KC Symphony showcases East, West music

The East and West Confluence Project sponsored by the Kansas City Symphony put on a series of concerts and discussions about the derivation and history of the combination of eastern and western music styles.

Last Thursday, a documentary film about Lou Harrison was shown at the Nichols Auditorium at the World War I Liberty Memorial. A panel discussion after the film was lead by Michael Stern, the music director of the Kansas City Symphony; Wu Man, virtuoso of the Pipa, a stringed Chinese instrument; Zhou Long, Chinese composer and visiting UMKC professor of composition; and Marc Wilson, the director of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art.

Harrison, an American composer, was born in 1917. He was known for his love of combining different cultures' music into a synergistic mix of sounds.

His music reflected on the man. Harrison knew several languages and, according to the documentary, grew up with Eastern art influences in his house through his mother. This instilled a love of eastern art and music.

Harrison was only one of the creators of a new genre of mixing sounds. He, along with other American composers, created new sounds, which included a greater focus on percussion sounds and melodies.

"We weren't aware of at the time of what we actually did, at least on this coast. … We invented for the western world, a series of percussion concerts because it didn't exist before," Harrison said in the documentary. "There was no theory of percussion music, but we sort of invented that. … Now it's widely spread in both the western sphere of influence, and even places you would least expect it, such as Japan."

Harrison's way of combining totally different types of music into an interesting and compelling music form is what artists nowadays are trying to continue.

"The world is getting smaller, and that's globalization. … [But] what pushed people to want to travel? What pushed us to know about other people? … Human nature."

Wilson commented on the fact that this combining of cultures has been around for centuries.

"They moved around a lot more than we give them credit for. … The original interstate was the silk road," Wilson said.

If Asian culture, art and music are popular in western societies, Man recognized that western music and culture are as popular if not more in Asian countries.

"Western music is booming in China right now. … Every kid wants to be the greatest pianist … and string player." Man said. "We grow up with a different kind of music … but still [western music] is very well received in China."

This combination of other cultures hasn't always been the natural norm. During China's Cultural Revolution, which took place from 1966-76, the Communist Party tried to force a fervor of western culture and modernism onto the people and remove "bourgeoisie influences" and stamp out traditional Chinese culture.

Long was there to witness the effect on music.

"School stopped. … [Traditional] music stopped. People, players, musicians all took to the country side," Long said.

But a number of musicians were allowed to play in official, western style radio shows and musicals. After the Cultural Revolution though, traditional Chinese music was able to be combined or separately enjoyed with western music.

To find out more of this event or others put on by the Kansas City Symphony, visit their website, www.kcsymphony.org or call (816) 471-0400 for ticket information.

ssheffield@unews.com