International Affairs

We all know the world is shrinking through communications technology, international travel, the global economy, etc. However, this leads us to believe that because international communication in “real time” is a fairly recent technological development, cultural exchange is something new as well.

 

While we weren’t able to communicate every fleeting thought (tweeting while standing in line at deli, updating relationship status on FB, uploading illicit concert footage to YouTube, etc.), whether relevant/interesting to others in previous centuries, any historian (art or otherwise) or anthropologist would be happy to tell you, at length, about the sophisticated networks of international communication and cultural exchange that have existed for millennia.  

 

One of the most natural forms of international exchange has always been music. Ever hear of the Silk Road? We certainly have at SFGC, and our concerts later this month are living examples of cultural exchange through the ages and especially along the Silk Road. The theme of these concerts, “Transcendent Voices,” revolves around visionary texts from the Rig Veda, to the Prophet Mohammed and the Persian poet Hafez, to the medieval mystic Hildegard von Bingen.

 

Several guest instrumentalists will accompany this program, and I just popped my head into the first rehearsal with these artists today. They’re playing viola, oud, and Persian percussion in a work, sung by the girls in Persian, by contemporary American composer Abbie Bettinis.  In and of themselves, these instrumentalists represent tremendous global cultural exchange. The violist is David Bowes, who performs regularly with the American Bach Soloists and Philharmonia Baroque (SFGC shared the stage with this orchestra many times last season). The oud player, Diego Gonzalez, also plays bass with a psychedelic experimental rock band called 3 Leafs. And last but not least, the percussionist for these concerts, Iskandar Rashid, was born in Singapore and currently studies at the SF Conservatory of Music. He too has performed with SFGC in recent seasons, joining renowned hammered dulcimer player Malcolm Dalglish in a performance with the girls in 2008.

 

It’s a small world after all.