By D.A. Sonneborn October 14, 2014 This article originally appeared as part of the digital Smithsonian Folkways Magazine.
Photo by D.A. Sonneborn
Following up on my spring 2014 visit, this summer I was airborne to the 2014 Guiyang Summer Festival of Indigenous Music in Guizhou Province, China. The event was the first time Guizhou cultural officials featured artists from beyond their home country. One of the primary reasons for my spring trip, as it turned out, was to help them determine what artists would be appropriate and accessible from among an ocean of music traditions.
The Smithsonian contributed some expenses to send three Smithsonian Folkways ensembles there, members of the Delicious Peace Coffee Cooperative, Los Texmaniacs, and Rahim Alhaj, respectively for Ugandan, conjunto and Iraqi music. All are deeply steeped in their musical traditions and quite cognizant, in my opinion, of their place in the grander scheme of things, in the world. I asked the artists to be aware of their role as live ambassadors of traditional musics of the world beyond China’s borders and to take note of musical ideas shared with other festival participants.
My assignment was to assess what impact performances by international musicians, particularly the three Folkways groups, have on local traditional musicians and audiences. Our Chinese colleagues agreed to photograph, document with audio and video recordings, interview artists and audience members, and thereby help us understand how it all worked out. I was and remain keenly interested in whether the concept of “authenticity” changes over time, but only time will tell.
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