Almost 20 years ago, the great Chinese-American cellist Yo-Yo Ma embarked on a bold new direction in his career, to challenge himself musically and creatively, and question the monolithic classical canon. He formed an international performance collective, the Silk Road Project, with musicians from countries including Turkey, Syria and Iran, bringing together their disparate traditions and developing a more celebratory “classical-folk” vernacular.
Morgan Neville, who directed the Oscar-winning documentary 20 Feet from Stardom, has made this film about his ensemble, described here as music’s “Manhattan Project”. It’s admirably high-minded, and internationalism and openness have never been needed more. But I must admit to finding this … not complacent exactly, but perhaps too serenely self-regarding.
There are many shots of the musicians laughing delightedly at each other as they perform. I would have liked to hear more about their compositional work: is it partly improvisation, an inspired jam session? Are there many moments when Ma tastes the fusion cuisine and thinks: “Actually, no, that doesn’t work, let’s try something else?” Are they a little like the Traveling Wilburys, or like those worthy portmanteau movies that sometimes emerge in world cinema, with great directors each contributing a short film? It’s not easy to tell from this. They’re obviously a fascinating live act.
