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<P><FONT size=2><FONT color=#0000ff><FONT face=Arial><SPAN
class=380134816-02042002>From today's WASHINGTON POST <SPAN
class=950075016-02042002> -- note the reference to AmerIndian cultures in
the fourth paragraph from the end. </SPAN></SPAN></FONT></FONT></FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=2><SPAN class=380134816-02042002> </SPAN>Date: Tuesday, April
2, 2002 9:52 AM</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>From: register@washingtonpost.com</FONT>
</P>
<P><FONT size=2>>To view the entire article, go to</FONT> <BR><FONT
size=2>><A
href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A49130-2002Apr1.html"
target=_blank>http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A49130-2002Apr1.html</A></FONT>
<BR><FONT size=2>></FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>>The Silk Road Comes to
Town</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>></FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>>By Jacqueline
Trescott</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>></FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>></FONT>
<BR><FONT size=2>></FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>></FONT> <BR><FONT
size=2>>For the first time in its 36 years, the Smithsonian Folklife</FONT>
<BR><FONT size=2>>Festival will be dedicated to a single subject: an
exploration</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>>of the ancient Silk Road, the trade
route that linked Asia and</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>>Europe, and its influence
of its cultures on American life</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>>today.</FONT>
<BR><FONT size=2>></FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>>From June 26 to 30 and July 3
to 7, visitors to the National</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>>Mall can tour a
range of exhibits focused on the cultures that</FONT> <BR><FONT
size=2>>flourished along the road from the time of Alexander the Great</FONT>
<BR><FONT size=2>>until the 14th century A.D. At the Capitol end of the Mall
will</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>>be a pavilion built to look like the Nara Gate
of Japan, and at</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>>the Washington Monument end will be
a likeness of the Venice</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>>Piazza.</FONT> <BR><FONT
size=2>></FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>>The annual Smithsonian festival, which
last year drew 1 million</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>>visitors, generally focuses
on two states as well as a</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>>particular craft --
woodworking, pottery or the like. But this</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>>year it
will break tradition with the help of a very</FONT> <BR><FONT
size=2>>distinguished consultant, the cellist Yo-Yo Ma.</FONT> <BR><FONT
size=2>></FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>>In 1998 Ma organized the Silk Road
Project, a collaboration of</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>>artists who are telling
the vast region's story through </FONT><BR><FONT size=2>>concerts and
cultural festivals.</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>></FONT> <BR><FONT
size=2>>"What this festival can do is create an experience that is</FONT>
<BR><FONT size=2>>personal," Ma said. Familiarity with the Silk Road is
not</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>>necessary. "You can come with a lot or a little,
but the</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>>question is: What do you leave with?"</FONT>
<BR><FONT size=2>></FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>>Ma, along with his Smithsonian
partners and various curators,</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>>does not want the
festival to become an instant classroom.</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>></FONT>
<BR><FONT size=2>>"It's not: Do you know the capital of Kazakhstan and can
you</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>>spell Kazakhstan? I want you to know what it
feels like to live</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>>someplace else. It's getting to
know a world, the humanity of</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>>it all. People have
always been smart and creative. Also we</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>>want to
capture that sense of adventure, and what has motivated</FONT> <BR><FONT
size=2>>that sense of adventure," Ma said.</FONT> <BR><FONT
size=2>></FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>>The details of the Folklife Festival,
called "The Silk Road:</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>>Connecting Cultures, Creating
Trust," and the unusual</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>>approaches will be announced
at a news conference today. </FONT><BR><FONT size=2>></FONT> <BR><FONT
size=2>>The event has attracted three principal sponsors, which
are</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>>also underwriting Ma's project: the Aga Khan
Trust for Culture,</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>>Ford Motor Co. and Siemens, the
German conglomerate. At a</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>>possible cost
of $6 million, the bill would be about double</FONT> <BR><FONT
size=2>>the usual for a Folklife Festival. </FONT><BR><FONT
size=2>></FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>> Contributing to the complexity of
organizing the festival is</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>>the participation of a
dozen countries, including several</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>>former Soviet
republics. </FONT><BR><FONT size=2>></FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>>"This is
much more complicated than a program on New</FONT> <BR><FONT
size=2>>Hampshire," said Richard Kennedy, the festival co-curator and</FONT>
<BR><FONT size=2>>an expert on South Asian and Southeast Asian culture.
Five</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>>years ago Theodore Levine, a professor at
Dartmouth who had</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>>worked with the festival,
suggested the Silk Road concept. "I</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>>thought it was
logistically overwhelming and we couldn't get</FONT> <BR><FONT
size=2>>funding," Kennedy said.</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>></FONT> <BR><FONT
size=2>>When Levine returned three years ago -- with Ma -- Kennedy was</FONT>
<BR><FONT size=2>>ready to move ahead. "Still for us to commit the whole
program</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>>was a leap," he said. What worried him was
the unfamiliarity</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>>many Americans had about the
area's geography, history and</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>>culture. But since
Sept. 11, Kennedy said, "I think we have an</FONT> <BR><FONT
size=2>>interest in the region and a beginning of understanding."
</FONT><BR><FONT size=2>></FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>>In addition to the
evocations of Japan and Italy, the</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>>festival's main
pavilions will represent "Istanbul Crossroads,"</FONT> <BR><FONT
size=2>>Samarkand Square in Uzbekistan, and the Xi'an Tower of China.</FONT>
<BR><FONT size=2>></FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>>The Smithsonian's approach is
cultural, pulling together</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>>musicians, storytellers,
cooks, potters, Sufi dervishes, </FONT><BR><FONT size=2>>embroiderers,
fashion designers, stone carvers, puppetmakers,</FONT> <BR><FONT
size=2>>calligraphers, glass blowers and weavers from 20 countries:
</FONT><BR><FONT size=2>>Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, China, India,
Italy, Iran,</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>>Japan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,
Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan,</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>>Russia, South Korea,
Syria, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>>and
Uzbekistan. "Most of our artists, 80 to 90 percent of them,</FONT> <BR><FONT
size=2>>have never been out of their countries before," Kennedy said.</FONT>
<BR><FONT size=2>></FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>> The festival will spotlight
about 350 artists, another record</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>>for the event. Ma
said consultants in the region "have</FONT> <BR><FONT
size=2>>identified some fabulous people. At meetings we would actually</FONT>
<BR><FONT size=2>>feel sad that we couldn't bring everybody."</FONT>
<BR><FONT size=2>></FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>>Ma hopes a visitor who is a
potter will watch another potter,</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>>and "the
next time the visitor picks up a newspaper and reads</FONT> <BR><FONT
size=2>>about information about the potter's country, they will have</FONT>
<BR><FONT size=2>>something to connect," Ma said.</FONT> <BR><FONT
size=2>></FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>> Kennedy said the festival would
emphasize artistic links among</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>>diverse
cultures. "We will put together a Navajo weaver and a</FONT> <BR><FONT
size=2>>Turkish weaver, and look at how the Navajo learned to work
with</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>>wool from the Spanish, and the design motifs
that the Spaniards</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>>got from the Turks," he
said. Artisans from the United States,</FONT> <BR><FONT
size=2>>representing one-third of the participants, will show how
these</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>>traditions are kept alive, and
modified.</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>></FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>> Other themes
will be the development of martial arts,</FONT> <BR><FONT
size=2>>papermaking, truck and bus decoration in Pakistan, Syrian
silk</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>>brocade weavers, the wandering minstrels known
as Kushtia</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>>Bauls, and throat singing. The countries
along the route</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>>introduced Chinese silk to the
Mediterranean, and gunpowder,</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>>mathematics and
ceramics to the West.</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>></FONT> <BR><FONT
size=2>>Music is another essential element of each Folklife Festival.</FONT>
<BR><FONT size=2>>With Ma sitting in from time to time, the concerts should
be</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>>remarkable. Ma plans to stay the entire two weeks
but he said</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>>he'd take on the character of Waldo, the
children's book</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>>character who gets lost in the crowd
but is always there.</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>></FONT> <BR><FONT
size=2>>"The Silk Road Ensemble will be there and I will join it at</FONT>
<BR><FONT size=2>>various times," Ma said. "My main job is trying to make
sure</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>>the experience is good for anybody that comes
in, and that they</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>>are leaving with what starts out
as information but turns into</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>>knowledge and
curiosity."</FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>></FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>>
</FONT><BR><FONT size=2>></FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>></FONT> <BR><FONT
size=2>></FONT> <BR><FONT size=2>></FONT> </P></BODY></HTML>