By Lee Hyo-won
Staff Reporter
East meets West with a big musical bang.
The spirit of the ancient trade route, the Silk Road, has been resurrected: Since launching in 1998 under the auspices of cellist Yo-Yo Ma, the Silk Road Project has leaped over geographical and cultural barriers to make and transport music.
The uncanny troupe will return to Korea for the second time with a concert Sunday afternoon at Seoul Arts Center, as part of the hall’s World Artist Series. This is the ensemble’s first Asia tour in six years, and other stops include Taiwan, Singapore, Macao and Thailand.
``I look forward to returning to Asia with the Silk Road Ensemble,’’ Ma, the founder and artistic director of the nonprofit arts and educational organization, said in a press release. ``This tour is especially exciting for us because each of the places we are visiting has deep roots in the kind of exchange that happened along the Silk Road.’’
Featuring traditional instruments from different corners of the world, from Korea and India to Brazil, the ensemble has fused Eastern and Western classical music with folk melodies, popular rhythms and other sounds into experimental harmony.
Russian, Mongolian, Argentinean and American composers have written original pieces for the Silk Road Project. Korea’s Kim Jee-young was commissioned to compose, while traditional percussionist-vocalist Kim Dong-won recorded tracks with Ma and the ensemble.
The upcoming concert here will feature the Korean folk songs ``Baetnorae’’ (Boating Song) and ``Heungbo-ga’’ (Heungbo Song), as well as ``The Silent City,’’ a Persian-themed piece. Also included in the program are ``Partita for Cello’’ and ``Ascending Bird,’’ an arrangement of a traditional Persian folk melody that appeared on the Silk Road Ensemble’s album ``New Impossibilities’’ (Sony Classical).
Tickets cost from 60,000 to 160,000 won. Call (02) 580-1300.