“The Bridge between Eastern and Western Cultures”
http://www.silkroadfoundation.org/

This is an interesting foundation (different to Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Project), also providing field trips to areas along the Silk Route, including one this July. The have an informative magazine on research on the Silk Road, and exchange practices: http://www.silkroadfoundation.org/toc/newsletter.html

The Silkroad Foundation is a non-profit organization, established in 1996, to promote the study and preservation of cultures and art on Inner Asia and the Silk Road. The Silkroad Foundation provides resources, information, and interactive exchange toward the pursuit of educating the Bay Area community about Inner Asia and the Silk Road. The Silkroad Foundation operates from private funding and donations and has its headquarters in Saratoga, California.

I was interested to read about Henry Eichheim, ‘one of the first American composers to combine the sound of indigenous Asian instruments with western orchestral colors.’ I am wondering where I can get recordings of his works. This is his biography in Wikipedia:

Henry Eichheim (January 3, 1870 – August 22, 1942) was an American composer, conductor, violinist, organologist, and ethnomusicologist. He is best known as one of the first American composers to combine the sound of indigenous Asian instruments with western orchestral colors.
Contents

He was born in Chicago, where he studied at the Chicago Musical College. He later went to Boston to play with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. After about 1912 he became more interested in conducting and composition than in violin performance; he was an early promoter of the works of contemporary French composers, particularly Debussy, Ravel and Gabriel Fauré, in the United States.

Following some trips to east Asia, including Korea, Japan, and China, he began to study the music of those cultures, and as a result began to use both the instruments from east Asia and Indonesia in his compositions, as well as some of the rhythmic and melodic elements of the indigenous music. He moved to Santa Barbara, California in 1922, although he continued to travel widely. On two of his trips–to Bali, and India—he went with Leopold Stokowski, a friend of his.

After Eichheim’s death, the University of California, Santa Barbara inherited his collection of papers, photographs and musical instruments.

Works

Some of his better known compositions include Oriental Impressions (1919–1922), which contains transcriptions of Japanese, Korean and Thai melodies; Java (1929), and Bali (1931), which use instruments from the gamelan ensembles of those two islands; and The Moon, My Shadow and I (1926), a setting of poems by Li Bai.

He also composed a number of settings of poems of William Butler Yeats.

I was excited to read about this exciting event in the Philippines, co-organized by a good friend of mine, William Harvey (Director of the Cultural Diplomacy organization, Cultures in Harmony, and also an adviser to the Grenzenlos Foundation). Details below.

Cartwheel Foundation, Inc
Saturday, June 20, 2009 at 3:00pm
Cultural Center of the Philippines
Manila, Philippines
Contact InfoPhone:
6325841532
Email:
action@cartwheelfoundation.org
Description
Much like how Indigenous Peoples pass on their history through oral tradition and art, the program will bear the format of storytelling—weaving one story from beginning to end through music and art. This is in partnership with Cultures in Harmony and Cultural Center of the Philippines. Participants are: Indigenous communities from Bukidnon and Luzon, Cartwheel scholars, St Scholastica’s School of Music, Casa San Miguel, and Manila Symphony Orchestra. To support this program, please email or call Cartwheel Foundation.

ROCK MUSIC. ROCK ART
http://uk.amref.org/news/music-a-force-for-good-the-ugandan-story/

Review here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2008/oct/01/worldmusic.uganda

Lolui Island, Lake Victoria, Uganda.

Four rock gongs have been silent for generations.

February 2007. A group of musicians comprising members of the London Sinfonietta, five Ugandan master musicians and composer Nigel Osborne, along with sculptor Peter Randall-Page, travel to the island, accessible only by a seven-hour boat journey through dangerous waters. Their aim is bring life back to the rock gongs, natural rock formations that possess unique sonic properties found in only a few places on Earth. During the trip the gongs were digitally sampled to allow the sounds to be transported first to Kampala and ultimately back to the UK. They became the basis of a remarkably powerful musical collaboration.

This autumn the London Sinfonietta welcomes the Lead Musicians of Uganda Dance Academy – Bernard Kayiggya, Samuel Bakkabulindi, Hakim Kiwanuka, Robert Lubanga, and Mathias Muwonge – to London for the culmination of this two-year collaboration. In a mini-festival of music, talk, dance and art – the first at the newly opened Kings Place – audiences will have the opportunity to hear the results of this remarkable meeting of Western and African cultures.

Events during the week will include concerts, drumming workshops, exhibitions, talks, films and a club night. The final concert will feature the world premiere of Rock Music by Nigel Osborne – a London Sinfonietta commission – alongside music by leading Ugandan composer Justinian Tamasuza and rising British star Tansy Davies.

Promoted by London Sinfonietta in association with Kings Place Music Foundation.

Supported by the British Council, Ruwenzori Sculpture Foundation, Moose Foundation for the Arts, and London Sinfonietta Kings Place
Campaign supporters.

Rock Music. Rock Art Schools Concert.
Hall One 2pm.

An interactive and participatory event, presented by Richard Frostick, for students aged 10-13 and their teachers exploring traditional Ugandan music and cross-cultural musical collaborations.

For more information about community and schools programmes run by the London Sinfonietta contact Anna Rice (anna.rice@londonsinfonietta.org.uk or 020 7239 9340) or Joanie Magill about Kings Place Music Foundation’s outreach programme (joanie.magill@kingsplace.co.uk or 020 7520 1450).

***
Rock Art: Peter Randall-Page
Hall Two 7pm

Peter Randall-Page with the London Sinfonietta and Lead Musicians of Uganda Dance Academy

An illustrated talk by the sculptor Peter Randall-Page about his new exhibition at Pangolin London inspired by his experiences in Uganda, with live music from members of the London Sinfonietta, Lead Musicians of Uganda Dance Academy and Trinity College of Music.

Programme:
Talk by sculptor Peter Randall-Page

London Sinfonietta
David Hockings percussion
Tim Palmer percussion
Steve Smith guitar
Students, names tbc
Sound Intermedia sound diffusion

Steve Reich
Clapping Music (for 2 percussionists, 5’)
Electric Counterpoint (for guitar and tape, 15’)
Music for Pieces of Wood (7’)

Lead Musicians of Uganda Dance Academy
Bernard Kayiggya
Samuel Bakkabulindi
Hakim Kiwanuka
Robert Lubanga
Mathias Muwonge

http://www.on-the-move.org/EN/index.lasso?page=http%3a%2f%2fwww.on-the-move.org%2fEN%2fnews_detail.lasso%3fshow_me_news%3d2319

International theatre conference and solo performance festival, Kerala, India 18-22 Jan 2009 (deadline 30 Nov 2008)
Posted: 05-09-2008

With the themes Body kinesis in Intercultural performance and Matriarchy – Performance of Motherhood.

Natakam International Theatre Research Lab India in collaboration with Sopanam performing Arts Centre and Actes Lies Theatre France.
OBJECTIVES :
To gather a community of performance oriented group from all over India and abroad.
To explore the matriarchal point of view and the performance related to it exploring with traditional lores .
To provide opportunity for presentation and discussion on researches among academic scholars and practitioners in the theatre and performance studies in India.
To theorize on the present state of Intercultural aspects related to body images in Performance. Studies discourse through the series of researches and / or presentations;
To exchange information among scholars and practitioners in the theatre and performance studies regarding this traditional theatre form; and
To build networks among scholars and practitioners for future collaboration in research, academic exchange and performance praxis.
Performance Studies scholars interested and / or focused on Body exploration /kinesis.
PARTICIPANTS :
Researchers, academics and consultants with research interests on Theatre and Performance Studies (especially those who specialize in intercultural studies)
Theatre practitioners: actors, directors, artistic staff, production staff and stage staff who specialize or perform.
Graduate and post-graduate students in theatre, performance studies and related fields
Publishers of journals and / or academic textbooks in Theatre and Intercultural Performance Studies
Students in theatre arts, art studies, art education, performance studies and related disciplines.
THEME :
1.Body kinesis in Intercultural performance.
2.Matriarchy- Performance of Motherhood
ABSTRACT DEADLINE: NOVEMBER 30-2008.

email contact :
haikutvla(at)rediffmail.com
sreejithdasaratha(at)yahoo.com
kalari7th(at)gmail.com
Telephones:
india: + 9109985073625
france: +330146591153
TeleFax India :+91922537384 – 89

http://www.aboriginalartists.com.au/NRP_symposium.htm

The 6th Symposium on Indigenous Music and Dance was convened in Darwin, 17–18 August 2007, by Prof. Allan Marett
in partnership with Charles Darwin University and the Darwin Festival.

Symposium highlights include:

* the official launch of the NRP by Dr Mandawuy Yunupiŋu in 2004,
* performances and workshops by the world-renowned Bauls of Bengal in 2004,
* the revisitation of centuries of pre-colonial trans-Torres contact through performances and workshops by Takbing Siwaliya from Makassar in 2005, and
* the premiere of Crossing Roper Bar by the Australian Art Orchestra and Yolŋu musicans from
Ngukurr in 2006.

http://www.cuhk.edu.hk/mus/glocal.html
CUHK-NTU MUSIC FORUM 2009: “Glocalization, Music, and Modernity”
2-3 Jan. 2009 (Friday and Saturday)

The neologism glocalization has been employed in recent years by scholars who want to draw attention to the ways in which global and local forces act upon and interact with one another in the ongoing development of social and cultural paradigms. This forum will explore the processes of glocalization as they impact music, bringing to the fore questions concerning the role of music in the promotion of both diversity and homogeneity alongside the forces of modernization. No single approach is able to account fully for the multivalent nature of glocal processes, and so this forum invites participants employing any analytical or interpretive method with the intention of fostering creative exchange and criticism.

Composition In Africa
A Symposium and Festival
University of Cambridge, 2006

What is African composition? Do composers exist in Africa? Some decades ago, similar questions were asked about African literature but, after the award of four Nobel prizes to African writers, there is no longer any doubt in international circles that there is such a thing as African literature. Indeed, some of the works of Africa’s literary giants, originally written in European languages, have been translated into various local languages around the globe.

The cultural background and historical context that nurtured African literature are similar to those of composition, although in terms of international recognition, music is several decades behind literature. Even within the African continent, the works of modern composers are virtually unknown. However, since the 1990s, there have been indications that this position is about to change, as interest in modern African composition has increased steadily in international circles. There is every reason to believe, therefore, that African composition may soon follow in the footsteps of, not only African literature (its continental sibling), but of modern composition in Latin America and Asia (its global partners) in gaining acceptance in the world’s major venues of music performance and scholarship.

The biennial international symposium and festival on “Composition in Africa and the Diaspora” was launched as a means of creating awareness and understanding for the activities of composers on the continent and its Diaspora and as a forum for scholarly discourse aimed towards the establishment of an appropriate theoretical framework for the study of this music.

Chinese born Shen Wei combines influences from the east and west, and brings dance, music and visual art together in this powerful performance.

http://newsweaver.co.uk/visitingarts/e_article001201838.cfm?x=bdn7yhL,b8pdHbR8

Music on Troubled Soils

Jerusalem, Israel, 23 – 26 October, 2008

The European Music Council together with IMC Israel will hold a conference in Jerusalem, titled “Music on Troubled Soils”.

The conference’s main goal is to examine the possible roles of musical activity, acting as a bridge between people and peoples on troubled social and political circumstances.