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Asian Art & Culture Series #6
Along the Silk Road
This richly illustrated, lively book is keynoted by Yo-Yo Ma's candid insights into contemporary music and the Silk Road routes of Asia. Other contributors explore the Silk Road in their roles as archaeologists, photographers, scientists and film critics. Illustrations.
- GenresHistoryNonfictionArt
144 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 2002
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About the author
Yo-Yo Ma
25 books55 followersYo-Yo Ma (simplified Chinese: 马友友; traditional Chinese: 馬友友; pinyin: Mǎ Yǒuyǒu; born October 7, 1955) is a French-born American cellist, virtuoso, orchestral composer of Chinese descent, and winner of multiple Grammy Awards, the National Medal of Arts in 2001 and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011.
He is one of the most famous cellists of the modern age.
He is one of the most famous cellists of the modern age.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
September 8, 2016
This book is somewhere between a travelogue and history. The first chapter covers the author's inspiration to pursue this venture and engages the readers with a lot of philosophical discussions on history, culture, people, traditions and the need to preserve them.
The second chapter is a short travelogue of the author's effort to track down the folk music and dance of the past. It starts in the begining of the historic silk road in china and he finishes with contemporary music of islamic communities in Tarim Basin. Rest of the chapters go on to focus on astrology, textiles, technology and contemporary cinema in modern day Persia.
The interesting part about this book is the flawless narration between all the chapters. I never felt lost in any part of this book and it narrated so fluently, the contact between different cultures of the silk road and the rationale behind every conclusion. Another interesting part is, it's all written in simple laymen terms without any sophisticated vocabulary.
The contemporary culture of central asia and their historical counterparts has been wonderfully illustrated with photographs of exhibits and pictures. I actually had the opportunity to see for myself some of the paintings and exhibits illustrated in this book. Reading this book is a journey through time and culture.
The second chapter is a short travelogue of the author's effort to track down the folk music and dance of the past. It starts in the begining of the historic silk road in china and he finishes with contemporary music of islamic communities in Tarim Basin. Rest of the chapters go on to focus on astrology, textiles, technology and contemporary cinema in modern day Persia.
The interesting part about this book is the flawless narration between all the chapters. I never felt lost in any part of this book and it narrated so fluently, the contact between different cultures of the silk road and the rationale behind every conclusion. Another interesting part is, it's all written in simple laymen terms without any sophisticated vocabulary.
The contemporary culture of central asia and their historical counterparts has been wonderfully illustrated with photographs of exhibits and pictures. I actually had the opportunity to see for myself some of the paintings and exhibits illustrated in this book. Reading this book is a journey through time and culture.
October 13, 2021
Hit and miss.
Contents:
Introduction by Elizabeth ten Grotenhuis
1. Conversation with Yo-Yo Ma by Ted Levin [music]
2. Melodic Migration in NW China by Bright Sheng [music]
3. Fashioned from Fiber by Elizabeth Barber [textiles]
4. Astrology and a Japanese Star Mandala by Elizabeth ten Grotenhuis [astrology]
5. Sacred Sites along the Silk Road by Kenro Izu [photography]
6. Traveling Technologies by Merton C. Flemings [metallurgy]
7. Iranian Cinema by Hamid Naficy [film]
As the table of contents shows, this introductory work is rather a mixed bag in both quality and content, much of it originally published elsewhere in longer form. Hits include the pieces on music, textiles and metallurgy. The piece on astrology probably won't find a general audience and the pop art chapter on Iranian film seems oddly out of sync with the rest. Photos and illustrations are good. Text is a double-spaced 144 pages with fairly wide margins. There are irritations such as the p. 42 suggestion identifying the ancient Xiong Nu as ancestors of modern Hungarians that show outside review was needed (the common blunder of confusing Huns and the similar sounding Hungarians). Bright Sheng's piece discusses White Mongols and Yellow Mongols without really explaining the terms and one has to wonder why we have the music composer writing about history. Elizabeth Barber's piece shows the influence of the theories of Victor Mair, with whom she has worked. These theories of ancient Iranian influence on China (what Mair terms the "East Asian heartland") are not so universally accepted as the text suggests, or, at least, not everyone discusses them as much as does Mair. One gets the feeling that the book was thrown together fairly quickly and haphazardly in order to have merchandise to sell at the concerts of Yo-Yo Ma's worldwide Silk Road tour. In these circumstances it was probably too much to hope that it would have the same excellent quality as the tour itself.
Contents:
Introduction by Elizabeth ten Grotenhuis
1. Conversation with Yo-Yo Ma by Ted Levin [music]
2. Melodic Migration in NW China by Bright Sheng [music]
3. Fashioned from Fiber by Elizabeth Barber [textiles]
4. Astrology and a Japanese Star Mandala by Elizabeth ten Grotenhuis [astrology]
5. Sacred Sites along the Silk Road by Kenro Izu [photography]
6. Traveling Technologies by Merton C. Flemings [metallurgy]
7. Iranian Cinema by Hamid Naficy [film]
As the table of contents shows, this introductory work is rather a mixed bag in both quality and content, much of it originally published elsewhere in longer form. Hits include the pieces on music, textiles and metallurgy. The piece on astrology probably won't find a general audience and the pop art chapter on Iranian film seems oddly out of sync with the rest. Photos and illustrations are good. Text is a double-spaced 144 pages with fairly wide margins. There are irritations such as the p. 42 suggestion identifying the ancient Xiong Nu as ancestors of modern Hungarians that show outside review was needed (the common blunder of confusing Huns and the similar sounding Hungarians). Bright Sheng's piece discusses White Mongols and Yellow Mongols without really explaining the terms and one has to wonder why we have the music composer writing about history. Elizabeth Barber's piece shows the influence of the theories of Victor Mair, with whom she has worked. These theories of ancient Iranian influence on China (what Mair terms the "East Asian heartland") are not so universally accepted as the text suggests, or, at least, not everyone discusses them as much as does Mair. One gets the feeling that the book was thrown together fairly quickly and haphazardly in order to have merchandise to sell at the concerts of Yo-Yo Ma's worldwide Silk Road tour. In these circumstances it was probably too much to hope that it would have the same excellent quality as the tour itself.
October 23, 2010
I gave this 4 stars because it was my lack of attention that I picked the book from the library, I did a brief search, saw the name of the editor, not YoYo Ma, and I didn't have time to scan in the book before I checked it out. It accomplishes what it meant to, so I assume it's very good for what it is but I didn't care for it, but I have to admit that I did learn a few things and the books it referred to are very good. It seems to have mainly been written for two goals, one is to provide a brief overview of the Silk Road, and I mean brief, it's centered on cultural aspects and a lot of modern stuff, or the modern viewpoint of the silk road in a cultural aspect. Of course with YoYo Ma as an author, music was a part of it, theorizing on modern music found on the silk road and it's traditions back a couple thousand years. I found the textile section to be most interesting. I found the photograpy section to be lacking, the photographer was not the greatest, shallow and more interested in spirituality than photography, they would have done better to include other photographers for balance. I have enough training in photography to know what I am looking at.
The rest is like a museum book overview probably with the goal in mind of attracting donations to YoYo Ma's Silk Road foundation as it's aimed at people who have short attention spans and aren't too interested in the history but like the exoticness. It's a great book to sit on your coffee table, but little else.
The rest is like a museum book overview probably with the goal in mind of attracting donations to YoYo Ma's Silk Road foundation as it's aimed at people who have short attention spans and aren't too interested in the history but like the exoticness. It's a great book to sit on your coffee table, but little else.
December 1, 2012
This is volume 6 of a series presented by the Smithsonian Institute on Asian Art and History.
The text was both informative, brief and easily consumed, however, considering that it is a book on Asian Art and Design, the focus was more on the text than on the images.
For a book of this type I expected it to be picture heavy and it was more a walk through guide than a work of note.
I dropped a few stars for that failing.
The text was both informative, brief and easily consumed, however, considering that it is a book on Asian Art and Design, the focus was more on the text than on the images.
For a book of this type I expected it to be picture heavy and it was more a walk through guide than a work of note.
I dropped a few stars for that failing.
December 18, 2009
great look into the life of this beautiful ancient people, rich in history. great pictures!
June 22, 2017
Fesh look at a complicated topic.
July 11, 2012
A melody~
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews