During the last week several events tested my determination to continue with my blog and my project. Somehow, as if trying to stop me of doing what I had proposed to do, my car battery died before I had to drive to my belly dance class. Then our home internet did not work, as thunderstorms hit our home and left us without connection for the past week. Adding to that, we had to come to Rio de Janeiro, and I knew that dancing would be more restrict. Even though, I continue to write and dance, at home, without internet and I promise to dance three hours tomorrow to make up for these days without blogging.
I have also kept my promise to write about the silk read historical context. In fact, as I thought about the Silk road, something clicked inside my head, and I could remember how I used to like to dance while listening to Kitaro’s Silk Road LP (before even CDs existed).
Kitaro’s piece was inspired by the journey of a man who became the first Budhist in Japan. In the 7th century ac, Monk Genjo Sanso traveled the Silk Road (network), from Japan to India, and brought Buddhism into China and other East Asian regions.
As Genjo, many men and women traveled during the ancient periods of history throughout this interwoven routes to exchange their goods.
(Wikipedia) "The Silk Routes (collectively known as the "Silk Road") were important paths for cultural, commercial and technological exchange between traders, merchants,
pilgrims,
missionaries, soldiers,
nomads and urban dwellers from
Ancient China,
Ancient India, Ancient Tibet,
Persia and
Mediterranean countries for almost 3,000 years.
[4] It gets its name from the lucrative
Chinese silk trade, which began during the
Han Dynasty (206 BCE–220 CE).
Extending 4,000 miles, the routes enabled people to transport goods, especially luxuries such as
slaves,
silk,
satin and other fine fabrics,
musk, other perfumes, spices, medicines, jewels, glassware and even
rhubarb, as well as serving as a conduit for the spread of knowledge, ideas, cultures and diseases
[5] between different parts of the world (Ancient China, Ancient India (Indus valley, now Pakistan),
Asia Minor and the Mediterranean). Trade on the Silk Road was a significant factor in the development of the great
civilizations of
China,
India,
Egypt,
Persia,
Arabia, and
Rome, and in several respects helped lay the foundations for the modern world. Although the term
the Silk Road implies a continuous journey, very few who traveled the route traversed it from end to end. For the most part, goods were transported by a series of agents on varying routes and were traded in the bustling mercantile markets of the oasis towns.
[5]
The central Asian sections of the trade routes were expanded around 114 BCE by the
Han dynasty,
[6] largely through the missions and explorations of
Zhang Qian,
[7] but earlier trade routes across the continents already existed.
[citation needed] In the late Middle Ages, transcontinental trade over the land routes of the Silk Road declined as sea trade increased.
[8] Though silk was certainly the major trade item from China, many other products were traded, and various technologies, religions and philosophies as well as the
bubonic plague (the so-called "Black Death") also traveled along the Silk Routes. India played a vital role in the trade, being virtually by the center of the route as well as having unique products such as spices, precious stones, and hand-crafted goods."
The term "Silk Road" or "Silk Route" was coined by the German scholar Ferdinand von Richthofen to describe the interwoven travel passages, caravan routes and byways stretching from China to the eastern Mediterranean, with important branches leading to the Indian subcontinent. Trade goods were not the only things travelers carried with them: artistic methods and motifs, styles of music, dances, religions, languages and literature, philosophies and political ideologies were all transported along with silks, spices, and porcelains. Rather than the luxury items that might pass from one set of hands to another, more often it was these more intangible cultural products that left the most indelible impressions.
We can find a variety of sources about the Silk Road's cultural and historical heritages just at the click of our mouse and keyboards, inside the internet: Wikipedia's definition of the period of the silk road trade,
University of Washington Exibition on the silkroad, as seen above, then a foundation called the Silkroad foundation, Ballet Afsaneh, the Silk Road documentary (a joint japanese and Chinese TV show) about the history of a mummy, "Princess Xiaohe". More recently, in 2007, Yo-Yo-Ma, famous cello player, created a very impressive project called
Silk Road Project and group called the S
ilk Road Assemble, in Palo Alto, Bay Area, California. And ever since, they have been traveling through USA, Europe, to Asia with one of the b
est musicians playing traditional and modern instruments on the theme of the Silk Road. A pearl of the Silk Road.
It is incredible how the Silk Road can be so fascinating to inspire musicians, dancers, anthropologists, an infinite source of creativity, sounds, spices, colors and movements, even games around the world. On the game side, the hybrid modern and ancient aspect brought by the Silk road is imprinted in
online games, from South Korea,
Hope all these aspects inspire me to continue dancing and growing my repertoire on the Silk Road theme!!! Tomorrow, Bollywood!
Yeahh, shake your arms!
Um beijo if you are there patiently reading.
