamayacha/vocal

Manganiyars traditionally perform at seasonal
and life-cycle events such as weddings and
births of their Hindu landowning patrons.
They sing ritual and celebratory music to the
accompaniment of the sarangi, a bowed
string instrument, and sometimes castanets.

MAQAM (UzpekisTAN/ TAJIKISTAN)

Mastona Ergashova, vocal
Abdurahim Hamidov, dutar
Jurabek Nabiev, vocal
Shawkat Nabiev, ghijak
Shuhratdjon Nabiev, tanbur

Vocalists Jurabek Nabiev and Mastona
Ergashova perform a range of Uzbek and
Tajik musical styles, including the classical art
song genre known as shashmagam. Nabiev's
sons, Shuhrat and Shawkat, provide lively
accompaniment. Abdurahim Hamidov
performs both the classical magam and a
special dutar repertory that features virtuosic
strumming techniques on the two-stringed
instrument.

MONGOLIAN MUSICAL TRADITIONS
1. Amartiivshin, morin huur

G. Khongorzul, urtiin duu (long song singer)
Ts. Sansarbayar, yatga

N. Sengedorj, hoomii throat-singer/fiddles
B. Tsengelmaa, bielgee dancer

Amartiivshin and Sengedorj are charismatic
musicians who have chosen leadership and
tutelage in their regional communities in
Mongolia over lucrative national and interna-
tional careers. Joined by virtuoso performers
of vocal music and dance, this musical group
presents traditions from both the herders’
culture of the western Oirats and the
nomadic arts of central Khalkha Mongolia.

MUGHAM (AzeRBAIJAN)

Elnur Ahmadov, kamanche
Aydin Aliyev, garmon
Niyamettin Babyev, vocal
Elchin Hashimov, tar
Adalat Nasibov, saz

Leyla Rahimova, vocal

Azeri classical music, known as mugham, is
traditionally performed by soloists or small
ensembles. These days, the tradition is vigor-
ously alive among young performers,
including the teenage vocalists invited to this
year’s Festival. In addition to five performers
of mugham, this delegation includes Adalat
Nasibov, whose improvisational style on the
saz is based on the vocal repertory of the
Azeri bards, called ashiq.

FESTIVAL PARTICIPANT BIOGRAPHIES

MUQAM OF THE UYGHURS (CuiNA)

Rozi Tukhluk (Uzbekistan),
vocal/rawap/tanbur

Nur Mahammat Tursun, satar/tanbur
Sanubar Tursun, vocal/dutar

The Uyghur mugam are large suites
consisting of vocal, instrumental, and dance
music. Sanubar Tursun and her brother Nur
Mahammat Tursun live in Urumqi, where they
perform with the Xinjiang Mugam Ensemble
and Xinjiang Song-and-Dance Troupe. Rozi
Tughluk is part of the large Uyghur diaspora
in Central Asia, and lives in Tashkent,
Uzbekistan.

MURAS (KyroyzstTAN)

Toktobek Asanaliev, komuz/vocal

Gulbara Baigashkaeva, komuz/temir komuz

Bakytbek Chatyrbaev, qylgiyak

Nurlanbek Nyshanov, komuz/chor/chopo
chor/temir komuz

Ensemble Muras (“heritage”), founded by
Nurlanbek, performs traditional Kyrgyz solo
music in an imaginative style that incorpo-
rates a small ensemble. Their music
preserves traditional practice, but also breaks
new ground,

PARISA AND DARIUSH TALAIT:
PERSIAN CLassicat Music (IRAN)

Parisa, vocal
Dariush Talai, tar

Parisa is the present-day representative of
the Davami and Karimi tradition of the
Persian radif and is considered one of Iran's
greatest female vocalists. She performs from
the classical Persian repertoire known as
dastgah and is accompanied on the tar by
Dariush Talai, a virtuoso classical musician.

ROKSONAKI (KAZAKHSTAN)

Yermek Diyarov, vocal/guitar

Ruslan Karin, vocal/saz-syrnai/shan-kobyz

Viktor Khomenkov, keyboards

Yedil Khussainov, vocal/djetygen/
shan-kobyz/saz-syrnai/ sybyzgy/
kamys-syrnai

Abay Rakhyshev, vocal/drums

Kazbek Spanov, vocal/guitar

Between New Age and shamanic pop, six

Kazakhs found their inspiration in the ancient

songs and instruments of the animist culture

of the steppe. Shamanic rain songs and

hymns to the spirits are brought together

with modern instruments and performance

style.

SABJILAR (KHAKASIA, RussiA)

Altyn Tann Anna Burnakova, khai/percussion
Chanar Khyr Khaas, khai/chatkhan
Aycharkh Sayn, khai/chatkhan/ qobyz

These three musicians from Khakasia, a
small republic in the south of Siberia, are
masters of khai — Khakas throat-singing
with roots in shamanism — and the recita-
tion of epic poems. In revitalizing ancient
Khakas traditions, Sabjilar combines khai with
the chatkhan, a long, plucked zither regarded
as the national instrument of Khakasia.

SHOGHAKEN ENSEMBLE (ArmentA)

Tigran Ambaryan, kamanche

Gevorg Dabaghyan, duduk

Aleksan Harutyunyan, vocal/dancer

Hasmik Harutyunyan, vocal/dancer

Karine Hovhannisyan, kanun

Kamo Khachatryan, dhol

Grigor Takushyan, dham duduk

Levon Tevanyan, shvi/zurna

Shoghaken Ensemble was founded in 1991 by
conservatory musicians to perform Armenian
folk music as it has been played through
history — in small ensembles of traditional
instruments, singers and dancers. The
ensemble’s new CD will be released by
Traditional Crossroads in 2002.

FESTIVAL PARTICIPANT BIOGRAPHIES

THE SILK ROAD ENSEMBLE

Edward Arron, cello

Nicholas Cords, viola

He Cui, sheng

Gevorg Dabaghyan, duduk

Sandeep Das, tabla

Joel Fan, piano

G. Khongorzul, long song vocal

Jonathan Gandelsman, violin

Joseph Gramley, percussion

Colin Jacobsen, violin

Dong-Won Kim, chang-go

Yo-Yo Ma, cello/morin huur

Shane Shanahan, percussion

Mark Suter, percussion

Kojiro Umezaki, shakuhachi

Yang Wei, pipa

Beixing Xiang, erhu

The Silk Road Ensemble is a collective of
like-minded musicians dedicated to exploring
the relationship between tradition and
innovation in music from North America,
Europe, and Asia. Each musician's career
illustrates a unique response to the challenge
of nourishing global connections while main-
taining the integrity of art rooted in an
authentic tradition.

UZBEK PUPPET THEATER

Venera Yusupova
Gulshat Nazarova
Dinara Yuldasheva

Puppetry and folk theater have a long history
in Central Asia, and these days are being
reimagined in a contemporary form with
particular brio by Uzbekistan’s Republican
Theater, represented at the Festival by three
of its most experienced puppeteers,

CRAFT TRADITIONS

BEAD MAKERS
Haji Ashoor (Pakistan)

Working with ancient blocks of lapis
lazuli that he collected from the desert,
Haji Ashoor began making beads when he
was 25 years old.

Luigi Cattelan (Italy)

Luigi Cattelan was born into a family who
have been glass masters since the isth
century.

Abdul Momin (Pakistan)

A skilled bead maker like his father, Haji
Ashoor, Abdul Momin makes a distinctive
type of painted carnelian bead.

CALLIGRAPHERS
Issa M. Benyamin (United States)

Issa Benyamin is skilled in Assyrian callig-
raphy, now retired and living in Chicago.

Niyaz Kerim Xarki (China)

Niyaz Kerim Xarki is a master Uyghur callig-
rapher with works featured in collections
around the world.

Muhittin Serin (Turkey)

Muhittan Serin is a master of the talik script.

Alvin Y. Tsao (United States)

Born in Taiwan, Alvin Tsao now works in the
Washington, D.C., area. He has given
numerous calligraphy and seal-carving
demonstrations in local museums.

Oguzhan Tugrul (Turkey)

Oguzhan Tugrul is active in the international
community of paper marblers and Uyghur
calligraphers.

John S.C. Wang (United States)

Born in Taiwan into a family of artists and
scholars, John S.C. Wang is praised for his
elaborate brush strokes and intricate seal
carvings.

CERAMICISTS
Chen Xinching (China)

With decades of experience, Chen Xinching
is a master of Jingdezhen throwing.

Ibrahim Erdeyer (Turkey)

Ibrahim Erdeyer was raised with pottery,
mixing clay as a child, firing the kiln as a
teen, and later painting.

Mehmet Giirsoy (Turkey)

Mehmet Giirsoy is dedicated to recreating
the excellence of 16th-century porcelain,
including the traditional palette of six colors.

Higaki Hachiro (Japan)

As a young man, Higaki Hachiro learned the
art of figurative pottery from his brother.

Kang Qing (China)

In 2001, Kang Qing was a visiting ceramics
professor at Harvard. She is skilled at
blue-and-white painting.

Maekawa Denko (Japan)

Maekawa Denko was born in the middle of
Seto’s pottery district, and at 35 started his
own figurative pottery studio.

Masuda Shigeyuki (Japan)

Masuda Shigeyuki started working at a
ceramics factory after World War II, then
became an independent figurative potter.

Haripada Pal (Bangladesh)

Haripada Pal makes molded, painted images
for domestic worship, and larger hand-
modeled images for temples.

Ahmet Hiirriyet Sahin (Turkey)

Nurten Sahin (Turkey)

Ahmet Hurriyet Sahin trained with his grand-
father, also named Ahmet Sahin, considered
the 2oth-century’s grand master of Islamic
ceramics. Since 1989, he and his wife Nurten
have managed an atelier that uses his grand-
father’s old designs.

Tatebayashi Hirohisa (Japan)

Tatebayashi Hirohisa’s family has been
making Arita porcelain since the early 17th
century.

Xu Xiutang (China)

From Jiangsu Province, Xu Xiutang is a
master of Yixing tea pots and sculpture.

Yie Dongxi (China)

Yie Dongxi specializes in trimming, glazing,
and finishing Jingdezhen pottery.
CLOTHING DESIGNERS

Lola Babayeva (Uzbekistan)

Trained in a theater institute, Lola Babayeva
draws her inspiration from traditional Uzbek
clothing.

Turdukan Borubaeva (Kyrgyzstan)

A physicist by training, Turdukan Borubaeva
is one of Kyrgyzstan’s pioneering fashion
designers.

Tatiana Vorotnikova (Kyrgyzstan)

Tatiana Vorotnikova runs a large workshop
which produces clothing, bags, hats, and
accessories.

FESTIVAL PARTICIPANT BIOGRAPHIES

Nakagawa Sochi (Japan)

Azechi Rika

Kishimoto Kanehiro

Koiwa Jun

Nakagawa Masahiro

Nakagawa Tatsuya

The creative team of the Nakagawa Sochi
Studio combines fashion with art and envi-
ronmentalism. The team recycles and
remixes old fashion buys into pieces that
convey new meanings to their wearers.

Taras Volikov (Uzbekistan)

Taras Volnikov designs, cuts, and constructs
all of his own work. He is known for his
evening wear and tailoring.

GLASS BLOWERS (Syria)

Hasan al Kazzaz
Mhd. Nazir al Kazzaz

Hasan al Kazzaz and his son Mhd. Nazir al
Kazzaz come from a family that has been in
the glass-blowing trade for 400 years.
Glass-blowing skills are passed from father
to son through S years of intensive training.

METALWORKERS AND JEWELERS
Richard Furrer (United States)

Richard Furrer uses traditional techniques,
rather than the modern smelting process, to
replicate crucible steel for daggers and
swords.

Sirajul Islam (Bangladesh)

Born into a farming family, Sirajul Islam is
considered the greatest engraver in modern
Bangladesh.

Mohamad al Malli (Syria)

Mohamad al Malli continues the tradition of
intarsia, a mosaic-like inlay of contrasting
materials such as bone, mother of pearl, and
wood,

George Oubid (Syria)

George Oubid is perhaps the best-known
jeweler in all of Syria and is committed to
educating others about these ancient tradi-
tions.

B.D. Soni (India)

B.D. Soni is a traditional Indian goldsmith.

MUSICAL INSTRUMENT MAKERS
John Bertles (United States)

A composer, instrument builder, and
educator, John Bertles has worked with the
Carnegie Hall Link-up Program for 9 years.
He also performs with Bash the Trash, a
group known throughout the greater New
York area for its musical instruments built
from recycled materials.

Marat Damdyn (Tuva, Russia)

Marat Damdyn is a master instrument maker
who makes all Tuvan stringed instruments.
He also is a throat-singer.

PAINTERS
Yeshi Dorjee (United States)

Yeshi Dorjee is skilled in thangka painting —
a traditional Tibetan painting of a Buddha,
Buddhist deity, or a mandala.

Mohammed Nasseripour (United States)

Mohammed Nasseripour is an architect
specializing in museums and has designed
six museums in Iran. He has a studio in
Washington, D.C., where he teaches painting.
At the Festival he demonstrates miniature
painting.

Gyan Prakash Soni (India)

Gyan Prakash Soni, a Pichhwai painter, uses
handspun cloth and natural dyes to create
spiritual images.

FESTIVAL PARTICIPANT BIOGRAPHIES

Aram Vartanov (United States)

Aram Vartanov incorporates Western
European art in his Armenian religious
paintings and illuminated manuscripts.

PAPER ARTISTS
Tohtu Baqi Turdi (China)

Tohtu Baqi Turdi is skilled in making
mulberry paper famous in the Hotan region.

Fukunishi Hatsumi (Japan)
Fukunishi Masayuki (Japan)
The Fukunishi family makes kozo paper in
the tame-nagashi method with added white
clay, a method used since the Edo period.

Guerrino Lovato, mask maker (Italy)

A celebrated Venetian mask maker,
Guerrino Lovato has taught mask-making
workshops in the United States and Europe.

Asif Mian, kite maker (India)

Asif Mian was awarded the national merit
certificate by the Government of India for
his extraordinary kites.

Feridun Ozgoren (Turkey/United States)

Feridun Ozgoren’s art works are in the
tradition of Turkish ebru (marbling) and
include works in Ottoman and Arabic
calligraphy.

Roberto Rapanotti (Italy)

Roberto Rapanotti is skilled in chiaroscuro
watermarks, an innovation of Fabriano paper
making that dates back to the mid-1800s.

Zhang Fengxue (China)

Since the Tang dynasty, generations of
Zhang Fengxue’s family have made their
living as mulberry paper makers.

STONE CARVERS
Iftikar Ahmed (Pakistan)

Iftikar Ahmed makes Gandhara-style carvings
and works with his father, Ghulam Mustafa.

Ghulam Mustafa (Pakistan)
Ghulam Mustafa prides himself in replicating

a wide range of styles in both large-scale
and small-scale work.

Lorisa Norbu (Tuva, Russia)

Singlehandedly breaking taboos against
women sculptors, Lorisu Norbu fought for
acceptance from the artists’ union while
developing a unique, representational style.

Alexei Salchak (Tuva, Russia)

Alexei Salchak is the head of Tuva’s artists’
union, where he organizes the annual
pilgrimage to the sacred stone collecting
grounds in western Tuva.

TEXTILE ARTISTS

Bock PRINTER

(INDIA)

Shaikh Mohammad Hussain

Shaikh Mohammad Hussain was born in a

family of block printers. He specializes in the
Tree of Life motif.

BrocabeE Weavers (Syria)
Ahmad Chakkaki

Louai Jarkas

Ahmad Chakkaki and Louai Jarkas represent
generations of Kurdish silk weavers in Syria,
and learned the skill of weaving from their

fathers.

Ikat WeAveRS (UZBEKISTAN)

Bobir Ismailov

Dilbar Khalimova

Davlat Umaralyev

The celebrated and well-known woven ikat
silk textiles from cities like Bukhara and
Samarkand have been produced for centuries
on hand looms in Uzbekistan.

Ikat PATOLA Weavers (INDIA)

Salvi Bharatkumar Kantilal

Salvi Rohitkumar Kantilal

Salvi Vinayak Kantilal

The Salvi brothers’ grandparents revived the
art of double ikat weaving. Building on this
contribution, the brothers have reintroduced
natural dyes and traditional patterns.

JAMDANI Weavers (BANGLADESH)
Shawkat Ali

Md. Enamul Haque

Shawkat Ali and Md. Enamul Haque come

from the village of Rupshi, where some
2,000-3,000 jamdani looms are in operation.

Navaso Carpet WEAVER

(UniteD States)

D.Y. Begay

D.Y. Begay synthesizes new materials,
designs, and techniques with traditional
knowledge.

RABARI WEAVER

(Inb1A)

Ramiben Ratna Rabari

The bold and bright embroidery of Rabari
women, such as Ramiben Ratna, is used to
decorate clothing and make household
decorations.

TIBETAN CARPET Weavers (NEPAL)

Tsering Bhuti

Dawa Tsamchoe

Tsering Bhuti and Dawa Tsamchoe learned

the fundamental aspects of carpet weaving

as children and are experts in hand carding,
spinning, and weaving Tibetan-style carpets.

TurkisH CARPET Weavers (TuRKEY)
Ahmet Balci

Mukaddes Kavak

Ummu Giilsum Yilmaz

Ummu Giislum Yilmaz weaves traditional
rugs as well as the flatweave kilims.
Ahmet Balci is a skilled natural dyer.
Mukaddes Kavak is an Ayvacik rug weaver.

TurKMEN CARPET WEAVERS (PAKISTAN)
Abdul Bagi

Sadaf Baqi

After leaving Afghanistan as a child,

Abdul Bagi lived in Pakistan’s Turkmen exile
community where he learned the art of
vegetable dyeing. Sadaf Baqi is one of the
most highly skilled weavers in her Ersari
Turkmen refugee community. Husband and
wife work together.

TussAH SILK WEAVER

(Inb1A)

Gunia Devi

Before producing mulberry silk, India was
known for its coarse, tussah silk. Gunia Devi
represents this tradition.

TRUCK PAINTERS (PakIsTAN)

Haider Ali

Jamil Uddin

Both living in Karachi, Haider Ali builds
trucks, and Jamil Uddin is known for his fine
painting.

FESTIVAL PARTICIPANT BIOGRAPHIES

NomMADIC TRADITIONS

(KAZAKHSTAN)

Almasbek Almatov, yurt builder

Sayan Aqmolda, yurt builder

Rysbek Ashimov, yurt builder

Baltabay Ibrayev, yurt builder

Amangul Ikhanova, felt maker

Zhangir Umbetov, leatherworker, yurt builder

The traditional Kazakh yurt is not just a
place of residence, but a home whose
assembly invokes the symbols and emotional
associations meaningful to a nomadic Central
Asian lifestyle. The collapsible yurt represents
a development that occurred in the middle of
the first millennium C.E.

FOODWAYS TRADITIONS

Najmieh Batmanglij (Persian)

Najmieh Batmanglij was born and raised in
Iran, and received master’s degrees in
education and art in the United States and
France. She is the author of the best-selling
New Food of Life; her most recent cookbook
is Silk Road Cooking: A Vegetarian Journey.

Mukadder (Katie) Buyukunsal (Turkish)

Mukadder Buyukunsal maintains her connec-
tion to Turkish cuisine by growing a garden
of vegetables common in her homeland, but
difficult to find in the United States.

Jinghua Chi (Chinese)

Born in Beijing, Jinghua Chi divides her time
between Washington, D.C., and Hangzhou in
Zhejiang Province.

Roberto Donna (Italian)

Roberto Donna is an award-winning chef in
Washington, D.C., and owner of both Galileo
and Il Radicchio.

Enzo Fargione (Italian)

Enzo Fargione studied at the Culinary
Institute of Turin, Italy, and is currently the
owner of Il Radicchio.

Shajan Fazelyar (Uzbek)

Shajan Fazelyar has lived in Virginia since
1987. She speaks Uzbek and Farsi.

Huilan Hu (Chinese)

Huilan Hu was born in Jiangxi Province,
China, and now lives in the provincial capital,
though she frequently visits family in the
Washington area.

Nahid Javadi (Azerbaijani)

Born and raised in Tabriz, Iran, Nahid Javadi
has a master’s degree in English from
Tehran University.

Jila Naim (Afghan)

Jila Naim, born in Kabul, Afghanistan, is the
founder of AfghanWomen magazine.

Marco Nocco (Italian)

Born in Milan, Italy, Marco Nocco has
studied Italian culinary arts from the age of
14. He is now the executive chef in the main
kitchen of Washington, D.C.’s popular Galileo
restaurant,

Shukrieh Raad (Afghan)

Born in Kabul, Afghanistan, Shukrieh Raad
currently works for Voice of America.

Shobha Shah (Indian)

Shobha Shah was born and raised in
Bombay. She is very knowledgeable in the
traditions of North Indian and Gujarati
cooking.

FESTIVAL PARTICIPANT BIOGRAPHIES

Fay Shahidi (Persian)

Fay Shahidi was encouraged to learn cooking
as a child and is proud of her Iranian food-
ways heritage.

Nikta Shahidi (Persian)

Nikta Shahidi caters her specialties — soups
and Persian kukus —to the Persian/Iranian
community in the Washington area.

Behjat Shahverdiani (Persian)

Behjat Shahverdiani’s specialties are Persian-
style rice meatballs, kufteh, and rice with
sour cherries (albalu polow).

Sakina A. Shehadi (Syrian)

Sakina Shehadi has cooked for the Turkish
embassy in Ankara.

Leda Zenian (Armenian)

Leda Zenian grew up in Beirut, Lebanon,
and has a doctorate in economics and
demography.

SACRED TRADITIONS

ALEVI SEMAH OF HUBYAR (Turkey)
Aysel Adigiizel

Riza Adigiizel

Alli Aydin

Hasan Aydin

Bahar Bayr!

Tutca Cticii

Hiiseyin Denizhan, ashik

Rist Durna

Stileyman Duran
Ahmet Giingér, ashik
Diirdane Karagéz
Cemal Ozcan

The Alevis comprise a religious community
of Turks and Kurds rooted in central and
eastern Anatolia and presently number some
15 million, nearly a quarter of the population
of Turkey. A zikr, the devotional and ritual-
ized technique particular to Sufis, is recre-
ated for a formal stage presentation. Ashiks
who perform on the baglamasaz, a stringed
instrument identified with the Alevis, accom-
pany whirling dance movements that
symbolize the motion of cranes.

THE KUSHTIA BAULS
(BANGLADESH)

Anjali Ghosh Durga, vocal
Shunil Kormakar, vocal

Md. Naimul Karim Melal, vocal
Sanchita Paul, vocal

Md. Belal Siddique, vocal

Bauls are wandering minstrels whose ecstatic
songs and dance reflect their joy, love, and
longing for mystical union with the Divine.
Each member of the ensemble, led by Shunil
Kormakar, is considered a great Baul. Baul
songs are accompanied by tabla, dotara,
ektara, flute, harmonium, and karatal or
mandira.

Madan Gopal Singh (India)

A writer, lyricist, and singer, Madan Gopal
Singh, is an expert on Sufis of 16th — 18th-
century Punjab.

TIBETAN MONKS From THE DREPUNG
Monastery (INDIA/ UNITED STATES)

Geshe Lobsang Chogyal
Lobsang Chophel
Lobsang Dhargye
Wangchen Dorjee
Thupten Kungkhen
Dhakpa Norbu

Tsering Phuntsok
Dondup Tenzin

Established in the isth century, the Drepung
Monastery trained generations of monks
from throughout Tibet. In 1959, many monks
fled Tibet with the Dalai Lama. With his
support, they reestablished the Drepung
Loseling Monastery in South India in 1971.
Recently some of those monks have estab-
lished a center in Atlanta, Georgia, and now
travel throughout the United States
performing ritual ceremonies in appropriate
settings.

URHOY CHOIR (Syria)

Sandy Amsih

Adnan Aziz

Edwar Danho

llona Danho

Fadi Karat

Izla Karat

Jean Karat

George Kentar

Maya Stifo

Samira Steifo

Assyrian Christians were the predominant
Syriac Christian community to send mission-
aries across the Silk Road, and their influ-
ence can be found in the written adaptation
of many languages, including Mongolian,
from the Syriac system. The Urhoy Choir of
Qamishly, Syria, brings together Assyrian
people belonging to several church traditions
to perform spiritual songs in three Assyrian
dialects: Classical Syriac, Eastern, and
Western.

SPorTs AND MARTIAL
ARTS TRADITIONS

ASIAN MARTIAL ARTS
(United STATES)

Steve Brown

Sifu Tony Chen

Christopher Cheung

Patrick Chew

Laura Copenhaver

Janet Gee

Bernard Beno Hwang

Kaela Kang

Jia Tao Zhang

It is well known that Buddhism traveled along
the Silk Road into China, but less well known
that the Indian missionary who introduced
Chan Buddhism to China (later called Zen in
Japan) may have also brought with him the
seeds of Chinese kung fu, or Chinese
unarmed fighting techniques. America’s atten-
tion and enthusiasm for martial arts soared
with the advent of Bruce Lee’s kung fu films
in the 1970s.

BUKH: LEGENDARY WRESTLING
TRADITION (Moncotta)

Mongolian wrestling pits four wrestlers
against each other as the zazuul, part-
referee, part-jester, sings their praises. After
the eagle dance and ritual warm-up, the
match begins. When the winner is declared,
the wrestlers perform a ritual dance, and the
winner distributes candy to the audience.

THANG-TA (Inp1a)
Khilton Nongmaithem

Thang-ta is an ancient Indian form of
martial arts in which “fighters” joust with
long sticks, swords, or spears. Rooted in
Manipur State, in the far northeast of India,
it is believed to have been carried to China
by Buddhist monks, and may have been one
of the inspirations of kung fu.

POTOMAC POLO CLUB

Greg Ford

Mara Hagan
Charlie Muldoon
Joe Muldoon, Jr.
Joe Muldoon III
Martine Maldanado
Dave Polan

Potomac Polo Club was founded in 1951
when Frank Willson started Washington Polo
Club at Brook Manor Country Club in Olney,
Maryland. Throughout the 1960s, polo was a
popular sport in Washington, often attracting
over a thousand fans to a single match.
Today, Potomac Polo Club is located in
Poolesville, Maryland, and is owned and
operated by 6-goal player, Charlie Muldoon.

FESTIVAL PARTICIPANT BIOGRAPHIES

ZURKHANE (Iran)
Morshed Mehregan, morshed

In Iran, a zurkhane is a gym in which men
undertake spiritual body-building, lifting heavy
weights to the drumming and chanting of
spiritual texts chanted by a morshed.
Morshed Mehregan, who is from Tehran,
leads chant and drumming for zurkhanists of
all ages.

SCHEDULE

WEDNESDAY JUNE 26

ice Piazza =

12:00 Calicanto: Troubadours of Venice
12:45 Roksonaki: Kazakh Folk-Rock
130 Sabjilar: Epics and Throat-singing

from Khakasia
2:00 Muras: Virtuosos from Kyrgyzstan
2:30 The Silk Road Ensemble:

Music of the Past, Present, and Future
3:15 Mugam: Uyghur Courtly Music
4:00 Roksonaki: Kazakh Folk-Rock
4:45 Assyrian Voices: The Urhoy Choir

Istanbul Crossroads

12:00 Roots of the Gypsy Trail:
Manganiyar Music of Rajasthan
12:45 Assyrian Voices: The Urhoy Choir
iis Shoghaken Ensemble: Folk Music of Armenia
2:00 Sufi Ritual Music and Dance:
Alevi Semah of Hubyar
2:45 | Mugam: Uyghur Courtly Music
330 Songs of Love and Devotion:
Sufi Music from Bengal
4:15 Muras: Virtuosos from Kyrgyzstan

4:45 Devotional Music of Bengal:
The Kushtia Bauls

Kashgar Teahouse

12:00 Masters of Afghan Music
12:45 Madan Gopal Singh:
Indian Music of the Spirit
115 Mugam: Uyghur Courtly Music
2:00 Indian Mela: Behrupias, Jugglers, Magicians
2:45 Uzbek Puppet Theater
315 | Workshop: Musical Instruments
4:00 Roots of the Gypsy Trail:
Manganiyar Music of Rajasthan
©4330 Kathputli Indian Puppet Theater
5:00 Sabjilar: Epics and Throat-singing from
Khakasia

Samarkand Square

1:00 Opening Ceremony
°12:30 ~~ Magam: Uzbek and Tajik Courtly Music

115 Badakhshan: Songs and Dances from
Tajikistan

2:00 Mugham: Courtly Music of Azerbaijan

2:45 Masters of Afghan Music

3330 Ilyas Malaev Ensemble: Music and Dance of
the Bukharan Jews

4:15 Maqam: Courtly Music of the Silk Road

indicates sign-language interpreted

100

Aitys Stage
12!00 Aitys: Tournament of Minstrels and Bards
1:00 Mongolia: Music from the Mountains and the
Steppe
1:45 Workshop: Throat-singing
°2:30~— Aitys: Tournament of Minstrels and Bards
3:30 Bukh: Legendary Wrestling Tradition of
Mongolia
4:00 Mongolia: Music from the Mountains and the
Steppe
4:45 Aitys: Tournament of Minstrels and Bards
Demonstrations nearby the Aitys stage of felt making,
stone carving, instrument making, and nomad hospi-
tality by participants from Kazakhstan and the Tuvan
Autonomous Republic in Russia. Daily demonstrations
of the construction and dismantling of a yurt are high-
lighted by the loading and transport of the yurt on a
Bactrian camel.

Xi’an Tower

12:00 Asian Martial Arts in America

1:00 Zurkhane: Iranian Spiritual Bodybuilding

130 Bukh: Legendary Wrestling Tradition of
Mongolia

2:00 Storytellers from China

2:45 Asian Martial Arts in America

3:45 Hua Family Shawm and Percussion Band
from China

430 Beijing Opera featuring Qi Shu Fang

Nara Gate
12:00 Tibetan Monks from Drepung Monastery
12:45 Sufi Ritual Music and Dance:
Alevi Semah of Hubyar
1330 Songs of Love and Devotion:
Sufi Music from Bengal
215 Devotional Music of Bengal:
The Kushtia Bauls
3:00 Badakhshan: Songs and Dances
from Tajikistan
“400 Ethnos Shingigaku: Asian Mask Dance Theater

Paper Garden

Demonstrations by paper makers from Japan, China,
Turkey, and Italy; Assyrian, Chinese, Uyghur, and
Turkish calligraphy; Tibetan thangkas; Iranian, Armenian,
and Hindu devotional paintings; Italian masks; Indian
kites; and paper prayer making. Cooking demonstra-
tions in the Paper Garden Kitchen of Armenian, Indian,
Persian, Turkish, and Uzbek foods.

Ceramics Courtyard

Demonstrations of Chinese blue-and-white porcelain
and tea pots; Japanese porcelain; tea bowls, and figu-
rative pottery; Turkish ¢ini pots and tiles; and Hindu
devotional icons from Bangladesh.

Silk Grove

Demonstrations of Bangladeshi jamdani weaving, Uzbek
and Indian ikat dyeing and weaving, tussah silk spin-
ning, Syrian brocade weaving, Uzbek and Gujarati
embroidery, and Indian block printing, as well as velvet
cutting by the International Silk Association. Activities
in the Tree of Life Area include the construction of a
sand mandala by the monks of Drepung Monastery.
Demonstrations in the Silk Grove Fashion Court of
draping, piecing, construction, and fashion sketching, by
designers from Japan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan.
Fashion runway presentations feature the work of Silk
Road designers.

Family Oasis

12:00 — Kathputli Puppet Theater

12330 Chinese Storytellers

is Uzbek Puppet Theater
°2!00 Silk Road Storytellers

2:45 Make and Play a Silk Road Instrument
415 Indian Mela: Behrupias, Jugglers, Magicians
5:00 Asian Martial Arts in America

Demonstrations by carpet weavers from Tibet,
Afghanistan, Turkey, and the United States.

Jewel Garden

Demonstrations of Bangladeshi and Damascene metal-
work; Indian and Syrian jewelry; Buddhist figurative
carved stones from Pakistan; Turkmen and Italian
beads; Syrian and Turkish blown glass; and Syrian inlay
furniture. Cooking demonstrations in the Jewel Garden
Kitchen of Afghan, Azerbaijan, Chinese, Italian, and
Syrian foods.

Freer and Sackler Galleries

Please see page ui for detailed schedule of exhibitions,
talks, tours, concerts and storytelling.

Lotus Bazaar

Sales areas offer craft demonstrations and
performances.

*EVENING CONCERT

at Istanbul Crossroads, 5:30 p.m.

Troubadours Today;
Music from Venice and Armenia

All schedules are subject to change; please check area
schedule signs for the most up-to-date information.

Venice Piazza

Aitys Stage

11100 Roksonaki: Kazakh Folk-Rock
1:45 Calicanto: Troubadours of Venice
12330 Workshop: Inspired by Tradition
iis Badakhshan: Songs and Dances
from Tajikistan
2:00 ~©Muras: Virtuosos from Kyrgyzstan
2:30 Mugham: Courtly Music of Azerbaijan
3:00 Calicanto: Troubadours of Venice
°3:45 Sabjilar: Epics and Throat-singing from
Khakasia
4:5 Muras: Virtuosos from Kyrgyzstan
4:45 Roksonaki: Kazakh Folk-Rock

Istanbul Crossroads

too Assyrian Voices: The Urhoy Choir
145 Workshop: Turkic Connections
from Istanbul to Kashgar
12330 Shoghaken Ensemble: Folk Music of Armenia
ig Sufi Ritual Music and Dance:
Alevi Semah of Hubyar
2:00 Roots of the Gypsy Trail:
Manganiyar Music of Rajasthan
2:45 Mugam: Uyghur Courtly Music
3:30 Devotional Music of Bengal:
The Kushtia Bauls
45 Sufi Ritual Music and Dance:
Alevi Semah of Hubyar

®s:00 Shoghaken Ensemble: Folk Music of Armenia

Kashgar Teahouse
12:00 Devotional Music of Bengal:
The Kushtia Bauls
12:45 Workshop: Throat-singing
115 Uzbek Puppet Theater
45 Masters of Afghan Music
2:30 Kathputli Indian Puppet Theater
3:00 Workshop: Musical Instruments
3:45 Songs of Love and Devotion:
Sufi Music from Bengal
430 Madan Gopal Singh:
Indian Music of the Spirit
5:00 Indian Mela: Behrupias, Jugglers, Magicians

Samarkand Square

*\00 Mugham: Courtly Music of Azerbaijan
1:45 Masters of Afghan Music

12:30 Ilyas Malaev Ensemble: Music and Dance
of the Bukharan Jews

iis Mugam: Uyghur Courtly Music

2:00 Maqam: Uzbek and Tajik Courtly Music

2:45 Badakhshan: Songs and Dances from
Tajikistan

3330 Ilyas Malaev Ensemble:
Music of the Bukharan Jews

400 Magam: Courtly Music of the Silk Road

® indicates sign-language interpreted

i00 Mongolia: Music from the Mountains
and the Steppe
1:45 Sabjilar: Epics and Throat-singing
from Khakasia
12:15 Aitys: Tournament of Minstrels and Bards
iis Aitys: Tournament of Minstrels and Bards
2:15 | Workshop: Nomadic Traditions
°3:00 Mongolia: Music from the Mountains
and the Steppe
3:45 Bukh: Legendary Wrestling Tradition
of Mongolia
430 Aitys: Tournament of Minstrels and Bards
Ongoing demonstrations nearby the Aitys stage of felt
making, stone carving, instrument making, and nomad
hospitality by participants from Kazakhstan and the
Tuvan Autonomous Republic in Russia. Daily demon-
strations of the construction and dismantling of a yurt
are highlighted by the loading and transport of the yurt
on a Bactrian camel.

Xi’an Tower as
too _Zurkhane: Iranian Spiritual Bodybuilding
1330 Asian Martial Arts in America

12:30 Hua Family Shawm and Percussion Band

from China

iis Beijing Opera featuring Qi Shu Fang

215 Storytellers from China

3:00 Bukh: Legendary Wrestling Tradition of
Mongolia

330. Zurkhane: Iranian Spiritual Bodybuilding

4:00 Roots of Jackie Chan: Chinese Martial Arts
and Beijing Opera

°s:00 Bukh: Legendary Wrestling Tradition of

Mongolia

Nara Gate
“100 Workshop: Asian Mask Dance Theater
12330 Songs of Love and Devotion:
Sufi Music from Bengal
1S, Tibetan Monks from Drepung Monastery
2:00 The Silk Road Ensemble: Music of the Past,
Present, and Future
245 Assyrian Voices: The Urhoy Choir
°3:30 Workshop: Devotional Music
4:00 Ethnos Shingigaku: Asian Mask Dance Theater

Paper Garden

Ceramics Courtyard
Demonstrations of Chinese blue-and-white porcelain
and tea pots; Japanese porcelain; tea bowls, and figu-
rative pottery; Turkish ini pots and tiles; and Hindu
devotional icons from Bangladesh.

SCHEDULE

THURSDAY JUNE 27

Silk Grove

Family Oasis
too ~— Workshop: Kite-making
1:45 Workshop: Beijing Opera Make-up
12330 Make and Play a Silk Road Instrument
2:00 Silk Road Storytellers
2:45 Indian Mela: Behrupias, Jugglers, Magicians
3330. Silkworms and Cocoons
4s Chinese Storytellers

5:00 Kathputli Puppet Theater

Demonstrations by carpet weavers from Tibet,
Afghanistan, Turkey, and the United States.

Jewel Garden

Freer and Sackler Galleries

Please see page i for detailed schedule of exhibitions,
talks, tours, concerts and storytelling.

Lotus Bazaar _ =
Sales areas offer craft demonstrations and
performances.

*EVENING CONCERT

at Nara Gate, 5:30 p.m.

Mountain Music, Desert Music: Folk
Traditions of Mongolia and Rajasthan

All Schedules are subject to change; please check area
schedule signs for the most up-to-date information.

101

SCHEDULE

FRIDAY JUNE 28

Venice Piazza

Aitys Stage

Silk Grove

00 Hua Family Shawm and Percussion Band
from China
130 Roksonaki: Kazakh Folk-Rock
1215 Calicanto: Troubadours of Venice
100 ~The Silk Road Ensemble:
Music of the Past, Present, and Future
1:45 Muras: Virtuosos from Kyrgyzstan
25 Roksonaki: Kazakh Folk-Rock
3:00 The Silk Road Ensemble:
Music of the Past, Present, and Future
3:45 | Workshop: Inspired by Tradition
4:30 Sabjilar: Epics and Throat-singing
from Khakasia
5:00 Calicanto: Troubadours of Venice

Istanbul Crossroads
“oo Sufi Ritual Music and Dance:
Alevi Semah of Hubyar
1245 Roots of the Gypsy Trail:
Manganiyar Music of Rajasthan
12330 Songs of Love and Devotion:
Sufi Music from Bengal
us Shoghaken Ensemble: Folk Music of Armenia
2:00 Workshop: Turkic Connections from
Istanbul to Kashgar
2:45 Sufi Ritual Music and Dance:
Alevi Semah of Hubyar
3330 Assyrian Voices: The Urhoy Choir
4:15 Shoghaken Ensemble: Folk Music of Armenia
°s5:00 ~©Mugam: Uyghur Courtly Music

Kashgar Teahouse

12:00 — Mugam: Uyghur Courtly Music
“1230 Muras: Virtuosos from Kyrgyzstan
00 Uzbek Puppet Theater
1:30 Sabjilar: Epics and Throat-singing
from Khakasia
2:00 Kathputli Indian Puppet Theater
2:30 Madan Gopal Singh:
Indian Music of the Spirit
3:00 Workshop: Musical Instruments
3:45 Devotional Music of Bengal:
The Kushtia Bauls
4:15 Roots of the Gypsy Trail:
Manganiyar Music of Rajasthan
°4:45 Indian Mela: Behrupias, Jugglers, Magicians

Samarkand Square

00 Ilyas Malaev Ensemble:
Music of the Bukharan Jews
1:30 — Magam: Uzbek and Tajik Courtly Music
12:15 Badakhshan: Songs and Dances
from Tajikistan
oo ~— Magam: Courtly Music of the Silk Road
2:30 Masters of Afghan Music
3:15 Badakhshan: Songs and Dances
from Tajikistan
4:00 Ilyas Malaev Ensemble: Music and Dance
of the Bukharan Jews
4:45 Mugham: Courtly Music of Azerbaijan

indicates sign-language interpreted

102

uzoo — Aitys: Tournament of Minstrels and Bards
12:00 Workshop: Throat-singing
12:45 Mongolia: Music from the Mountains
and the Steppe
1:30 Aitys: Tournament of Minstrels and Bards
°2:30 Workshop: Nomadic Traditions
3:15 Bukh: Legendary Wrestling Tradition
of Mongolia
3:45 Mongolia: Music from the Mountains
and the Steppe
430 Aitys: Tournament of Minstrels and Bards
Ongoing demonstrations nearby the Aitys stage of felt
making, stone carving, instrument making, and nomad
hospitality by participants from Kazakhstan and the
Tuvan Autonomous Republic in Russia. Daily demon-
strations of the construction and dismantling of a yurt
are highlighted by the loading and transport of the yurt
on a Bactrian camel.

Xi’an Tower

zoo Asian Martial Arts in America
12:00 Storytellers from China
*12145 Workshop: Voices of the Silk Road
iis Bukh: Legendary Wrestling Tradition of
Mongolia
45 Zurkhane: Iranian Spiritual Bodybuilding
2:5 Asian Martial Arts in America
3:15 Hua Family Shawm and Percussion Band
from China
400 Zurkhane: Iranian Spiritual Bodybuilding
430 Beijing Opera featuring Qi Shu Fang

Nara Gate

*:00 Workshop: Ethnos Shingigaku:
Asian Mask Dance Theater
12:30 Assyrian Voices: The Urhoy Choir
oo Ethnos Shingigaku: Asian Mask Dance Theater
2:30 Devotional Music of Bengal:
The Kushtia Bauls
315 Tibetan Monks from Drepung Monastery
4:00 Songs of Love and Devotion:
Sufi Music from Bengal
°4:45 Workshop: Devotional Music

Paper Garden

Ceramics Courtyard

Demonstrations of Chinese blue-and-white porcelain
and tea pots; Japanese porcelain; tea bowls, and figu-
rative pottery; Turkish ¢ini pots and tiles; and Hindu
devotional icons from Bangladesh.

Family Oasis
00 Kathputli Puppet Theater
1:45 Make and Play a Silk Road Instrument
115 Indian Mela: Behrupias, Jugglers, Magicians
2:00 Silk Road Storytellers
2:45 Uzbek Puppet Theater
°330 © Chinese Storytellers
415 Silk Cocoon Stretching
5:00 Asian Martial Arts in America

Demonstrations by carpet weavers from Tibet,
Afghanistan, Turkey, and the United States.

Jewel Garden

Freer and Sackler Galleries

Please see page i for detailed schedule of exhibitions,
talks, tours, concerts and storytelling.

Evening concert: Masters of Afghan Music, 6:00 p.m.

Lotus Bazaar

Sales areas offer craft demonstrations and
performances.

*EVENING CONCERT

at Istanbul Crossroads, 5:30 p.m.

Sounds of the Steppe:
Nomadic Music from Inner Asia

All Schedules are subject to change; please check area
schedule signs for the most up-to-date information.

Venice Piazza

oo Roksonaki: Kazakh Folk-Rock

1:45 Calicanto: Troubadours of Venice

12:30 Workshop: Inspired by Tradition

mis Silk Road Fashion Show

2:00 = Muras: Virtuosos from Kyrgyzstan

2:30 Sabjilar: Epics and Throat-singing
from Khakasia

3:00 Calicanto: Troubadours of Venice

3:45 | Roksonaki: Kazakh Folk-Rock

430 The Silk Road Ensemble: Music of the Past,
Present, and Future

Istanbul Crossroads
“iroo Assyrian Voices: The Urhoy Choir
1:45 Workshop: Turkic Connections from
Istanbul to Kashgar
12:30 Shoghaken Ensemble: Folk Music of Armenia
is Sufi Ritual Music and Dance:
Alevi Semah of Hubyar
2:00 Roots of the Gypsy Trail:
Manganiyar Music of Rajasthan
2:45 Songs of Love and Devotion:
Sufi Music from Bengal
3:30 Bezmard: Sounds from the Sultan's Palace
°4is Sufi Ritual Music and Dance:
Alevi Semah of Hubyar
5:00 Shoghaken Ensemble: Folk Music of Armenia

Kashgar Teahouse
12:00 Devotional Music of Bengal:
The Kushtia Bauls
12:45 Mugam: Uyghur Courtly Music
is Uzbek Puppet Theater
45 Masters of Afghan Music
2:15 Kathputli Indian Puppet Theater
°2:45 Workshop: Musical Instruments
3:30 Indian Mela: Behrupias, Jugglers, Magicians
4:00 Madan Gopal Singh:
Indian Music of the Spirit
430 Songs of Love and Devotion:
Sufi Music from Bengal
5:00 Roots of the Gypsy Trail:
Manganiyar Music of Rajasthan

Samarkand Square

oo Badakhshan: Songs and Dances
from Tajikistan
1245 Masters of Afghan Music
12:30 Mugham: Courtly Music of Azerbaijan
1s Ilyas Malaev Ensemble:
Music and Dance of the Bukharan Jews
2:00 Badakhshan: Songs and Dances from
Tajikistan
2:45 Ilyas Malaev Ensemble:
Music of the Bukharan Jews
3:15 Magam: Uzbek and Tajik Courtly Music
4:00 Maqam: Courtly Music of the Silk Road

® indicates sign-language interpreted

Aitys Stage ;
1:09 Mongolia: Music from the Mountains
and the Steppe
45 Sabjilar: Epics and Throat-singing
from Khakasia
12:15 Aitys: Tournament of Minstrels and Bards
15 Aitys: Tournament of Minstrels and Bards
2:15 Workshop: Nomadic Traditions
3:00 Mongolia: Music from the Mountains
and the Steppe
°3:45 Workshop: Throat-singing
4:30 Aitys: Tournament of Minstrels and Bards
Ongoing demonstrations nearby the Aitys stage of felt
making, stone carving, instrument making, and nomad
hospitality by participants from Kazakhstan and the
Tuvan Autonomous Republic in Russia. Daily demon-
strations of the construction and dismantling of a yurt
are highlighted by the loading and transport of the yurt
on a Bactrian camel.

Xi'an Tower ©
“iroo — Bukh: Legendary Wrestling Tradition
of Mongolia
u330 Zurkhane: Iranian Spiritual Bodybuilding
12:00 Paint, Powder, and Silk: Preparations for a
Chinese Opera Performance
12:30 Beijing Opera featuring Qi Shu Fang
1:30 Asian Martial Arts in America
2:30 Hua Family Shawm and Percussion Band
from China
315 Storytellers from China
“4:00 Workshop: Voices of the Silk Road
4330 Bukh: Legendary Wrestling Tradition of
Mongolia
5:00 Zurkhane: Iranian Spiritual Bodybuilding

Nara Gate
uoo Workshop: Ethnos Shingigaku: Asian Mask
Dance Theater
°12!30 Tibetan Monks from Drepung Monastery
iis Ethnos Shingigaku: Asian Mask Dance Theater
2:45 The Silk Road Ensemble: Music of the Past,
Present, and Future
3:30 Workshop: Devotional Music
415 — Assyrian Voices: The Urhoy Choir
4:45 Devotional Music of Bengal:
The Kushtia Bauls

Paper Garden

SCHEDULE

SATURDAY JUNE 29

Ceramics Courtyard

Demonstrations of Chinese blue-and-white porcelain
and tea pots; Japanese porcelain; tea bowls, and figu-
rative pottery; Turkish cini pots and tiles; and Hindu
devotional icons from Bangladesh.

Silk Grove _

Demonstrations of Bangladeshi jamdani weaving, Uzbek
and Indian ikat dyeing and weaving, tussah silk spin-
ning, Syrian brocade weaving, Uzbek and Gujarati
embroidery, and Indian block printing, as well as velvet
cutting by the International Silk Association. Activities
in the Tree of Life Area include the construction of a
sand mandala by the monks of Drepung Monastery.
Demonstrations in the Silk Grove Fashion Court of
draping, piecing, construction, and fashion sketching, by
designers from Japan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan,
Fashion runway presentations feature the work of Silk
Road designers.

Family Oasis
100 Kathputli Puppet Theater
1:45 Chinese Storytellers
12:30 Make and Play a Silk Road Instrument
2:00 Silk Road Storytellers
2:45 Workshop: Felt-making
3:30 Uzbek Puppet Theater
4:15 Asian Martial Arts in America
5:00 Indian Mela: Behrupias, Jugglers, Magicians

Demonstrations by carpet weavers from Tibet,
Afghanistan, Turkey, and the United States.

Jewel Garden

Freer and Sackler Galleries

Please see page i for detailed schedule of exhibitions,
talks, tours, concerts and storytelling.

Polo Field

Polo demonstration by the Potomac Polo Club between
Nara Gate and 7th Street at 2:00 p.m.

Lotus Bazaar

Sales areas offer craft demonstrations and
performances.

EVENING CONCERT

at Nara Gate, 5:30 p.m.

Ethnos Shingigaku:
Asian Mask Dance Theater

All Schedules are subject to change; please check area
schedule signs for the most up-to-date information.

103

SCHEDULE

SUNDAY JUNE 30

Venice Piazza
00 Calicanto: Troubadours of Venice
1:45 Sabjilar: Epics and Throat-singing

from Khakasia
12:15 Assyrian Voices: The Urhoy Choir

oo The Silk Road Ensemble: Music of the Past,
Present, and Future

1:45 Muras: Virtuosos from Kyrgyzstan

25 Roksonaki: Kazakh Folk-Rock

3:00 Silk Road Fashion Show with Live Music
4:00 Calicanto: Troubadours of Venice

4:45 Roksonaki: Kazakh Folk-Rock

Istanbul Crossroads

00 Sufi Ritual Music and Dance:

Alevi Semah of Hubyar
1:45 Bezmara: Sounds from the Sultan's Palace
12330 Shoghaken Ensemble: Folk Music of Armenia
tis Roots of the Gypsy Trail:

Manganiyar Music of Rajasthan
2:00 Workshop: Turkic Connections from

Istanbul to Kashgar
2:45 Devotional Music of Bengal:

The Kushtia Bauls
3:30 Bezméara: Sounds from the Sultan's Palace
4:15 Muras: Virtuosos from Kyrgyzstan
4:45 Shoghaken Ensemble: Folk Music of Armenia

Kashgar Teahouse

12:00 Madan Gopal Singh:
Indian Music of the Spirit
*12530 ~~ Masters of Afghan Music
oo Kathputli Indian Puppet Theater
130 Sabjilar: Epics and Throat-singing
from Khakasia
2:00 Uzbek Puppet Theater
2:30 Mugam: Uyghur Courtly Music
3:5 Workshop: Musical Instruments
4:00 Roots of the Gypsy Trail:
Manganiyar Music of Rajasthan
4:45 Indian Mela: Behrupias, Jugglers, Magicians

Samarkand Square

uso0 = Magam: Uzbek and Tajik Courtly Music
1:45 Ilyas Malaev Ensemble:

Music of the Bukharan Jews
12:15 Badakhshan: Songs and Dances

from Tajikistan
00 Maqam: Courtly Music of the Silk Road
2:30 Masters of Afghan Music
3:15 Badakhshan: Songs and Dances

from Tajikistan
4:00 Ilyas Malaev Ensemble:

Music and Dance of the Bukharan Jews
4:45 | Maqam: Uzbek and Tajik Courtly Music

indicates sign-language interpreted

104

Aitys Stage -
00 Aitys: Tournament of Minstrels and Bards
12:00 Workshop: Throat-singing
12:45 Mongolia: Music from the Mountains
and the Steppe
1:30 Aitys: Tournament of Minstrels and Bards
2330 Workshop: Nomadic Traditions
3:15 Bukh: Legendary Wrestling Tradition
of Mongolia
3:45 Mongolia: Music from the Mountains
and the Steppe
430 Aitys: Tournament of Minstrels and Bards
Ongoing demonstrations nearby the Aitys stage of felt
making, stone carving, instrument making, and nomad
hospitality by participants from Kazakhstan and the
Tuvan Autonomous Republic in Russia. Daily demon-
strations of the construction afd dismantling of a yurt
are highlighted by the loading and transport of the yurt
on a Bactrian camel,

Xi’an Tower

i00 Storytellers from China

1:45 Hua Family Shawm and Percussion Band
from China

12:30 Zurkhane: Iranian Spiritual Bodybuilding

1:00 Workshop: Athletics along the Silk Road

2:00 Bukh: Legendary Wrestling Tradition of
Mongolia

2330 Asian Martial Arts in America

330 Zurkhane: Iranian Spiritual Bodybuilding

4:00 Hua Family Shawm and Percussion Band
from China

430 Beijing Opera featuring Qi Shu Fang

Nara Gate

uo0 Workshop: Ethnos Shingigaku:
Asian Mask Dance Theater

12330 Tibetan Monks from Drepung Monastery

ig Songs of Love and Devotion:
Sufi Music from Bengal

2:00 Assyrian Voices: The Urhoy Choir

2:45 The Silk Road Ensemble: Music of the Past,
Present, and Future

3:30 Workshop: Devotional Music

4:00 Ethnos Shingigaku: Asian Mask Dance Theater

Paper Garden

Ceramics Courtyard

Demonstrations of Chinese blue-and-white porcelain
and tea pots; Japanese porcelain; tea bowls, and figu-
rative pottery; Turkish cini pots and tiles; and Hindu
devotional icons from Bangladesh.

Silk Grove

Family Oasis
in00—-Kathputli Puppet Theater
1:45 Workshop: Calligraphy
12:30 Chinese Storytellers
is Asian Martial Arts in America
2:00 Silk Road Storytellers
2:45 Indian Mela: Behrupias, Jugglers, Magicians
3:30 Uzbek Puppet Theater
4s Make and Play a Silk Road Instrument

Demonstrations by carpet weavers from Tibet,
Afghanistan, Turkey, and the United States.

Jewel Garden

Freer and Sackler Galleries

Please see page ii for detailed schedule of exhibitions,
talks, tours, concerts and storytelling.

Polo Field

Polo demonstration by the Potomac Polo Club between
Nara Gate and 7th Street at 2:00 p.m.

Lotus Bazaar

Sales areas offer craft demonstrations and
performances.

EVENING CONCERT

at Istanbul Crossroads, 5:30 p.m.

Ralph Rinzler Memorial Concert in honor
of Prof. Henry Glassie: Music from
Bangladesh, India, and Turkey

All Schedules are subject to change; please check area
schedule signs for the most up-to-date information.

Venice Piazza

Aitys Stage

*1z00 — Sabjilar: Epics and Throat-singing
from Khakasia
1:30 Roksonaki: Kazakh Folk-Rock
12:15 Calicanto: Troubadours of Venice
00 The Silk Road Ensemble: Music of the Past,
Present, and Future
1:45 Muras: Virtuosos from Kyrgyzstan
25 Roksonaki: Kazakh Folk-Rock
3:00 Workshop: Inspired by Tradition
3145 Bezmara: Sounds from the Sultan's Palace
430 Sabjilar: Epics and Throat-singing
from Khakasia
5:00 Calicanto: Troubadours of Venice

Istanbul Crossroads

woo Sufi Music and Dance:
Alevi Semah of Hubyar
1245 Roots of the Gypsy Trail:
Manganiyar Music of Rajasthan
12330 Songs of Love and Devotion:
Sufi Music from Bengal
11s Shoghaken Ensemble: Folk Music of Armenia
2:00 Workshop: Turkic Connections from
Istanbul to Kashgar
2:45 Devotional Music of Bengal:
The Kushtia Bauls
3330 Assyrian Voices: The Urhoy Choir
4s Shoghaken Ensemble: Folk Music of Armenia
5:00 Yansimalar: New Music from Turkey

Kashgar Teahouse
12:00 | Mugam: Uyghur Courtly Music
12330 Muras: Virtuosos from Kyrgyzstan

too Uzbek Puppet Theater

130 Hua Family Shawm and Percussion Band
from China

2:00 Kathputli Indian Puppet Theater

2330 Masters of Afghan Music

3:00 Workshop: Musical Instruments

3:45 Roots of the Gypsy Trail:
Manganiyar Music of Rajasthan

415 Madan Gopal Singh:
Indian Music of the Spirit

4:45 Indian Mela: Behrupias, Jugglers, Magicians

Samarkand Square
“i100 ~Shashmaqam: Music of the Bukharan Jews
130 ~~ Magam: Uzbek and Tajik Courtly Music
12:5 Badakhshan: Songs and Dances
from Tajikistan

00 Panorama of Maqam: Courtly Music
of the Silk Road

2330 Shashmaqam: Music and Dance of the
Bukharan Jews

35 Badakhshan: Songs and Dances
from Tajikistan
4:00 Masters of Afghan Music
4:45 Mugham: Courtly Music of Azerbaijan

* indicates sign-language interpreted

00 Aitys: Tournament of Minstrels and Bards
12:00 Workshop: Throat-singing
12:45 | Mongolia: Music from the Mountains
and the Steppe
1:30 Aitys: Tournament of Minstrels and Bards
2:30 Workshop: Nomadic Traditions
°315 Bukh: Legendary Wrestling Tradition of
Mongolia
3:45 Mongolia: Music from the Mountains
and the Steppe
430 Aitys: Tournament of Minstrels and Bards
Ongoing demonstrations nearby the Aitys stage of felt
making, stone carving, instrument making, and nomad
hospitality by participants from Kazakhstan and the
Tuvan Autonomous Republic in Russia. Daily demon-
strations of the construction and dismantling of a yurt
are highlighted by the loading and transport of the yurt
on a Bactrian camel.

Xi'an Tower
“100 Asian Martial Arts in America
12:00 Storytellers from China
12:45 Workshop: Voices on the Silk Road
is Bukh: Legendary Wrestling Tradition of
Mongolia
45 Zurkhane: Iranian Spiritual Bodybuilding
215 Asian Martial Arts in America
315 Hua Family Shawm and Percussion Band
from China
4:00. Zurkhane: Iranian Spiritual Bodybuilding
°430 Beijing Opera featuring Qi Shu Fang

Nara Gate
ir00 Devotional Music of Bengal:
The Kushtia Bauls
1245 Assyrian Voices: The Urhoy Choir
12:30 Workshop: Devotional Music
11s Indian Ocean: Jazz-Rock with a Tabla
2:00 Sufi Music and Dance:
Alevi Semah of Hubyar
2:45 The Silk Road Ensemble: Music of the Past,
Present, and Future
3:30 Kojiro Umezaki: Old and New Sounds
from Japan
4:00 Songs of Love and Devotion:
Sufi Music from Bengal
4:45 Tibetan Monks from Drepung Monastery

Paper Garden

SCHEDULE

WEDNESDAY JULY 3

Ceramics Courtyard
Demonstrations of Chinese blue-and-white porcelain
and tea pots; Japanese porcelain; tea bowls, and figu-
rative pottery; Turkish ¢ini pots and tiles; and Hindu
devotional icons from Bangladesh.

Silk Grove

Family Oasis
zoo Silkworms and Cocoons
1245 Indian Mela: Behrupias, Jugglers, Magicians
12:30 Make and Play a Silk Road Instrument
2:00 Silk Road Storytellers
2:45 Workshop: Kite-making
330 Uzbek Puppet Theater
45 Chinese Storytellers
5:00 Kathputli Puppet Theater

Demonstrations by carpet weavers from Tibet,
Afghanistan, Turkey, and the United States.

Jewel Garden
Demonstrations of Bangladeshi and Damascene metal-
work; Indian and Syrian jewelry; Buddhist figurative
carved stones from Pakistan; Turkmen and Italian
beads; Syrian and Turkish blown glass; and Syrian inlay
furniture. Cooking demonstrations in the Jewel Garden
Kitchen of Afghan, Azerbaijan, Chinese, Italian, and
Syrian foods.

Freer and Sackler Galleries
Please see page in for detailed schedule of exhibitions,
talks, tours, concerts and storytelling.

Lotus Bazaar

Sales areas offer craft demonstrations and
performances.

“EVENING CONCERT

at Istanbul Crossroads, 5:30 p.m.

From the Emir’s Court:
Classical Music of Central Asia

All Schedules are subject to change; please check area
schedule signs for the most up-to-date information.

105

SCHEDULE

HIVIRSIDAN UIE Ya,

Venice Piazza _

uioo~—- Roksonaki: Kazakh Folk-Rock

1:45 Calicanto: Troubadours of Venice

12330 Workshop: Inspired by Tradition

is The Silk Road Ensemble: Music of the Past,
Present, and Future

2:00 Muras: Virtuosos from Kyrgyzstan

2:30 Sabjilar: Epics and Throat-singing from
Khakasia

3:00 Calicanto: Troubadours of Venice

3:45 Badakhshan: Songs and Dances
from Tajikistan

430 The Silk Road Ensemble: Music of the Past,
Present, and Future

Istanbul Crossroads
oo Assyrian Voices: The Urhoy Choir
1:45 Workshop: Turkic Connections from

Istanbul to Kashgar
12:30 Shoghaken Ensemble: Folk Music of Armenia
mis Sufi Music and Dance:
Alevi Semah of Hubyar
*2!00 Roots of the Gypsy Trail:
Manganiyar Music of Rajasthan
2:45 Devotional Music of Bengal:
The Kushtia Bauls
3:30 Bezmara: Sounds from the Sultan's Palace
4:15 Sufi Music and Dance:
Alevi Semah of Hubyar
soo Shoghaken Ensemble: Folk Music of Armenia

Kashgar Teahouse

12:00 Devotional Music of Bengal:
The Kushtia Bauls
12:45 Workshop: Throat-singing
1:30 Uzbek Puppet Theater
2:00 Indian Mela: Behrupias, Jugglers, Magicians
2:45 Kathputli Indian Puppet Theater
315 Workshop: Musical Instruments
4:00 Mugam: Uyghur Courtly Music
430 Muras: Virtuosos from Kyrgyzstan
5:00 Madan Gopal Singh:
Indian Music of the Spirit

Samarkand Square

1:00 Bezméara: Sounds from the Sultan’s Palace
1:45 Masters of Afghan Music

12530 Shashmaqam: Music and Dance of the
Bukharan Jews

us Mugham: Courtly Music of Azerbaijan

2:00 Badakhshan: Songs and Dances from
Tajikistan

2:45 | Maqam: Uzbek and Tajik Courtly Music

3:30 Shashmaqam: Music of the Bukharan Jews

4:00 Magam: Courtly Music of the Silk Road

indicates sign-language interpreted

106

Aitys Stage

Ceramics Courtyard

100 Mongolia: Music from the Mountains
and the Steppe
1:45 Sabjilar: Epics and Throat-singing from
Khakasia
12:15 Aitys: Tournament of Minstrels and Bards
115 Aitys: Tournament of Minstrels and Bards
2:15 | Workshop: Nomadic Traditions
3:00 Mongolia: Music from the Mountains
and the Steppe
3:45 Masters of Afghan Music
430 Aitys: Tournament of Minstrels and Bards
Ongoing demonstrations nearby the Aitys stage of felt
making, stone carving, instrument making, and nomad
hospitality by participants from Kazakhstan and the
Tuvan Autonomous Republic in Russia. Daily demon-
strations of the construction and dismantling of a yurt
are highlighted by the loading and transport of the yurt
on a Bactrian camel.

Xi’an Tower
“woo Zurkhane: Iranian Spiritual Bodybuilding
1330 Asian Martial Arts in America
12330 Hua Family Shawm and Percussion Band
from China
15 Beijing Opera featuring Qi Shu Fang
25 Storytellers from China
3:00 Bukh: Legendary Wrestling Tradition of
Mongolia
330 © Zurkhane: Iranian Spiritual Bodybuilding
4:00 Roots of Jackie Chan: Chinese Martial Arts
and Beijing Opera
5:00 Bukh: Legendary Wrestling Tradition of
Mongolia

Nara Gate
iroo Roots of the Gypsy Trail:
Manganiyar Music of Rajasthan
1:45 | Workshop: Devotional Music
12:30 Tibetan Monks from Drepung Monastery
iis Indian Ocean: Jazz-Rock with a Tabla
2:00 Songs of Love and Devotion:
Sufi Music from Bengal
2:45 Assyrian Voices: The Urhoy Choir
330 Workshop: Voices
4:15 Songs of Love and Devotion:
Sufi Music from Bengal

5:00 Kojiro Umezaki: Old and New Sounds
from Japan

Paper Garden

Demonstrations of Chinese blue-and-white porcelain
and tea pots; Japanese porcelain; tea bowls, and figu-
rative pottery; Turkish cini pots and tiles; and Hindu
devotional icons from Bangladesh,

Silk Grove

Family Oasis

zoo Make and Play a Silk Road Instrument
12:30 Kathputli Puppet Theater

15 Asian Martial Arts in America

2:00 Silk Road Storytellers

2:45 Workshop: Silk Road Fashion

3:30 Uzbek Puppet Theater

45 Chinese Storytellers

5:00 Indian Mela: Behrupias, Jugglers, Magicians

Demonstrations by carpet weavers from Tibet,
Afghanistan, Turkey, and the United States.

Jewel Garden

Freer and Sackler Galleries

Please see page i for detailed schedule of exhibitions,
talks, tours, concerts and storytelling.

Lotus Bazaar

Sales areas offer craft demonstrations and
performances.

*EVENING CONCERT

at Venice Piazza, 5:30 p.m.

Ballads and Beats of Today's Silk Road:
Indian Ocean and Roksonaki

All Schedules are subject to change; please check area
schedule signs for the most up-to-date information.

Venice Piazza

Aitys Stage

iz0o — Sabjilar: Epics and Throat-singing
from Khakasia
1:30 Calicanto: Troubadours of Venice
12:15 Roksonaki: Kazakh Folk-Rock
00 Bezméara: Sounds from the Sultan's Palace
145 Mugham: Courtly Music of Azerbaijan
°2:30 ~-Muras: Virtuosos from Kyrgyzstan
3:00 Roksonaki: Kazakh Folk-Rock
3:45 Workshop: Inspired by Tradition
430 Sabjilar: Epics and Throat-singing
from Khakasia
5:00 Silk Road Jam Session

Istanbul Crossroads

*ir00 Sufi Music and Dance: Alevi Semah
of Hubyar
1r45 Shoghaken Ensemble: Folk Music of Armenia

12330 Songs of Love and Devotion:
Sufi Music from Bengal
iis Roots of the Gypsy Trail:
Manganiyar Music of Rajasthan
2:00 Workshop: Turkic Connections from
Istanbul to Kashgar
2:45 Assyrian Voices: The Urhoy Choir
3330 Shoghaken Ensemble: Folk Music of Armenia
415 Bezmara: Sounds from the Sultan’s Palace
5:00 Yansimalar: New Music from Turkey

Kashgar Teahouse

12:00 Masters of Afghan Music

12:30 Muras: Virtuosos from Kyrgyzstan

°1o0 ~~ Uzbek Puppet Theater

130 Hua Family Shawm and Percussion Band
from China

2:00 Kathputli Indian Puppet Theater

2:30 Madan Gopal Singh: Indian Music
of the Spirit

3:00 Workshop: Musical Instruments

3:45 Roots of the Gypsy Trail:
Manganiyar Music of Rajasthan

415 Devotional Music of Bengal:
The Kushtia Bauls
4:45 Indian Mela: Behrupias, Jugglers, Magicians

Samarkand Square

uzoo ~=— Magam: Uzbek and Tajik Courtly Music
1245 Shashmaqam: Music of the Bukharan Jews
12:15 Badakhshan: Songs and Dances from
Tajikistan
00 ~~ Maqam: Courtly Music of the Silk Road
°2:30 Shashmaqam: Music and Dance of the
Bukharan Jews
35 Badakhshan: Songs and Dances from
Tajikistan
4:00 Masters of Afghan Music
°4:45 Mugham: Courtly Music of Azerbaijan

00 Aitys: Tournament of Minstrels and Bards
12:00 Workshop: Throat-singing
12:45 Mongolia: Music from the Mountains
and the Steppe
1:30 Aitys: Tournament of Minstrels and Bards
2:30 Workshop: Nomadic Traditions
3:15 Bukh: Legendary Wrestling Tradition of
Mongolia
3:45 Mongolia: Music from the Mountains
and the Steppe
430 Aitys: Tournament of Minstrels and Bards
Ongoing demonstrations nearby the Aitys stage of felt
making, stone carving, instrument making, and nomad
hospitality by participants from Kazakhstan and the
Tuvan Autonomous Republic in Russia. Daily demon-
strations of the construction and dismantling of a yurt
are highlighted by the loading and transport of the yurt
on a Bactrian camel.

Xi’an Tower —__
oo Asian Martial Arts in America
12:00 Storytellers from China
°12:45 | Workshop: Voices on the Silk Road
is Bukh: Legendary Wrestling Tradition of
Mongolia
1:45 Zurkhane: Iranian Spiritual Bodybuilding
2:15 Asian Martial Arts in America
3:15 Hua Family Shawm and Percussion Band
from China
4:00 Zurkhane: Iranian Spiritual Bodybuilding
°430 Beijing Opera featuring Qi Shu Fang

Nara Gate

100 Devotional Music of Bengal:
The Kushtia Bauls
1:45 Assyrian Voices: The Urhoy Choir
12330 Workshop: Devotional Music
is Indian Ocean: Jazz-Rock with a Tabla
2:00 Sufi Music and Dance: Alevi Semah
of Hubyar
2:45 The Silk Road Ensemble: Music of the Past,
Present, and Future
3330 Kojiro Umezaki: Old and New Sounds
from Japan
400 Songs of Love and Devotion:
Sufi Music from Bengal
4:45 Tibetan Monks from Drepung Monastery

Paper Garden

Demonstrations by paper makers frorn Japan, China,
Turkey, and Italy; Assyrian, Chinese, Uyghur, and
Turkish calligraphy; Tibetan thangkas; Iranian, Armenian,
and Hindu devotional paintings; Italian masks; Indian
kites; and paper prayer making. Cooking demonstra-
tions in the Paper Garden Kitchen of Armenian, Indian,
Persian, Turkish, and Uzbek foods.

SCHEDULE

FRIDAY JULY 5

Ceramics Courtyard _
Demonstrations of Chinese blue-and-white porcelain
and tea pots; Japanese porcelain; tea bowls, and figu-
rative pottery; Turkish ini pots and tiles; and Hindu
devotional icons from Bangladesh.

Silk Grove

Demonstrations of Bangladeshi jamdani weaving, Uzbek
and Indian ikat dyeing and weaving, tussah silk spin-
ning, Syrian brocade weaving, Uzbek and Gujarati
embroidery, and Indian block printing, as well as velvet
cutting by the International Silk Association, Activities
in the Tree of Life Area include the construction of a
sand mandala by the monks of Drepung Monastery.
Demonstrations in the Silk Grove Fashion Court of
draping, piecing, construction, and fashion sketching, by
designers from Japan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan.
Fashion runway presentations feature the work of Silk
Road designers.

Family Oasis
too = Workshop: Calligraphy
ut45 Make and Play a Silk Road Instrument
tis Indian Mela: Behrupias, Jugglers, Magicians
2:00 Silk Road Storytellers
2:45 Workshop: Felt-making
330 Uzbek Puppet Theater
4:15 Asian Martial Arts in America
5:00 Chinese Storytellers

Demonstrations by carpet weavers from Tibet,
Afghanistan, Turkey, and the United States.

Jewel Garden

Demonstrations of Bangladeshi and Damascene metal-
work: Indian and Syrian jewelry; Buddhist figurative
carved stones from Pakistan; Turkmen and Italian
beads; Syrian and Turkish blown glass; and Syrian inlay
furniture. Cooking demonstrations in the Jewel Garden
Kitchen of Afghan, Azerbaijan, Chinese, Italian, and
Syrian foods.

Freer and Sackler Galleries

Please see page i for detailed schedule of exhibitions,
talks, tours, concerts and storytelling.

Evening concert: Parisa and Dariush Talai: Classical
Music of Iran, 6:00 p.m.

Lotus Bazaar _
Sales areas offer craft demonstrations and
performances.

*EVENING CONCERT

at Venice Piazza, 5:30 p.m.

The Silk Road Ensemble:
Exploring Tradition and Innovation

All Schedules are subject to change; please check area
schedule signs for the most up-to-date information.

107

SCHEDULE

SATURDAY JULY 6

Venice Piazza

zoo Roksonaki: Kazakh Folk-Rock

1245 Workshop: Inspired by Tradition

12:30 Indian Ocean: Jazz-Rock with a Tabla

iis The Silk Road Ensemble: Music of the Past,
Present, and Future

2:00 ©=Muras: Virtuosos from Kyrgyzstan

2:30 Sabjilar: Epics and Throat-singing from
Khakasia

3:00 Silk Road Jam Session

3145 Roksonaki: Kazakh Folk-Rock

430 Yansimalar: New Music from Turkey

5:00 Badakhshan: Songs and Dances from
Tajikistan

Istanbul Crossroads
1:00 Assyrian Voices: The Urhoy Choir
1:45 Workshop: Turkic Connections from Istanbul
to Kashgar
12330 Shoghaken Ensemble: Folk Music of Armenia
iis Music and Dance: Alevi Semah of Hubyar
2:00 Bezmara: Sounds from the Sultan's Palace
2:45 Devotional Music of Bengal:
The Kushtia Bauls
3330 Roots of the Gypsy Trail:
Manganiyar Music of Rajasthan
45 Sufi Music and Dance:
Alevi Semah of Hubyar
*s:00 Shoghaken Ensemble: Folk Music of Armenia

Kashgar Teahouse

12:00 Devotional Music of Bengal:
The Kushtia Bauls
°12:45 Workshop: Throat-singing
iis Uzbek Puppet Theater
45 Masters of Afghan Music
215 Kathputli Indian Puppet Theater
2:45 Workshop: Musical Instruments
3:30 Muras: Virtuosos from Kyrgyzstan
©4200 Mugam: Uyghur Courtly Music
430 Madan Gopal Singh:
Indian Music of the Spirit
5:00 Indian Mela: Behrupias, Jugglers, Magicians

Samarkand Square

100 Bezmara: Sounds from the Sultan's Palace
u:45 Masters of Afghan Music

12330 | Shashmaqam: Music and Dance of the
Bukharan Jews
is Mugham: Courtly Music of Azerbaijan
2:00 Maqam: Uzbek and Tajik Courtly Music
2:45 Badakhshan: Songs and Dances
from Tajikistan
3330 Shashmaqam: Music of the Bukharan Jews
4:00 Magam: Courtly Music of the Silk Road

indicates sign-language interpreted

108

Aitys Stage

Ceramics Courtyard

100 Mongolia: Music from the Mountains
and the Steppe
1245 Sabjilar: Epics and Throat-singing
from Khakasia
1215 Aitys: Tournament of Minstrels and Bards
iis Aitys: Tournament of Minstrels and Bards
2:15 Workshop: Nomadic Traditions
3:00 Mongolia: Music from the Mountains
and the Steppe
3:45 Bukh: Legendary Wrestling Tradition
of Mongolia
430 Aitys: Tournament of Minstrels and Bards

Ongoing demonstrations nearby the Aitys stage of felt
making, stone carving, instrument making, and nomad
hospitality by participants from Kazakhstan and the
Tuvan Autonomous Republic’in Russia. Daily demon-
strations of the construction and dismantling of a yurt
are highlighted by the loading and transport of the yurt
on a Bactrian camel.

Xi’an Tower

woo Zurkhane: Iranian Spiritual Bodybuilding
130 Asian Martial Arts in America
12:30 Hua Family Shawm and Percussion Band
from China
iis Beijing Opera featuring Qi Shu Fang
215 Storytellers from China
°3:00 Bukh: Legendary Wrestling Tradition of
Mongolia
3330 Zurkhane: Iranian Spiritual Bodybuilding
4:00 Roots of Jackie Chan: Chinese Martial Arts
and Beijing Opera
5i00 Hua Family Shawm and Percussion Band
from China

Nara Gate

ir00 Roots of the Gypsy Trail:
Manganiyar Music of Rajasthan

1:45 Workshop: Devotional Music

” 12:30 Tibetan Monks from Drepung Monastery

iis Songs of Love and Devotion: Sufi Music
from Bengal

2:00 Silk Road Jam Session

2:45 Assyrian Voices: The Urhoy Choir

3:30 Workshop: Voices of the Silk Road

415 Songs of Love and Devotion:
Sufi Music from Bengal

5:00 Kojiro Umezaki: Old and New Sounds
from Japan

Paper Garden

Demonstrations of Chinese blue-and-white porcelain
and tea pots; Japanese porcelain; tea bowls, and figu-
rative pottery; Turkish cini pots and tiles; and Hindu
devotional icons from Bangladesh.

Silk Grove

Family Oasis
oo Make and Play a Silk Road Instrument
12330 Kathputli Puppet Theater
°115 Indian Mela: Behrupias, Jugglers, Magicians
2:00 Silk Road Storytellers
2:45 Workshop: Beijing Opera Make-up
3330 Chinese Storytellers
415 Uzbek Puppet Theater
5:00 = Asian Martial Arts in America

Demonstrations by carpet weavers from Tibet,
Afghanistan, Turkey, and the United States.

Jewel Garden

Freer and Sackler Galleries

Please see page ut for detailed schedule of exhibitions,
talks, tours, concerts and storytelling.

Polo Field

Polo demonstration given by the Potomac Polo Club
between Nara Gate and 7th Street at 2:00 p.m.

Lotus Bazaar

Sales areas offer craft demonstrations and
performances.

EVENING CONCERT

at Nara Gate, 5:30 p.m.
Deaf Way II Concert

Movement along the Silk Road:
Dance from China, India, and Japan

All Schedules are subject to change; please check area
schedule signs for the most up-to-date information.

Venice Piazza

Aitys Stage

*ir0o — Sabjilar: Epics and Throat-singing from
Khakasia
1:30 The Silk Road Ensemble: Music of the Past,
Present, and Future
1215 Assyrian Voices: The Urhoy Choir
roo Silk Road Fashion Show with Live Music
2:00 © Muras: Virtuosos from Kyrgyzstan
2:30 Bezmara: Sounds from the Sultan's Palace
3:15 Roksonaki: Kazakh Folk-Rock
4:00 Workshop: Inspired by Tradition
5:00 Sabjilar: Epics and Throat-singing from
Khakasia

Istanbul Crossroads

100 Sufi Music and Dance:
Alevi Semah of Hubyar
1245 Roots of the Gypsy Trail:
Manganiyar Music of Rajasthan
12:330 Songs of Love and Devotion:
Sufi Music from Bengal
iis Shoghaken Ensemble: Folk Music of Armenia
2:00 Workshop: Turkic Connections from
Istanbul to Kashgar
2:45 Devotional Music of Bengal:
The Kushtia Bauls
3:30 Assyrian Voices: The Urhoy Choir
4s Shoghaken Ensemble: Folk Music of Armenia
5:00 Silk Road Jam Session

Kashgar Teahouse
12:00 | Mugam: Uyghur Courtly Music
12:30 | Muras: Virtuosos from Kyrgyzstan
*\100 Uzbek Puppet Theater
130 Hua Family Shawm and Percussion Band
from China
2:00 Kathputli Indian Puppet Theater
2:30 Madan Gopal Singh: Indian Music
of the Spirit
3:00 Workshop: Musical Instruments
3:45 Roots of the Gypsy Trail: Manganiyar Music
of Rajasthan
415 Masters of Afghan Music
°4:45 Indian Mela: Behrupias, Jugglers, Magicians

Samarkand Square

100 Magam: Uzbek and Tajik Courtly Music
1245 Shashmaqam: Music of the Bukharan Jews
12:15 Badakhshan: Songs and Dances from
Tajikistan

00 Maqam: Courtly Music of the Silk Road

2330 Masters of Afghan Music

315 Badakhshan: Songs and Dances from
Tajikistan

4:00 Shashmaqam: Music and Dance of the
Bukharan Jews

4:45 Mugham: Courtly Music of Azerbaijan

® indicates sign-language interpreted

inoo — Aitys: Tournament of Minstrels and Bards
12:00 Workshop: Throat-singing
12:45 | Mongolia: Music from the Mountains and the
Steppe
130 Aitys: Tournament of Minstrels and Bards
2330 Workshop: Nomadic Traditions
°3:15 Bukh: Legendary Wrestling Tradition of
Mongolia
3:45 | Mongolia: Music from the Mountains
and the Steppe
430 Aitys: Tournament of Minstrels and Bards
Ongoing demonstrations nearby the Aitys stage of felt
making, stone carving, instrument making, and nomad
hospitality by participants from Kazakhstan and the
Tuvan Autonomous Republic in Russia. Daily demon-
strations of the construction and dismantling of a yurt
are highlighted by the loading and transport of the yurt
on a Bactrian camel.

Xi’an Tower
100 Asian Martial Arts in America
12:00 Storytellers from China
12:45 Workshop: Voices on the Silk Road
iis Bukh: Legendary Wrestling Tradition of
Mongolia
45 Zurkhane: Iranian Spiritual Bodybuilding
2:15 Workshop: Athletics on the Silk Road
3:15 Hua Family Shawm and Percussion Band
from China
400 Zurkhane: Iranian Spiritual Bodybuilding
430 Beijing Opera featuring Qi Shu Fang

Nara Gate

1r00 Devotional Music of Bengal:
The Kushtia Bauls
1:45 Workshop: Devotional Music
12330 Silk Road Jam Session
iis Indian Ocean: Jazz-Rock with a Tabla
2:00 Sufi Music and Dance:
Alevi Semah of Hubyar
2:45 The Silk Road Ensemble: Music of the Past,
Present, and Future
330 Kojiro Umezaki: Old and New Sounds
from Japan
400 Songs of Love and Devotion:
Sufi Music from Bengal
°4:45 Tibetan Monks from Drepung Monastery

Paper Garden

SCHEDULE

SUNDAY JULY 7

Silk Grove

Family Oasis
oo ~— Uzbek Puppet Theater
1:45 Workshop: Calligraphy
12330 Kathputli Puppet Theater
mig Asian Martial Arts in America
2:00 Silk Road Storytellers
2:45 Indian Mela: Behrupias, Jugglers, Magicians
3330 Chinese Storytellers
4s Make and Play a Silk Road Instrument

Demonstrations by carpet weavers from Tibet,
Afghanistan, Turkey, and the United States.

Jewel Garden

Freer and Sackler Galleries

Please see page in for detailed schedule of exhibitions,
talks, tours, concerts and storytelling.

Polo Field
Polo demonstration given by the Potomac Polo Club
between Nara Gate and 7th Street at 2:00 p.m.

Sales areas offer craft demonstrations and
performances.

All Schedules are subject to change; please check area
schedule signs for the most up-to-date information.

109

: Ne CY \

AN KN y Ve?

EVENING CONCERTS AND SPECIAL EVENTS

YA, FN.
M = >< & a
{ONS \ Z
) SAU (S
(fT \
)

EVENING CONCERTS

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 26, 5:30 P.M.
Istanbul Crossroads

Troubadours Today: Music from Venice and Armenia

Tuurspbay, JUNE 27, 5:30 P.M.

Nara Gate

Mountain Music, Desert Music:

Folk Traditions of Mongolia and Rajasthan

FriDAy, JUNE 28, 5:30 P.M.
Istanbul Crossroads

Sounds of the Steppe: Nomadic Music from Inner Asia

Meyer Auditorium, Freer Gallery, 6:00 p.m.

Concert: Masters of Afghan Music

SATURDAY, JUNE 29, 5:30 P.M.
Nara Gate

Ethnos Shingigaku: Asian Mask Dance Theater

SUNDAY, JUNE 30, 5:30 P.M.

Istanbul Crossroads

Ralph Rinzler Memorial Concert

in honor of Prof. Henry Glassie:

Music from Bangladesh, India, and Turkey

WEDNESDAY, JULY 3, 5:30 P.M.
Istanbul Crossroads

From the Emir’s Court: Classical Music of Central Asia

THursDAY, JULY 4, 5:30 P.M.

Venice Piazza

Ballads and Beats of Today’s Silk Road:
Indian Ocean and Roksonaki

Fripay, JULY 5, 5:30 P.M.

_ Venice Piazza

The Silk Road Ensemble:
Exploring Tradition and Innovation

Meyer Auditorium, Freer Gallery, 6:00 p.m.
Concert: Parisa and Dariush Talai:
Classical Music of Iran

SaTuRDAY, JULY 6, 5:30 P.M.

Nara Gate

Deaf Way II Concert

Movement along the Silk Road:
Dance from China, India, and Japan
SPECIAL EVENTS =
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 26

Opening Ceremony (Samarkand Square)
11:00 a.m.

SaTuRDAY, JUNE 29 — SUNDAY, JUNE 30;
SaTurpAyY, JULY 6 — SuNDAy, JULY 7
2:00-3:00

Polo

Polo, a game of horsemanship and skill is derived from a Central Asian game
dated to about 2,500 years ago. British officers in the northwestern region of
colonial India, now at the border of Pakistan and Afghanistan, observed the local
game of buzkashi, played by teams of horsemen competing to deposit a goat or
sheep carcass into a goal. The game was adapted for play in Great Britain, and
from there, the United States. For the Festival, the game is played by the

Potomac Polo Club.

110

FREER GALLERY OF ART AND
ARTHUR M. SACKLER GALLERY _

Sa eT

Miss
ATED INTEREST

REL
VA A

The Festival extends into the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M.
Sackler Gallery (which together form the national museum of

Asian art) with a series of exhibitions and public programs cele-

brating the Silk Road.

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS AT THE FREER AND SACKLER GALLERIES

June 26
io0-11:45 Storytelling: Adventures of Hamza
1130-12115 Tour: Arts of the Silk Road
12:00-12:45 Storytelling: Adventures of Hamza

12:30-115 Curatorial Talk: Luxury Arts of the Silk Route
Empires

1:00-1:45 Storytelling: Adventures of Hamza

1:00 ImaginAsia: Gifts for Kings and Queens

1:30-2:00 Tour: Arts of the Silk Road

2:00-2:45 Concert: Parisa and Dariush Talai:
Classical Music of Iran

2:30 ImaginAsia: Gifts for Kings and Queens

June 27
W00-11:45 Storytelling: Adventures of Hamza
1130-12115 Tour: Arts of the Silk Road

12!00-12°45 Concert: Magam: Uzbek and Tajik Courtly
Music

Storytelling: Adventures of Hamza

1230-1115 Curatorial Talk: Sacred Sites: Silk Road
Photographs of Kenro Izu and The Cave as
Canvas: Hidden Images of Worship along the
Silk Road

io0-1:45 Storytelling: Adventures of Hamza

1:00 ImaginAsia: Gifts for Kings and Queens

1330-2:00 Tour: Arts of the Silk Road

2:00-3:00 Concert: Parisa and Dariush Talai:
Classical Music of Iran

2:30 ImaginAsia: Gifts for Kings and Queens

3:00-3:45 Storytelling: Silk Road Stories

5:00-6:00 Storytelling: Tales and Legends Along
the Silk Road

7:00 Lecture: From Ancient Tellers of Tales: The

Hamzanama at the Mughal Court, Meyer
Auditorium, Freer Gallery

June 28
ILO0-11:45
1230-12215
12:00-12:45
12:00-1:00
12230-1115
OO-145
1:30-2:00
2:30
3-00-3-45
4:00-5:00
6:00

June 29
MLOO-11.45
1230-1215
12:00-12:45
12!30-115
100-145
1:00
1:30-2:00
2:00-3:00
2:30
3:00-3:45

Storytelling: Adventures of Hamza
Tour: Arts of the Silk Road
Storytelling: Adventures of Hamza

Concert: Mugham:
Courtly Music of Azerbaijan

Curatorial Talk: Luxury Arts of the Silk Route
Empires

Storytelling: Adventures of Hamza

Tour: Arts of the Silk Road

ImaginAsia: Gifts for Kings and Queens
Storytelling: Silk Road Stories

Concert: Parisa and Dariush Talai:
Classical Music of Iran

Concert: Masters of Afghan Music

Storytelling: Silk Road Stories
Storytelling: Adventures of Hamza
Tour: Arts of the Silk Road

Concert: Bezméara: Sounds from the
Sultan’s Palace

Storytelling: Adventures of Hamza
Curatorial Talk: Adventures of Hamza
Storytelling: Adventures of Hamza
ImaginAsia: Gifts for Kings and Queens
Tour: Arts of the Silk Road

Concert: Parisa and Dariush Talai:
Classical Music of Iran

ImaginAsia: Gifts for Kings and Queens
Storytelling: Silk Road Stories

June 30

WIOO-11245

IL30-1215

12:00-12:45

12330-1115
100-145
1:00
1330-200
2:30
3100-3245
4:00-4:45

July 3
WIOO-11:45
11330-12215

12:00-12:45

1230-115
100-145
00

1:30-2:00

2100-300

2:30
3:00-3:45
4:00-5:00

Storytelling: Silk Road Stories
Storytelling: Adventures of Hamza
Tour: Arts of the Silk Road

Concert: Mugham: Courtly Music of
Azerbaijan

Storytelling: Adventures of Hamza

Tour: Arts of the Silk Road

Storytelling: Adventures of Hamza
ImaginAsia: Gifts for Kings and Queens
Tour: Arts of the Silk Road

ImaginAsia: Gifts for Kings and Queens
Storytelling: Silk Road Stories

Concert: Parisa and Dariush Talai:
Classical Music of Iran

Storytelling: Adventures of Hamza
Tour: Arts of the Silk Road

Concert: Bezmara: Sounds from the
Sultan's Palace

Storytelling: Adventures of Hamza
Curatorial Talk: The Adventures of Hamza
Storytelling: Adventures of Hamza
ImaginAsia: Gifts for Kings and Queens
Tour: Arts of the Silk Road

Concert: Mugham:
Courtly Music of Azerbaijan

ImaginAsia: Gifts for Kings and Queens
Storytelling: Silk Road Stories

Concert: Parisa and Dariush Talai:
Classical Music of Iran

July 4 July 6
i00-11:45 Storytelling: Adventures of Hamza
1330-12215 Tour: Arts of the Silk Road
12!00-12:45 Concert: Magam: Uzbek and Tajik Courtly

Music 12:00-12:45 Concert: Mugham:
Courtly Music of Azerbaijan

Storytelling: Adventures of Hamza

12:30-115 Curatorial Talk: Luxury Arts of the Silk Route
Empires

uoo-1:45 Storytelling: Silk Road Stories
Storytelling: Adventures of Hamza
11330-12515 Tour: Arts of the Silk Road

Storytelling: Adventures of Hamza
12330-1115 Curatorial Talk: Luxury Arts of the Silk Route

July 7
i00-11:45 Storytelling: Adventures of Hamza
Storytelling: Silk Road Stories
1330-1215 Tour: Arts of the Silk Road

12!00-12:45 Concert: Parisa and Dariush Talai:
Classical Music of Iran

Storytelling: Adventures of Hamza
12330-1115 Curatorial Talk: Sacred Sites: Silk Road

1:00-1:45 Storytelling: Adventures of Hamza Empires Photographs of Kenro Izu and The Cave as
1:30-2:00 Tour: Arts of the Silk Road oo-1:45 Storytelling: Adventures of Hamza Canvas: Hidden Images of Worship along the
2:00-3:00 Concert: Parisa and Dariush Talai: 100 ImaginAsia: Gifts for Kings and Queens Silk Road

Classical Music of Iran 1330-2100 Tour: Arts of the Silk Road 00-145 Storytelling: Adventures of Hamza
3:00-3:45 Storytelling: Silk Road Stories 2:00-3:00 Concert: Parisa and Dariush Talai: Oo ImaginAsia: Gifts for Kings and Queens

Classical Music of Iran
July 5 3:00-3:45 Storytelling: Silk Road Stories 2:30

uL00-11:45 Storytelling: Adventures of Hamza 2:30
11330-12:15 Tour: Arts of the Silk Road

12!00-12:45 Concert: Parisa and Dariush Talai:
Classical Music of Iran

Storytelling: Adventures of Hamza

12330-1115 Curatorial Talk: Luxury Arts of the Silk Route
Empires

1:00-1:45 Storytelling: Adventures of Hamza

1:30-2:00 Tour: Arts of the Silk Road

2:00-3:00 Concert: Masters of Afghan Music

3:00-3:45 Storytelling: Silk Road Stories

4100-5:00 Concert: Mugam: Uyghur Courtly Music

6:00 Concert: Parisa and Dariush Talai:
Classical Music of Iran

RELATED EXHIBITIONS AT THE SACKLER GALLERY
The Adventures of Hamza
June 26—September 29, 2002

The Adventures of Hamza (or Hamzanama) is a fantastical adventure

story based loosely on the exploits of Hamza, an uncle of the Prophet
Muhammad, who traveled throughout the world spreading the
teachings of Islam. The narrative tells of abductions and hair-raising
chases, and of encounters with giants, demons, and dragons.

112

ImaginAsia: Gifts for Kings and Queens

4:00-5:00 Concert: The Silk Road Ensemble: Music
of the Past, Present, and Future Music

1:30-2:00 Tour: Arts of the Silk Road

ImaginAsia: Gifts for Kings and Queens
3:00-3:45 Storytelling: Silk Road Stories

4:00-5:00 Concert: Mugam: Uzbek and Tajik Courtly

Program Locations:

ImaginAsia: Classroom, Sackler second level

Storytelling: Adventures of Hamza, Sackler second level
Silk Road Stories, Sackler first level

Tour and Curatorial Talks: Sackler first level
Concerts: Meyer Auditorium, Freer Gallery

The Cave as Canvas

Hidden Images of Worship along the Silk Road

Through July 7, 2002

The dissemination of luxury items, religious traditions, and cultural
ideas along the Silk Road facilitated innumerable acts of individual
devotion as well as the construction of bustling cities, impressive
royal tombs, and important Buddhist monasteries and cave
complexes. This exhibition presents fifteen wall-painting fragments
from the Buddhist caves cut into the cliffs flanking Qizil, a flour-
ishing Silk Road city located in what is now the Chinese
Autonomous Region of Xinjiang.

Sacred Sites:

Silk Road Photographs by Kenro Izu

June 9, 2002—January 5, 2003

In the last two years, Japanese-born photographer Kenro Izu has
brought his large-format camera along the same Silk Road routes
that merchants and monks traveled for centuries. In his photographs,
Izu seeks to capture the resonance of stone monuments worshiped
over millennia.

Luxury Arts of the Silk Route Empires

Continuing indefinitely

Two thousand years before the development of today's global
economy, an exchange network linked the continent of Asia via the
Silk Road. These trade routes served as channels through which
luxury arts created for secular and religious purposes could travel
great distances, between the Mediterranean coast and northern
China. Richly decorated cosmetic containers, silver and gold
bangeting vessels, and objects used in religious rituals illustrate the
lively artistic interaction of the period.

SMITHSONIAN ASSOCIATES ;
The Smithsonian Associates offers a variety of Silk Road related

lectures, courses, and seminars to complement the Folklife Festival:
June 29, Chinese Ceramics: East Meets West; July 2—August 6,
Following the Caravans; July 8, Reclaiming Genghis Khan;
July 9, The Caves of Dunhuang: China's Silk Road Treasures;
July 10, The Culinary Legacy of the Silk Road; July 12-13,
Understanding Tribal Carpets; July 16, The Silk Road Ends in Italy:
July 18, Signposts of the Silk Road in Italian Renaissance Art; July
27, Nomads of the Steppes: September 18, Where the Silk Road and
the Spice Route Meet.

For further information about Resident Associates programs, call
202.357.3030 or visit www.SmithsonianAssociates.org.

NaTIONAL GALLERY OF ART AND

SMITHSONIAN NaTIONAL Museum oF Natura History
During the two weeks of the Festival, there will be related
film programs nearby at the National Gallery of Art and
the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History.
Details can be found at www.nga.gov/programs/film.htm and

www.mnh.si.edu/cal events. html.

Nationa Museum oF AFRICAN ART

Gifts and Blessings: The Textile Arts of Madagascar
April 14-September 2, 2002

Cloth has long been considered the ultimate gift of the people of
Madagascar, an island nation located off the southeast coast of
Africa. The exhibition examines the historical context and
dynamism of contemporary cloth production through a collection of
silk and cotton wrappers, burial shrouds, marriage cloths, contem-
porary fashions, and textile art.

NationaL Museum or Naturat History

Modern Mongolia: Reclaiming Genghis Khan

July 3-September 29, 2002

Mongolian life from the beginning of the 20th century to today is
reconstructed through three authentic gers (traditional Mongolian
yurts or tents): one from the feudal Manchu dynasty during the early
20th century, one from the communist period during the 1960s, and
one from today’s democratic state. The legacy of Genghis Khan is
woven throughout the exhibition.

ARTS AND INDUSTRIES BUILDING
The Silk Road Ensemble: Portraits and Places
June 20-July 10, 2002

Portraits of the artists by acclaimed photograher Cylla von

Tiedemann, snapshots from artists private collections, quotes,
personal stories, and short biographies offer a window into the rich
and varied lives of these extraordinary musicians.

Tue TextrLE MusEUM |

Secrets of Silk
Opens June 28
This exhibition focuses on the historical importance of silk in textile
production and trade, with examples of both silk fibers and luxury
silk textiles that were exchanged between cultures.

The Textile Museum is located at 2320 S Street. NW, Washington,

D.C. Hours: Monday — Saturday 10 a.m. — 5 p.m.; Sunday I — 5 p.m.
Free Admission. Phone: 202.667.0441

SPONSORS AND SPECIAL THANKS |

THe Sitk RoApD Prosect, INC.,
SuPPORT AND SPECIAL THANKS

Leap FUNDER AND
Key CREATIVE PARTNER

The Aga Khan Trust for Culture

GLOBAL CORPORATE PARTNERS —__

Ford Motor Company

Siemens

FoUNDING SUPPORTER
Sony Classical

Major FunDERS_

The Starr Foundation

Mr. and Mrs. Henry R. Kravis

Richard Li
William Rondina

Donors

Barry Lam

Octavian Society

National Endowment of the Arts
Mr. and Mrs. Peter Asada

The Wolfensohn Family Foundation

SPECIAL THANKS
Amyn Ahamed

Jun Arii

Mr. & Mrs. Peter Asada
Tom Atkins

Barbara Badalamenti
Alex Bagnall

Cristin Canterbury Bagnall
Mary Pat Buerkle
Arthur Ceria

Barry Chait

Laura A. Cincotta
Ernest Chung

Florence Davis

Nicole de Remer
Amanda Domizio

114

Tan Dun

Jean During
Michelle Errante
Barkat Fazal

John X. Fernandez Jr.
Niv Fichman
Rosemarie Garipoli
Peter Gelb

Jason Gelman
Catherine Gevers
Kim Gilbert
Elisabeth Gill

Neil Goteiner
Michael Gorfaine
Bud Grebey

Ara Guzelimian
Louis Hamel
Sheryl Handler
Thomas Hanold
Sophie Henderson
Chuck Hirsch
Geoff Holland
Karen Hughes
Frank Hydash
Maria Rebekah Hunter
Habib Jamal

Jane Janosko
Meredyth Jensen
Amir Kanji

Ruth Kaplan

Tom Kessinger
Mr. & Mrs. Henry R. Kravis
Robert Laconi
Barry Lam
Lori-Nell Lazzeri
Celia Lowenstein
Tim Manteau
David McCarthy
Molly McBride
Jim) McManus
Orhan Memed

Laura Mitgang

Frank Molinaro

Luis Monreal

Olima Nabiva
Fairouz Nishanova
Stacie O'Beirne
Franz Xaver Ohnesorg
Blair Talcott Orloff
Joe Parent

Margot Perman
Sam Pickens

Phillipa Polskin

Anne Postel-Vinay
Mark Ptashne
Anthony Richter
Jiirgen Riehle

Josh Robinson
Sharon Ruebsteck
William Russell
Walter Scheuer
Susan Schiffer

Fred Schroeder
Peter Sellars

Bright Sheng
Margaret Smilow
Isabel Soffer

Eric Steinhilber
Earnest Thompson
Brooke Thompson-Mills
Sandy Ulsch

Cylla von Tiedemann
Toshio Watanabe
David Westin

Doug Wheeler

Mr. and Mrs. James D. Wolfensohn
Sara Wolfensohn
Grace Won

Margie Yang

SMITHSONIAN SUPPORT AND
SPECIAL THANKS

FestivAL LEADERSHIP COMMITTEE

Sen. Joseph Biden (Co-chair)
Sen. Sam Brownback (Co-chair)

FestivAL Donors
U.S. Department of State
ExxonMobil

The Recording Industries Music Performance
Trust Funds

Carolyn G. Mugar

Arthur Pacheco

Trust for Mutual Understanding
Asian Cultural Council

J.S. Lee

SKF International

Edele Hovnanian

The Armenian Assembly
of America Inc.

The Armenia Tree Project
Made in Armenia Direct.com
Chuba Electric Power Company

Mayor FEsTIvAL
In-Kinp SUPPORT

APL

Turkish Airlines

International Silk Association
ANA

Motorola/Nextel

Go-Ped

Fresh Fields/Whole Foods Market
Kohler

Potomac Polo Club

FestivaL IN-KIND CONTRIBUTORS

Academia Sinica
Amernick Bakery and Palena Restaurant
Nicole Anderson

SPONSORS AND SPECIAL THANKS

Ashby & Associates Video Production
Services

Baby Lock Inc.

Blanc de Chine

Boni Productions

John Boos & Co.
Century Martial Arts
CMC Company

Grant Couch

Jean During
Earthues/Color Trends

East River Bagel Inc. doing business with
Chesapeake Bagel Factory

Folklore Society of Greater Washington
The Freer Gallery of Art

Fu Ssu-Nien Library

FUJIFILM USA

The Getty Conservation Institute
Henry Glassie

Glen Echo Park

Glen Echo Pottery

Global Village Productions
Greenberg & Hammer, Inc.
Griffith Observatory

Healthway Natural Foods
Heidelberg Pastry Shop

Hot Glass Beads

The Huntington Archive of Buddhist
and Related Arts

Institute of History and Philology
Italian Government Tourist Board
Japan Information and Culture Center
John Paulson Productions
Kalustyans

Doug Kim

Kohls

Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Inc.
Theodore Levin

Maribeth’s

Maryland Sewing & Vacuum Center
Maskroad Project

Maxell Corporation of America

Media Visions Video Duplication

Museo ItaloAmericano

National Anthropological Archives
National Museum of African Art
National Museum of the American Indian
Jiro Okura

Palace Arts Foundation Inc.

Stefano Pandiani

Priefert Manufacturing

A Quest for Fresh Natural Food Company
Ricola

Saratoga Polo Club

Pravina Shukla

Starbucks Coffee Company

Sam Sweezy

TDK Electronics

Taiwan Bodleian Library

Target Distributing Audio/Video Division
Tyson's Bagel Market

University of Oxford

Wakefield High School

FesTIVAL SPECIAL THANKS
Hafiz Abbasi

Parviz Gharib Afshar
Alexander Ahmedov

Carol Ailes

Mairam Akaeva

Phil Almeida

Jennifer Alt

American Kitefliers Association
American Silk Company
Amtrak

Catherine Anderson

Arci Milano
Ufficio Cultura e Spettacoli

Leslie Ashby

Azienda Promozione Turistica Srl.
Venezia

Cesare Battisti
Doug Baum

SPONSORS AND SPECI/

Milo Beach

Julie Benbow
Francine Berkowitz
Marty Bernstein
Mary Bochman
Thomas Brady
Brochier Soieries
Margo Brown
Michelle Brown

Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs,
U.S. Department of State

Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs,

U.S. Department of State
Caravan Design Group
Alicia Carter
Central Asia Crafts Support Association
Zhu Changhe
Mary Cliff
Sonya Cohen Cramer
Tony Collini
Companies Weisbrod Zuerrer
Francis Cooper
Nancy Corbett
Andrew Cortez-Greig
Janet Cullum
Prachi Dalal
Tracy Drea
Ambassador Jargalsaikhany Enkhsaikhan
Cihad Erginay
Sihar Erozan
Massumeh Farhad
Fashion Institute of Technology
Susan Fraser
Nan Freeman
Ann Froelich
Tsend Ganbat
Gambosurengiin Ganzorig
Gessner
Janice M. Glowski
Fred Gordon
John Gordy
Laurel Victoria Grey

116

L THANKS

Ali Gunertern
Badrul Haque
Patricia Harrison
Hiroyuki Hashimoto
Asad Hassan-ul-Din
Fiona Hill

Hilton Hotels

Hohenberg Bros. Company
Division of Cargill

Paul Holloway
Meredith Hubel
Intersole France
Elizabeth Jacobsen
Khalid Javaid
Yin-Xin Jian
Murakami Jinichi
Kathy Johnson
Elizabeth Jones
Jusuf Kamal
Bobby Kamp
Melik Karapetyan
Laura Kaufman
Ambassador Laura Kennedy
James Kenney
Ambassador Shavkat S. Khamrakulov
Anne Kong

Nicole Krakora
Kathy Kruse
R.E.C. Krupp
Alma Kunanbay
Donna Larson
Richard Larson
Peter Leggieri
Jodi Lehr

Brian LeMay
Danny Leone
Jonathan Liebenau
Lok Virsa

Susan J. Lutzker
Derrell Lyles
John Major
Chinara Makasova

Hanako Matano
Hiroshi Matshuda
Giorgio Mattiello
Lincoln McCurdy
J.J. McLaughlin

Ken Miller

Elizabeth Moynihan
Uxi Mufti

Alyse Best Muldoon
Charles Muldoon
Joseph Muldoon Jr.
Joseph Muldoon III
Suzan Murray

National Endowment for the Arts Folk &
Traditional Arts

Ma Ning

Mine Okamoto
Olsson’s Books & Music
Kayoko Ota

Gil Berna Ozcan
Joyce Painter

Patrizia Pallaro

Cecilia Pang

Peggy Parsons

Nell Payne

Adam Peterson

Judith Petroski

Rep. Joe Pitts

Steven Prieto

Pyramid Atlantic

Aziz Rahman

Fiorano Rancati

Carol Reed

Roslin Art Gallery
Debbie Rothberg
Bryan Saylor
Raymond Seefeldt
Lynne Shaner

Anna Leon Shulman
Frank Joseph Shulman
Silk Road Dance Company
Silk Road Foundation

Brian Silver

Renny Smith

Sport Soie

Deborah Sullivan

Youssef Summad

Marty Summerour

Mark Taplin

Target, Reston, Virginia
Taroni Company

Elizabeth ten Grotenhuis
Allen Thrasher

Tourmobile Sightseeing
Dai-ni Tsou

Tumar Art Salon

Turhal Kultur ve Dayanisma Dernegi
Unesco Kyrgyzstan

U.S. Embassy Kazakhstan
U.S. Embassy Kyrgyzstan
U.S. Embassy Turkmenistan
U.S. Embassy Uzbekistan

University of Maryland Clarice Smith
Performing Arts Center

Uzbek Dance and Cultural Society
Bill Veale

Wendy Wasserman
Monica Williamson
Michael Wilpers

Dwain Winters

The World Bank

Van S. Wunder III

Qin Xilin

Yuriko Yamaguchi
Seeroon Yeretzian

Koji Yoneda

Kumi Yoshiike

Anna Zagorski

Zurich Silk Association

SUPPORT AND SPECIAL THANKS

SMITHSONIAN OFFICE SUPPORT
Office of the Secretary

Office of Development

Office of the Inspector General
Office of the General Counsel
Office of Sponsored Projects

Office of the Under Secretary
for American Museums and
National Programs

Arts & Industries Building
Center for Education and Museum Studies

National Museum of American History,
Behring Center

Department of Information, Technology
and Society

Director's Office
National Numismatics Collection
National Postal Museum
Research Services Department
Office of Communications
Office of Public Affairs

Visitor Information and Associates Reception
Center

Office of Government Relations
Office of Human Resources

Office of Special Events and Conference
Services

The Smithsonian Associates

Office of the Director, International Art
Museums

Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum

Department of Applied Arts and
Industrial Design, Image Rights and
Reproductions

Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler
Gallery

Curatorial Staff

Digital Information Systems
Public Affairs and Marketing
Publications Staff

Registrar

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
Public Affairs Office

National Museum of African Art
Curatorial Staff

Office of the Under Secretary for
Science

National Museum of Natural History
Department of Anthropology
AnthroNotes

Department of Development and Public
Affairs Education Department

Office of Special Exhibits

The O. Orkin Insect Zoo
National Zoological Park

Division of Exhibit Interpretation
Museum Support Center
Office of Fellowships and Grants
Office of International Relations

Office of the Under Secretary for
Finance and Administration

Accessibility Program

Facilities Services Group
Engineering and Design
Environment Management and Safety
Physical Plant

Architectural History & Historic
Preservation

Horticulture
Office of the Comptroller
Office of Contracting
Travel Services Office

Office of Imaging, Printing and Photographic
Services

Office of Planning, Management and Budget
Office of Risk and Asset Management
Office of the Chief Information Officer
Office of Information Technology
Smithsonian Business Ventures

Smithsonian Magazine

117

STARE:

SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION

Secretary; Lawrence M. Small

Under Secretary for American Museums and
National Programs: Sheila P. Burke

CENTER FOR FOLKLIFE
AND CULTURAL HERITAGE _

Director: Richard Kurin

Deputy Director: Richard Kennedy

SMITHSONIAN FOLKLIFE FESTIVAL

Festival Director: Diana Parker
Program/Publications Manager: Carla M. Borden
Program Specialist: Arlene Reiniger

Technical Director: Rob Schneider

Director of Design and Production:
Kristen Fernekes

Graphic Designer: Caroline Brownell
Media Specialist: Charlie Weber
ADMINISTRATION

Administrative Officer: Barbara Strickland
Fiscal Manager: Helen O'Keefe

Computer Specialist: Michael Page
Office Manager: Sheila Naylor
Administrative Assistant: Rachelle Hardy

Financial Assistants: Lillian Phifer-Brown,
Tracy Clonts

Volunteers: Bill Aldacusion, Linda Benner,
Sandie Cole, Dale Dowdal, Ramona Dowdal,
Jerry Gay, Enid Hairston, Gorgui N’Diaye,
Renny Smith, Marty Summerours

DEVELOPMENT

Director of Development: Josh Silver
Development Associate: Rebecca Smerling
SMITHSONIAN FOLKWAYS RECORDINGS
Director: Daniel Sheehy

Director Emeritus: Anthony Seeger
Assistant Director: D. A. Sonneborn

Financial Operations Manager: Betty Derbyshire

Sound Production Supervisor:
Pete Reiniger

Marketing Manager: Richard Burgess
Marketing Assistant: John Smith
Production Coordinator: Mary Monseur
Manufacturing Coordinator: Judy Barlas
Licensing and Royalties: Margot Nassau

Audio Recording Specialists: Ronnie Simpkins,
Norman van der Sluys

Fulfillment Manager: Sharleen Kavetski

Fulfillment Staff: Lee Michael Demsey,
Helen Lindsay, John Passmore

Interns: Nathaniel Berndt, David Campana,
Clancy Cox, Jonathan Haupt, Noel Oakes,
Jacob Rogers, Carolina Santamaria,

Kerri Sheingold, Cormac Symington, Sara Waller,

Barry Weber, Jonathan Zalben

RavpH RINZLER ARCHIVES

Archivist: Jeff Place

Cataloger, Assistant Archivist: Stephanie Smith
Archives Intern: Greg Adams

Save Our Sounds

Project Director: Frank Proschan

Archive Technician: Michael Pahn

Interns: Jason Dooley, Jeff Eastman,
Huong Nguyen, Bjorn Quenemoen

SMITHSONIAN GLOBALSOUND
Project Director: Jon Kertzer
Technical Director: Toby Dodds
Project Manager: Susan Golden
Cutturat Heritace Poticy
Director: James Early

Cutturat ReseARCH AND EDUCATION
Chair: Olivia Cadaval

Senior Ethnomusicologist Emeritus:
Thomas Vennum, Jr.

Curators, Folklorists, Education & Cultural
Specialists: Betty J. Belanus, Nancy Groce,
Marjorie Hunt, Diana Baird N’Diaye, Peter Seitel,
Cynthia Vidaurri, Nilda Villalta

Program Manager: John W. Franklin

Research Associates: Gigi Bradford,
Roland Freeman, Ivan Karp, Corinne Kratz,
Alan Lomax, Worth Long, Rene Lopez,
Kate Rinzler, Rajeev Sethi

Fellows: Rhea Combs, Steven Garabedian,
Mark Jackson, Ajaya Khanal, Anthony McCann

Interns: Adriana Cutler, Marie-Isabelle Garnier,
Ava Jones, Indra Liepin, Galy Modan,
Sarah Reeder, Carley Williams

Center Advisory Council: Kurt Dewhurst,

Anthony Gittens, Pat Jasper, Barbara Kirshenblatt-
Gimblett, Enrique Lamadrid, David Maybury-Lewis,
Judy Mitoma, J. Scott Raecker, Ricardo Trimillos
(Chair)

Folkways Advisory Board: Michael Asch (Chair),
Phyllis Barney, Hal Cannon, Don DeVito,
Ella Jenkins, Fred Silber

THE Sik Roap Project, INc.

The Silk Road Project, a not-for-profit arts
organization, was founded in 1998 by cellist
Yo-Yo Ma, who serves as its artistic director.
The purpose of the Silk Road Project is to
illuminate the Silk Road's historical contribution
to the cross-cultural diffusion of arts,
technologies, and musical traditions, identify
the voices that best represent its cultural legacy
today, and support innovative collaborations
among outstanding artists from the lands of
the Silk Road and the West.

At the center of the Silk Road Project is a
two-year-long series of festivals in North
America, Europe, Central Asia, China, and Japan
which began in summer 2001. Co-produced

with major presenting organizations and cultural
institutions, the festivals draw upon a new body
of chamber works commissioned by the Silk
Road Project, traditional music from the lands
of the Silk Road, and existing works by Western
composers such as Ravel and Debussy who
were profoundly influenced by Eastern traditions.
This summer’s Smithsonian Folklife Festival is
the result of a creative partnership between the
Silk Road Project and the Smithsonian's Center
for Folklife and Cultural Heritage.

For more information about the Silk Road
Project, please visit www.silkroadproject.org.

Tue Sitk Roap Project, INc.,
Boarp OF DiRECTORS

Chairman: Dr. Merton Flemings

Vice Chairman: Ms. Catherine Gevers
Treasurer: Ms. Cristin Canterbury Bagnall
Prince Amyn Aga Khan

Dr. Milo C. Beach

Dr. Elizabeth ten Grotenhuis

Ms. Jill Hornor

Mr. Yo-Yo Ma

Dr. Daniel Ng

Secretary: Ms. Brooke Thompson-Mills

THE Sik Roap Project, INc., STAFF

Artistic Director: Yo-Yo Ma
Managing Director: Jean Davidson
Curatorial Director: Theodore Levin
Project Director: Esther Won
Website Architect: Kimberly Freeman

Research and Editorial Coordinator:
Rachel Derkits

Curatorial Assistant: Shayna Silverstein
Stewardship Assistant: Ellen Ko
Education Researcher: Blair McLaughlin

Administrative Assistant: Allison Lee

Exclusive Management for Yo-Yo Ma:
ICM Artists, Ltd.

Press Representation: Ruder Finn Arts and
Communications Counselors

Legal: Farella Braun & Martel, LLP and
Hale & Dorr, LP

Development: Garipoli Consulting

Accounting Firm: Parent, McLaughlin & Nangle
Insurance Advisors: J.H. Albert and
Marsh USA, Inc.

Consultant: Catherine Gevers

SMITHSONIAN FOLKLIFE FESTIVAL
Festival Director: Diana Parker

Assistant to the Festival Director:
Natalie Hisczak

Co-Curators: Richard Kennedy, Theodore Levin

Curatorial Committee: Milo Beach, Jean During,
Henry Glassie, Tom Kessinger, Alma Kunanbay,
Yo-Yo Ma

Production Committee: Cristin Bagnall,

Jean Davidson, Catherine Gevers,

Richard Kennedy, Richard Kurin, Theodore Levin,
Diana Parker, Esther Won

Festival Scenographer: Rajeev Sethi

RESEARCHERS AND

LocaL CoorDINATORS: Z
Abduvali Abdurashidov, Mila Ahmedova,
Omer Akakga, Bassam Al-Kahouaji,
Dinara Amirova, Nahomi Aso, Najmieh Batmanglij,
Betty Belanus, Laura Beldiman, Susan Blader,
Guanghui Chen, Rta Kapur Chishti,

Shafique Rahman Choudhury, Jerome Cler,
Ardasher Dekhoti, James Deutsch,

Hermine Dreyfuss, Cloé Drieu, Jean During,

Jane Farmer, Sasan Fatemi, Walter Feldman,
Henry Glassie, Chen Guanghui, Harold Hagopian,
Elias Hanna, Rachel Harris, K. David Harrison,
Bhagwati Prasad Hatwal, Martha Huang,

George Jevremovic, Neslihan Jevremovic,
Stephen Jones, Richard Kennedy,

Jonathan Mark Kenoyer, Stephen Kidd, Doug Kim,
Peg Koetsch, Alma Kunanbay, Gavyn Lavergne,
Theodore Levin, Firoz Mahmud, Elshan Mansuroy,
Peter Marsh, Andranik Michaelian,

Nataliya Mussina, Afanassij Myldyk, Olima Nabiva,
Eden Naby, Mohammed Nasseripour,

Liesbet Nyssen, Susan Pertel-Jain, Aziz Rahman,
Marjorie Ransom, Arlene Reiniger, Rajeev Sethi,
Pravina Shukla, Razia Sirdibaeva,

Atesh Sonneborn, Youssef Summad,

Nancy Sweezy, Takashi Takahara, D. Tserenpil,

Shu-ni Tsou, Oguzhan Tugral, Mark van Tongeren,

Seric Walley, Philippa Watkins, Chris Walter,
Toshio Watanabe

STAFF

PRESENTERS

Sibel Akad, Omer Akakga, Bassam Al-Kahouaji,
Dina Amirova, William Belcher, Susan Blader,
Camilla Bryce-Laporte, Sertac Cakim, Charles
Camp, Guanghui Chen, Rta Kapur Chishti,

Dinara Chochunbaeva, Shafique Rahman
Choudhury, Jerome Cler, David d'Heilly,

Tenzin Dickyi, Hermine Dreyfuss, Jean During,
Jane Farmer, Walter Feldman, Alysia Fischer,

Gail Forman, Helen Frederick, Ganbold,

Henry Glassie, Harold Hagopian, Rachel Harris,
K. David Harrison, Bhagawati Prasad Hatwal,
Neslihan Jevremovic, Alison Allen Jia, Mark
Kenoyer, Catherine Kerst, Dipti Khera, Doug Kim,
Benjamin David Koen, Peg Koetsch,

Alma Kunanbay, Gavyn Lavergne, Tom Leech,
Theodore Levin, Yo-Yo Ma, LaVerne Magarian,
Firoz Mahmud, Peter Marsh, Nataliya Mussina,
Eden Naby, Joan Nathan, Liesbet Nyssen,

Nilgun Peksalli, Susan Pertel-Jain, Steven Prieto,
Frank Proschan, Marjorie Ransom, Philip Schuyler,
Shubha Sankaran, Pravina Shukla,

Robin Ami Silverberg, Madan Gopal Singh,
Nancy Sweezy, Takashi Takahara, Geshe Lobsang
Tenzin, Oguzhan Tugral, Michael Twitty,

Kojiro Umezaki, Mark van Tongeren,

Yuriko Yarnaguchi, Wang Yousheng, Chris Walter,
Philippa Watkins, Jeffrey Werbock

‘TRANSLATORS i+ 0. Se
Syeda Ahmed, Bassam Al-Kahouojj,
Harika Bickicioglu, Maggie Cummings
Prachi Dalal, David Davtian, Radha Dutta,
Naz Ebrahimi, Monica Gonsalves,

Jyldyz Kadrakunova, Gourgen Karapetyan,
Peter Marsh, Yumjir Munkh-Amgalan,
Ashok Kumar Rajput, Raju Sitaula, Shu-ni Tsou,
Kurban Walli, Jeffrey Werbock, Yuriko Yamaguchi

CULTURAL LIAISONS _

M. Prachi Dalal, Naz Ebrahimi, Helen Faller,
Mina Girgis, Altinay Kuchukeeva,

Sushmita Mazumdar, Celal Mutu, Asli Z. Mutlu,
Rosita Petrova, Siddiqur Rahman, Shoko Sasaki,
Kosuke Yamashiro, Hui Zhang

STAFF

PROGRAM STAFF

Program Coordinators: James Deutsch,
Stephen Kidd, Arlene Reiniger, Shayna Silverstein

Program Assistants: Elizabeth Smart,
Beverly Simons, Shu-ni Tsou

Program Interns: Siddhartha Chatterjee,

Elvin Christmas, Mary B. Considine,

Kevin Daugherty II, Caroline Dolive,

Elena Gugicheva, Marinella Lentis, Kara Lustig,
Petra Meindl-Andrews, Zsofia Molnar,

Elana Newberger

Participant Coordinator: Dorey Butter
Assistant Participant Coordinators:

Karyn Caplan, Reyhan Ilhan

Cultural Liaison Coordinator: Indrani deSilva
Cultural Liaison Intern: Maho Saito

Lead Program Volunteer: Renny Smith
Housing Coordinator: Jennifer Hitt

Housing Intern: Mina Girgis

Family Activities Coordinator: Betty Belanus
Paper Garden Coordinator: Jane Farmer

Silk Grove Coordinator: Marjorie Hunt

Fashion Court Coordinator: Diana Baird N’Diaye

Interns: Beth Fortune, Alia Lugman
Festival Web Site Architect: Kimberly Freeman

Administrative and Fiscal Support
Administrative Officer: Barbara Strickland
Fiscal Manager: Helen O'Keefe

Administrative Assistants, Folklife:
Tracy Clonts, Rachelle Hardy, Lillian Phifer-Brown

Administrative Intern: Kelsey Scott
Administrative Fellow: Jason Yen
Computer Specialist: Michael Page
Volunteer Coordinator: Judy Luis-Watson

Assistant Volunteer Coordinator:
Abigail Sharbaugh

Volunteer Interns: Alima Bucciantini, Lauren Chow

Marketplace Coordinator: Rachel Delgado

120

Marketplace Assistant Manager: Joe Williams
Marketplace Operations Manager: Marlene Graves

Marketplace Interns: E. Michael Crawford, Jr.,
Bridgatt Mahoney, Arturo J. B. Pacheco III

Folkways Festival Sales Manager:
Mary Monseur

Concessions Manager: Eddie Mendoza
Foodways Coordinator: Amanda Pike
Foodways Intern: Rachel Walman

Program Book Sales Coordinator: Kelly Posey

Technical Support

jechnicalloircciorsnon Gcineider

Assistant Technical Director: Teresa A. Ballard
Technical Consultant: Shakeel Hossain
Administrative Assistant: Sheila’ Naylor
Electrician: Tommy Starkey

Carpenters: Paul Aune, Toby Milby, Tim Raridon

Crew Leaders: Lawrence Jewell, Michelle Kadikian,
Ariadne Pineda

Exhibit Workers: Joseph David, Nicole Davis,
Michelle De Cesare, Kendra Denny,

William Iverson, Kathleen McBride,

Alicia McCauley, Terry Meniefield, Elsa Miller,
Colin O'Brian, Mariya Strauss, Alaric Strickland,
Mike Texada, Donn Williams

Rigger: Frank Caulder

Trucker: Dave Laming

Shipping Coordinator: Heather Ward
Sound/Stage Supervisor: Pete Reiniger

Stage Managers: David Adcock, Jeanette Buck,
Rachel Cross, Stephen Jamison, Sissie Lang,
Mike Monseur, Claudia Telliho

Engineers: Saul Broudy, David Clements,

Henry Cross, Alison Goessling, Gregg Lamping,
Dean Languell, Al McKenney, Charlie Pilzer,
Alyssa Rivers, Paul Watson, James Welsh

Supply Coordinator: Patricia Bradley
Supply Assistant: Katina Epps

Logistics Coordinators: Jason Dooley,
Anne Mercer

Design & Production

Art Director: Kristen Fernekes
Senior Designer: Caroline Brownell
Designer: Rachele Riley

Design Intern: David Antoine

Publications
Publications Manager: Carla Borden

Writers/Editors: Betty J. Belanus, Carla Borden,
James Deutsch, Mark Kenouer, Stephen Kidd,
Martha Huang, Marjorie Hunt, Richard Kennedy,
Richard Kurin, Theodore Levin, John Major,

Diana Baird N’Diaye, Lucia Pierce, Frank Proschan,
Peter Seitel, Shayna Silverstein, Elizabeth Smart,
Shu-ni Tsou

Consultants: Jennifer Alt, Milo Beach,
Massumeh Farhad, Laura Kaufman,

Alma Kunanbay, Eden Naby, Lynne Shaner,
Anna Leon Shulman, Frank Joseph Shulman,
Elizabeth ten Grotenhuis, Allen Thrasher

Documentation
Documentation Coordinator: Jeff Place

Photo Documentation Coordinator/Webmaster:
Stephanie Smith

Video Documentation: Charlie Weber

Documentation Interns: Kelly Duke,
Jacquelyn Erdman, Brendan Kredell, Chris Magafia

Chief Volunteer, Documentation: Marilyn Gaston

Education and Program Support
Education Specialists: Betty Belanus
Education Assistant: Merrill Feather
Intern Coordinator: Arlene Reiniger

Education Interns: Helen Louise, Kate Marshall,
Jennifer Neely, Jennifer Sandusky

Accessibility Coordinator: John Franklin
Public Information: Vicki Moeser

Public Information Interns: Amy Shapiro,
Roni Pomerantz

Sign-Lanuage Interpreters: Jean Bergey,
Candas Barnes, Martin Hiraga, Diana Mele,
Sambia Shivers-Barclay, Kimberly Underwood,
Hank Young

Sign Master: Ernest Hairston

THe AstAN HeritTaGe FOUNDATION

Founder Trustee: Rajeev Sethi

Board of Governors: Dr. Naresh Trehan,
Madhu Trehan, Poonam Muttreja, Dr. Shiv Kumar,
Shabana Azmi, Javed Akhtar

Scenographer: Rajeev Sethi

Architects: Rajeev Lunkad, Vijay Kate, Arvind
Saxena, Amar Prashant, Saurabh Sharma,
Yogeshwar Kanu, Sheila Lunkad, Naveed Ahmed

Graphic Design Team: Oroon Das, Pramod Bharti,

Sameer Parker, Gurpreet Singh, Siddhartha
Chatterjee, Prakash Kumar, Priyanka Bhasin

Research Team: Pramod Kumar KG, Kavita
Chandra

Project Administration & Finance: Parna Patkar,
V. Balasubramanian, K.A. Lakshmanan, Motilal
Saini, Madan Lal, Neeti Narang

San Marco & Istanbul Panels: Chandu Nafde,
Monica Ranaker, Gitika Madhok, Suruchi Kasliwal,
Ms. Ritika Jagu, Gaurav Bhutada

Bamiyan Wall: Hoshiyar Singh, Sujata Bansal,
Bhim, Chintu, Narendra, Radheshyam, Kamal, Tara,
Anup, Vijay, Ravi, Kapil, Sonu

Astronomy Tent: Gyan Prakash Soni, Om Prakash
Soni, Bheru Lal, Sharad Soni, Shiv Prakash Soni,
Trilok Prakash Soni, Dinesh Soni, Kiran Soni,
Manish Soni, Yogdeepak Soni, Sunika Soni,
Monika Soni, Vijay Kurnar, Ramesh Kumar,

Raj Kumar

Carpet Walls on Canvas: Moreshwar, Patil,
Pankaj Salunkhe, JT Mane, Santoah Parab, Nilesh
Kapudaskar, Sanjay Gade, Siddhi Ghadigankar,
Sachin Chalke, Pragati Mistri, Vidhya Vesave,
Sandip Dhuri, Vishalakshi, Jadav, Poshni Gavde,
Vaishali Rokde, Swati Lubde, Yogita, Abhishek
Baiker, Ashok Gurav, Sanjay More

Thermocol Artists: Zia and Team

Dunhuang on Canvas and Papier-Maché:
Bhupendra Singh

Painted Textures on Flex and Canvas: Mohan
Malviya, Manish Ratnaparke

Chinese Wall on Particleboard: Manish Pushkale,
Santosh Kumar

Painting on Canvas and Flex: Meghansh, Avadesh
Yadav, Sundar Gurjar, Dilip Paranjiya, Mr. Rajesh
Patil

Mosaic Angels: Jitendra Vyas, Satish Narayania

Painting and Paper Collage on Flex: Dinesh
Parihar, Amit Mahtre, Piyush Sharma, Badri Burfa

Hagia Sophia: Yogesh Kasera, Harbajan Singh &
Team

Structural Consultants: Mr. Amit Sharma, Ayush
Ranjan, P. Dutta

Furniture Consultant: Mr. Ayush Kasliwal
Japanese Calligraphy Consultant: Yuriko Lochhan

Textile Consultants: Ms. Rta Kapur Chisthi,
Arpana Bisht

Financial Consultants: Sudhir Saluja, Upendra
Marwah

Fabricators (Metal): Abid, Muhammad, Zain-uddin,
Faroukh, Imtiaz, Salim, Riaz-Uddin, Soli Shankar,
Zameer, Allauddin, Kanan, Pramod, Ismail,
Qamruddin. Suresh Kumar, Roymon, Kunjappy,
Prasad KP, N Suresh, Shahjad, Bhola, Manoj,
Ramprasad, Sohan Singh, Prassanan KP, Matloob
Ahmed, Nabil Ahmed

Tailoring: Abdul Rashid, Irfan, Wasim Ahmed,
Mustaquein Ahmed, Umar, Ajmeri, Ilias

Design Supervisor: Mr. Narendra Malhotra

Bamboo Artisans: Madan lal, Sonu, Bhagwan,
Laxman, Ram Avtar, Laxmi, Rampal

Bamboo Weaving: Jagat Narain, Ram Lakhan,
Radheshyam & Team

Carpentry & Woodwork: Darshan, Mohammed
Irfan, Raju, Vikas, Ram Kishore, Irshad, Aash
Muhammad, Salim, Azmuddin, Raish Ahmed,
Ikramuddin, Jiya, Aslam, Shami, Zameer, Harbans
Singh, Devender Kumar, Daya Ram, Montu,
Shamboo, Chotu, Umesh, Rajkumar, Abdul Sattar

Dyers & Printers: Deepak Srivastav, Sagar Dyers,
Ashirwad Dyers, Venugopal, Consortium
International

STAFF

Wood Block Makers: Sardar Hussain, Arshad
Kafil, Ansar Hussain, Manshoor Alam, Mehfaz,
Imran, Masroor, Iqbal, Shaheed

Office Staff: Mr. Ghanshyam, Rajesh, Vinod, Vijay,
Kannaiyha, Mahesh, Rarn Vilas, Dhan Singh, Sunil
Tirkey, Manu, Naresh, Omkar Singh

In-Kind Contributors: Ratna Handlooms, Tota Ram
Sunil Kumar, Tarini, Capital Pest Control, Trinity
Removals Pvt. Ltd., APL Logistics, Abhinandan
Cargo, Duggal Visual Solutions, Manasa Ikat, Little
Flower Ashram, Bereket Hali, Industree, The Shop,
Saurashtra Impex, Coircraft, Sanchita, Ranjit

Site: Kamal Kumar

NATIONAL PaRK SERVICE =
Secretary of the Interior: Gale A. Norton
Director, National Park Service: Fran P. Mainella

Deputy Director, National Park Service:
Donald W. Murphy

Regional Director, National Capital Region:
Terry R. Carlstrom

Chief, United States Park Police:
Teresa C. Chambers

United States Park Police, Special Forces Branch:
Sgt. Roxanne Brown-Ankney

Superintendent, National Capital Parks-Central:
Arnold Goldstein

Deputy Superintendent, National Capital Parks-
Central: Vikki Keys

Chief, Division of Park Programs:
Rick Merryman

Special Event Coordinator, Division of Park
Programs: Leonard Lee

Chief, Division of Visitor Services:
Robert Karotko

Associate Superintendent, Maintenance:
William Newman, Jr.

Deputy Chief of Maintenance: Sean Kennealy

Special Assistant for Partnerships:
Lisa Mendelson-lelmini

Employees of the National Park Service and the
United States Park Police.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE
SMITHSONIAN FOLKLIFE FESTIVAL VISIT

www.folklife.si.edu.

Find books about the Festival and the
research behind it

Learn about the Center for Folklife

and Cultural Heritage, which produces
the Festival and Smithsonian Folkways
recordings developed from the Festival

As well as an array of recordings
from the archives and collections of
Folkways Records

Tt TU

Learn how you can help archival
preservation projects like Save Our
Sounds, and Smithsonian Global
Sound, a Web-based project to digitize
and distribute the world’s recorded
sound heritage

Find resources, like cultural education
kits and materials for schools, and
publications concerning cultural heritage
policy and practice

Help encourage cultural democracy across the nation and around the world.

From top right: Culture, Of, By, and For the People by Richard Kurin; The Stone Carvers by Marjorie Hunt; Reflections of a Culture Broker by Richard Kurin; (from Smithsonian
Folkways Recordings) New York City: Global Beat of the Boroughs; Taquachito Nights; Classic Bluegrass; Woody Guthrie: The Asch Recordings; The Best of Broadside; Anthology of
American Folk Music; (from Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage Education) Safeguarding Traditional Cultures: A Global Assessment; Discovering Our Delta Education Kit; and
Iowa Folklife Education Kit

Learn more about

Projectine.

at www.silkroadproject.org

The Silk Road Ensemble Recordings Instruments of
that work with the Project Map with routes of the his

Also, learn more about

Silk Road Encounters,

a comprehensive education
initiative exploring the
cross-cultural influences of the
historical Silk Road, commissioned
by Ford Motor Company and
developed by the Silk Road Project
in collaboration with the Asia
Society.

Along the Silk Road

Elizabeth ten Grotenhuis, ed

This richly illustrated, lively book
is keynoted by Yo-Yo Ma's candid
insights into contemporary music
and the Silk Road; distinguished Ang te 1 LK
contributors who explore the my ROAD
present-day Silk Road and its
absorbing history include a composer, |
ethnomusicologist, archaeologist,
photographer, scientist, film critic,
and two art historians.

teachers.silkroadproject.org

Buy online or at the Folklife Festival.
Folklife Festival participant, Mongolian long song Y

The Silk Road

\ Connecting Cultures, Creating Trust

The 2002 Smithsonian Folklife Festival

Www silkroadproject org/sm ithson ian Folklife Festival participants Ensemble Sabjilar members

See photos and a map of this year's Festival. Get to know more about the participants. Check the full
schedule with daily updates. Get recipes from food demonstrations. Lea bout related museum events
Sos ~ eD

The Silk Road Project, a not-for-profit arts and culture organization, was founded in 1998 by cellist Yo-Yo Ma, who serves as its artistic
director. The purpose of the Silk Road Project is to illuminate the Silk Road's historical contribution to the cross-cultural diffusion of arts,
technologies, and musical traditions; identify the voices that best represent its cultural legacy today; and support innovative collaborations
among outstanding artists from the lands of the Silk Road and the West.

Vette that
tes aie
extraordinary
new |
directions.

MLO =] Join renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma as he
=> =| explores the rich cultural traditions along

the Silk Road—the historic link between
3 East and West—and celebrates the many
nusi 6 r eq{=ime i

a Waa xc ea CMS a

www.yo-yoma.com
~ www.sonyclassical.com

usical Caravan presents a panoramic sweep of
aveler like Polo might uncover in this vitally

S k Road Project and the 2002 Smithsonian

&
%

FESTIVAL SITE MAP

WEST ;
é : fb
rr to Washington Monument as: f to Smithsonian National Museum of American History
5 Nene e ewe tienen ene eee ene nee nee ene nee een nen een eens eneenceeeenenenene
Sa tte BIN ete a tt ee eet tr ee ee
=
es

Samarkand

Afghan
Istanbul Caravanserai Square
Crossroads
Bamiyan Kashgar Painted Truck
Mural Tea House

kX
Family
oO Oasis

oO
Co Carpets oo
oO

oo i

oO Carpets ‘

Family Games :
Activity ;
Tent :

Jewel Garden

Food Inlay Glass
x] Demonstrations

JEFFERSON DRIVE

+) First Aid (P) Performance Venue () Volunteer/ (M Metro

Lost & Found

@ Information Food Concession ie) Passport Station

126

bali restive Start Aceal ili f to Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History |; to U.S. Capitol —>

Dunhuang Mural

Nomads

Polo Field

Chinese Kitchen Japanese Inn

Yurts :
O O 1 Xian Tower

Smithsoniani :
(Mall Exit) $$

Painting
Paper Garden

Festival ueek
Staff Areay ;

Calligraphy

SMITHSONIAN CASTLE

FREER AND SACKLER GALLERIES

= . ¢
% a

Seti ied i

FESTIVAL SITE MAP

WEST i
to Washington Monument } {

Samarkand
Istanbul Mens Square
Crossroads
Bamiyan Kashgar Painted Truck
Mural Tea House

Carving Beads Engraving a
& eax i
ee?
Oo

Jewel Garden

= BD

ilk and Cotton Weaving 4 Mandala
Ej Grove 6 eB -
oO

ZA] Demonstrations

JEFFERSON DRIVE

@) First ad
® Information

® Performance Venue WV) Volunteer/ Metro

Lost & Found

® Food Concession Passport Station

EAST

Painting
Paper Garden

Festival
Staff Area

b="

Calligraphy

Lotus Bazaar,"

Xl reot.

FREER AND SACKLER GALLERIES

*“, HAUPT GARDEN

Internet Archive Audio

Featured

Top

Images

Featured

Top

Software

Featured

Top

Books

Featured

Top

Video

Featured

Top

Mobile Apps

Browser Extensions

Archive-It Subscription

Save Page Now

Full text of "The Silk Road : connecting cultures, creating trust : the 36th annual Smithsonian Folklife Festival on the National Mall, Washington, D.C., June 26-30, July 3-7, 2002"

See other formats