Crossroads of Asian Music and Poetry

Welcome to the0106¥72homepage for Crossroads of Asian Music and Poetry: China and Inner Asia,0106¥72China and Southeast Asia.

Friday October 300106¥72& Saturday October 31, 2009
8:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
9:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Denny Hall 401, University of Washington

Conference Overview

Crossroads of Asian Music and Poetry puts the musical and poetic interactions between Chinese and neighboring cultures on vivid display. An international roster of musicians, musicologists, poets, anthropologists, and literary scholars describes, analyzes, and performs the results of the vibrant artistic interactions at three busy cultural intersections: between Han and Inner- and Southeast-Asian minority peoples within China, across national borders between Chinese and Inner Asian traditions, and between Chinese and Southeast Asian traditions.

For thousands of years, China's borderlands have been the crossroads of Asian cultures. As the Chinese expanded from their original homeland in North China, they encountered myriad groups of mounted nomads, hunter-gatherers, upland farmers, and long-distance merchants. And at various times in Chinese history, parts of China were ruled by conquerors from Inner- and Southeast Asia. The results of these cultural encounters are evident everywhere in architecture, technology, religion, and the arts. Less physically obvious but just as important have been mutual influences in music and the literary arts. This trend of cross-fertilization continues and accelerates today with China's continual opening to the world and with the development of new international media and new travel opportunities. Musicians, artists, architects, poets, novelists and others take advantage of the re-opening of physical and cultural borders to produce new forms, to revitalize old forms with new content, and to participate in the cosmopolitan world of popular culture.

Our symposium will explore these cultural encounters in three sessions, each including scholarly analysis combined with performance. On Friday morning, Oct. 30, we present readings and analysis of two important bilingual poets from Tibet and from the Nuosu Yi people of Sichuan; on Friday afternoon we explore musical interactions of China and the peoples of the Inner-Asian steppe. On Saturday morning we explore musical interactions of China and Southeast Asia.

On Friday evening, we will present a concert, Asian Musical Crossroads: China and Inner Asia/China and Southeast Asia, at 7:30 p.m. at the Brechemin Auditorium at the UW School of Music. (Please see concert listing for more details.)

For more information on the conference and concert, contact Diane Atkinson (atkinsd@uw.edu, 206-543-6938).

Presented by the East Asia Center at the UW's Jackson School of International Studies and the UCLA Asia Institute. Co-sponsored by the China Studies Program, Southeast Asia Center and Ellison Center for Russia, East European and Central Asian Studies at the Jackson School of International Studies.



Concert: Asian Musical Crossroads Participant Details Information for Participants Final Conference Schedule	Welcome to the0106¥72homepage for Crossroads of Asian Music and Poetry: China and Inner Asia,0106¥72China and Southeast Asia. Friday October 300106¥72& Saturday October 31, 2009 8:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. 9:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. Denny Hall 401, University of Washington Conference Overview Crossroads of Asian Music and Poetry puts the musical and poetic interactions between Chinese and neighboring cultures on vivid display. An international roster of musicians, musicologists, poets, anthropologists, and literary scholars describes, analyzes, and performs the results of the vibrant artistic interactions at three busy cultural intersections: between Han and Inner- and Southeast-Asian minority peoples within China, across national borders between Chinese and Inner Asian traditions, and between Chinese and Southeast Asian traditions. For thousands of years, China's borderlands have been the crossroads of Asian cultures. As the Chinese expanded from their original homeland in North China, they encountered myriad groups of mounted nomads, hunter-gatherers, upland farmers, and long-distance merchants. And at various times in Chinese history, parts of China were ruled by conquerors from Inner- and Southeast Asia. The results of these cultural encounters are evident everywhere in architecture, technology, religion, and the arts. Less physically obvious but just as important have been mutual influences in music and the literary arts. This trend of cross-fertilization continues and accelerates today with China's continual opening to the world and with the development of new international media and new travel opportunities. Musicians, artists, architects, poets, novelists and others take advantage of the re-opening of physical and cultural borders to produce new forms, to revitalize old forms with new content, and to participate in the cosmopolitan world of popular culture. Our symposium will explore these cultural encounters in three sessions, each including scholarly analysis combined with performance. On Friday morning, Oct. 30, we present readings and analysis of two important bilingual poets from Tibet and from the Nuosu Yi people of Sichuan; on Friday afternoon we explore musical interactions of China and the peoples of the Inner-Asian steppe. On Saturday morning we explore musical interactions of China and Southeast Asia. On Friday evening, we will present a concert, Asian Musical Crossroads: China and Inner Asia/China and Southeast Asia, at 7:30 p.m. at the Brechemin Auditorium at the UW School of Music. (Please see concert listing for more details.) For more information on the conference and concert, contact Diane Atkinson (atkinsd@uw.edu, 206-543-6938). Presented by the East Asia Center at the UW's Jackson School of International Studies and the UCLA Asia Institute. Co-sponsored by the China Studies Program, Southeast Asia Center and Ellison Center for Russia, East European and Central Asian Studies at the Jackson School of International Studies. Information and Details Conference Location: Denny Hall, Room 401 (map) Concert Location: School of Music, Brechemin Auditorium (map) Conference Schedule (download here) Participant Biographies (link) Related Event: Xinjiang: Behind the Violence Thursday October 29, 2009 7:00 - 9:00 PM Odegaard Library, Room 220 (Map) View Poster0„2(pdf)
Send mail to: atkinsd@uw.edu Last modified: 10/28/2009 2:46 PM