Applied experiments in collaboration along the Silk Road

Main author: Harris, Rachel
Format: Journal Article           
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id eprints-26018
recordtype eprints
institution SOAS, University of London
collection SOAS Research Online
language English
language_search English
description This paper considers the nature of work done in performances that seek to “create bridges” across cultures and to highlight shared heritage across political borders. What agendas are privileged, and what forms of representation are entailed? I explore these issues via case studies in musical collaboration along the “Silk Road”, the ancient trade routes brought to life in the contemporary imagination to link cultures from Europe to East Asia. I privilege the perspectives of the various actors involved, arguing that careful attention to the experiences of participants serve to texture our understanding of cultural border-crossings. Music-making, as a form of embodied practice, may serve as a way of deconstructing conventional narratives but it may also serve to uphold established hierarchies. I argue that in cross-border encounters musicians draw on diverse imaginaries – learned aesthetic norms, bodily habitus and imaginative resources – casting their collaborators as musical and social others in their efforts to make sense of what they hear.
format Journal Article
author Harris, Rachel
author_facet Harris, Rachel
authorStr Harris, Rachel
author_letter Harris, Rachel
title Applied experiments in collaboration along the Silk Road
publisher VWB: Verlag fur Wissenschaft und Bildung
publishDate 2018
url https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/26018/