Music as a Force for Peace
July 2004
Banner photo: ©SEKAI BUNKA PHOTO
Sounds of the Silk Road
The artists from China, the former Soviet Union and Turkey (July 1985)
[Min-On]
Visitors to the current exhibition of musical instruments of the Silk Road being shown at the Min-On ("People’s Music") Concert Association’s Tokyo headquarters, are commonly surprised by the similarity between these unfamiliar instruments and those iconic of Japanese culture. The instruments on display, from as far afield as Egypt and Albania, represent a great variety of cultures that exist or have existed along the ancient Eurasian trade route. The similarity surprises because it contradicts a still widespread notion of the uniqueness of Japanese culture--a notion which was strongly promoted in the late 19th century to help justify Japan’s militarist colonization of Asia. In making visitors aware of the vital bonds between them and their distant Asian neighbors, the exhibition helps subtly accomplish Min-On’s founding objective of fostering peace through cultural exchange.
It was in the belief that the blossoming of culture represents the polar opposite of war, and that cultural exchange could provide a powerful antidote to humanity’s propensity for conflict, that Daisaku Ikeda, then president of the Soka Gakkai, founded the concert association in 1964.
The current exhibition harkens back to Min-On’s first major project, the "A Musical Voyage Along the Silk Road" concert series. The Silk Road series brought together, at different times, dancers and musicians from 20 countries--from Egypt and Syria to Pakistan and the former Soviet Union--in 10 tours over an 18-year period beginning in 1979. In the context of the divisive politics of the Cold War, it celebrated and drew focus to the Silk Road as a spiritual and cultural artery connecting and uniting the peoples of Asia.
While the Silk Road is now generally known in Japan, at the time few Japanese had heard of it. Min-On began, therefore, by initiating a series of public film presentations to stimulate interest.
In an effort to foster relations among the performers themselves, careful consideration was given to which countries would be invited to tour together at a particular time. The difficulties experienced underline the significance of such initiatives. It took three years, for example, before the Chinese and Soviet governments agreed to let performers participate in a joint tour.
One factor that helped convince the two governments was the success of the initial tours in the series and the obviously nonpolitical nature of the project. Thus, in 1985, performers from Turkey, China (of Uighur ethnicity) and the Soviet Republic of Uzbekistan performed together for the first time in Japan.
Hiroyasu Kobayashi, president of Min-On, recalls his surprise at the Uighur performers’ anxious questions about the arrival time at the hotel of their Uzbekistani counterparts. They were eager to form a welcoming party and were worried about inadvertently missing the opportunity. Separated by a political border and by the animosity between their governments, the two peoples nonetheless shared a cultural affinity and respect. More moving were the emotional scenes at the airport at the end of the tour, the performers tearfully refusing to bid farewell to each other, knowing that this was very likely the last chance of ever seeing each other again.
Today Min-On is the most extensive organization of its kind in Japan. A typical tour by an ethnic music and/or dance ensemble visits 15-35 cities and is seen by about 40,000 people. School visits also form part of the tours. Beside ethnic ensembles, Min-On activities encompass jazz, pop, opera, ballet and symposia.
From questionnaires that they collect after every show, it is obvious that the performances stimulate genuine feelings of empathy and interest in people of other cultures. Ultimately, perhaps, it is just such bonds of affinity that may provide the most powerful deterrent to war.
"A Musical Voyage Along the Silk Road"(May 1997)
[Min-On]
