Applied experiments in collaboration along the Silk Road

Harris, Rachel

Abstract

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.

Citation

Harris, R. (2018). Applied experiments in collaboration along the Silk Road. The world of music (Wilhelmshaven), 7(1+2), 37-59

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: May 15, 2018
• Publication Date: Jul 15, 2018
• Deposit Date: Jun 28, 2018
• Publicly Available Date: Jun 28, 2018
• Print ISSN: 0043-8774
• Electronic ISSN: 2941-3680
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 7
• Issue: 1+2
• Pages: 37-59
• Publisher URL: http://www.journaltheworldofmusic.com/planned.html#Sharing
• Related Public URLs: http://www.journaltheworldofmusic.com/planned.html#Sharing