Ma's group digs for cultural links

NEW YORK — Yo-Yo Ma is hitting the road — the Silk Road to China.

It's the first time since 2001 that the cellist has taken his Silk Road Project to that key region of the ancient trade route, which stretched from Europe to the Far East.

This time, they'll be playing at the opening ceremonies of the Special Olympics in Shanghai on Tuesday, five days before Ma's 52nd birthday.

Over the subsequent 10 days, Ma and his more than dozen colleagues will give concerts and workshops in Suzhou, Hong Kong and at Beijing's Forbidden City, performing some of the songs on their newly released, best-selling CD "New Impossibilities."

The master communicator — who was born to Chinese parents in France, moved to America as a boy and studied anthropology at Harvard rather than remain in a music conservatory — started the Silk Road Project in 1998 as a way of discovering similarities in diverse cultures and increasing understanding.

The ensemble has performed in 23 countries, and recently completed a yearlong residency in Chicago.

In a recent telephone interview with The Associated Press, Ma spoke about music's role in communications and how the Silk Road Project has affected his playing of the classical repertoire.

AP: Are you trying to show that diverse cultures have much in common?

Ma: I think so. This is not ideological. We're trying to just find out things. If we find something that has no connection to anything and it evolves on its own, that's great. We're not trying to prove anything. But it seems to us so far that the more we dig, the more you find there are connections.

AP: How did you get into this?

Ma: Well (laughing), I was in a pizza parlor. I was tired of practicing and said, "You know, I can't play in tune. What else can I do?" No! I got this from traveling, from learning, also from the core values from what I was taught. That, essentially, is to find the voices — first of all finding your own voice, finding another person's voice and advocating for it. The other person (can be) someone either whose music I'm playing, or from a different era. ...

If music is a great way to express our inner life, do we have access to another person's inner life? And if we had access, does that actually develop more of a sense of empathy for people around the world?

AP: Are you playing Islamic music in China, which is sensitive about its large Muslim population in the west?