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 Yo Yo Ma - Silk Road Recordings
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Here are 3 albums (4 CDs) of Yo Yo Ma's Silk Road 

Recordings.  I would describe the "Musical Caravan" as a 

collection of folk music and the Silk Road Ensemble as a 

fusion of folk and modern classical.  Every musician heard 

here is a virtuoso, but be advised, this is not for the 

casual listener!



The Silk Road: A Musical Caravan

"What if Marco Polo had owned tape recorder?" This 

intriguing concept is raised in the liner notes to this 

impressive two-CD set, which wanders along ancient Asian 

trade routes known as the Silk Road. The first disc, 

Masters & Traditions, deals with formal styles performed 

by and for sophisticated connoisseurs. Meanwhile, the 

music on Minstrels and Lovers is played by amateurs who 

are part of daily life and thus reach a wider audience. 

The imaginary caravan passes through Iran, Kazakhstan, 

China, Uzbekistan, Mongolia, and Afghanistan, encountering 

nomads, mystics, and bards along the way. The instruments 

are scratchy, pungent, and/or serene, while the singers 

weave a potent spell out of a millennium's worth of slow-

changing rural and urban vistas. In the opening essay, 

cellist Yo-Yo Ma, the project's artistic director, pleads 

for intercultural communication and empathy. This 

compilation provides an exotic, brave, entertaining first 

step in that direction.


When Strangers Meet - The Silk Road Project

This recording includes music from Mongolia, China, 

Persia, Japan, Iran, Azerbaijan, and an improvisation on 

an Italian Renaissance street song, performed by musicians 

from all those countries, as well as America, on both 

Eastern and Western instruments. Ma, who participates in 

every piece either as soloist or part of the ensemble, 

plays cello and a Mongolian "horse-head fiddle." There is 

also a Mongolian soprano, who sings a traditional song 

native to her region. For the uninitiated Western 

listener, the music requires some getting used to. Much of 

it is based on rhythmic ostinatos. The melodies use 

Oriental scales; the intonation is untempered; the music 

seems all color, texture, and atmosphere, without what 

might be called themes; and repetition takes the place of 

development. Contrast is achieved through sudden change, 

buildup by adding instruments. However, the music is often 

beautiful, delicate, dreamy, or peaceful; every listener 

will find his or her own favorite pieces. The playing is 

splendid, with much inventive improvisation. Inevitably, 

Ma's tone and personality stand out, but he never 

dominates in fact or spirit. The booklet offers essays by 

Ma and the project's musicologist, Theodore Levin, 

photographs of the players, and drawings of the Eastern 

instruments.


Silk Road Journeys: Beyond the Horizon

It is a perilous proposition when genres clash--and no 

such collaboration is more potentially fraught than when 

improvisation-trained folk musicians sit in with Western 

classical instrumentalists, who are taught to interpret a 

printed score. The renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma has devoted 

much of his professional life to such intercultural 

experiments. But the traditions of nations situated along 

the ancient Silk Road, which began in the Far East, 

meandered through Asia and terminated in Europe, are 

especially dear to him. These lushly arranged pieces range 

from moody scenic vistas to percussive Turkish hip-shakers 

and they make very pleasant listening. If they owe more to 

the European canon than the ethnic sources that inspired 

them, they are also the result of respectful give-and-take 

between a team of acknowledged masters. And nobody is more 

of a team player than Maestro Ma, an impassioned, fearless 

musical seeker and a gracious, deferential colleague.



PLEASE SEED!!!