Silk Road Ensemble (Photo : Fu-Tien Chiou/YouTube)
Besides some Chinese celebrities who walked the red carpet on Monday’s 59th annual Grammy Awards, a Chinese band got the Best World Music award.
The Silk Road Ensemble won the award for the album “Sing Me Home.” It is the sixth album of the band which is headed by famous cellist Yo-Yo Ma and includes musician Wu Tong. The band is an exploration of the musical connections of the ancient Silk Road route, Wu Tong, a sheng player and former lead vocalist of another Chinese rock band, Again, said, CRI reported.
70 Performers & Composers
Silk Road Project, a non-profit venture established by Yo-Yo Ma in 1998, plays folk music. Since 2000, the ensemble had over 70 performers and composers from almost 25 countries. Wu said on his Weibo account after the Silk Road Ensemble received the Grammy Award for Best World Music that the band has been looking for ways to cut the gap between cultures and people using music. They seek mutual understanding and respect among people from different beliefs and races which is the real meaning of Best World Music.
The composers of every song in “Sing Me Home” tapped into their unique experiences as people who grew up in the Balkans, India, Japan, China, Galician, Iran, the U.S., Ireland and other nations use original and traditional arrangements by global artists. One of them, 53-year-old Kayhan Kalhor, an Iranian Kamancheh virtuoso. Besides the Iranian bowed string instrument, Kayhan Kalhor also plays the Persian violin and setar, according to Financial Tribute.
Red Carpet Walk
Among the Chinese celebrities seen walking the red carpet at the Grammy Awards were singer Jane Zhang, pianist Lang and actor-singers Bai Jugang and Kris Wu. Silk Road Project adds to the growing list of Chinese musicians with Grammy Awards.
The previous Grammy awardees include cellist Yo-Yo Ma who was given the Grammy for Best Instrumental Composition in 2005 and composer Tan Dun for the “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” musical score in 2002.
