From Chinese acrobats and Hawaiian dance to Turkish-European opera and Indian music, the Asian Arts and Culture program of the University of Massachusetts at Amherst has begun its season of diverse programming, which will include a free lecture-demonstration in Greenfield in February.
On Nov. 5, master sarode player Aalam Khan and tabla player Nitin Mitta will join for an evening of classical music of India in an 8 p.m. performance at Bowker Auditorium, and on Nov. 9, the Shanghai Acrobats troupe will make a dramatic appearance at the UMass Fine Arts Center Concert Hall in a dazzling 7:30 p.m. show.
Following a Feb. 9 performance of sacred dances and legends of Hawaii in the FAC Concert Hall by Halau Hula Ka No’eau Ensemble, Israeli-born Yuval Ron will present “The Seeker of Truth” on Feb. 23 in the FAC Concert Hall with an ensemble that includes vocals by Najwa Gibran, oud played by Yuval Ron, woodwinds by Norik Manoukian and the ritual of Dervish Aziz.
A lecture-demonstration, “My Heart is in the East,” by Ron the previous evening, Feb. 22, in Greenfield’s Arts Block, will look at how this ancient sacred Hebrew music from the Middle East connects the Jewish people with their roots as a Mideast tribe and its importance for Jewish identity and peace with the Arab world.
“We’re at such a critical point in this election year, where the foreigner is ‘the other,’ but who is the foreigner?” says Ranjanaa Devi, director of the UMass Asian Aarts and Culture Program. “I came from India, but I’m as American as an Irish person who came ffrom Ireland. I like to pick work that resonates with people who’ve become part of the fabric of America. All of us in our own way are contributing and bringing something that enriiches, that teaches global learning. Fifty years from now we won’t even think about ‘the other’ because this is what America is. The focus of my work here is that more and more, this blending is becoming so smooth, so beautiful, that we don’t even think about it as ‘other.’”
The Arts Block program, Devi said, represents the first time the Asian Arts and Culture Series has presented a program in Greenfield, has been making a deliberate effort to reach out beyond the UMass and other Five College campuses to communities around the region.
In May, it presented a day of free activities in Turners Falls, “The River’s Song: Celebrating the Connecticut River,” featuring an original soundscape by percussionist Tony Vacca, with video installations by Chinese artists in Avenue A storefronts and other commemorative events inspired by The Nile Project, looking at issues affecting that river.
The overall season, which also includes a host of other free programs throughout the Pioneer Valley as well as a free weekly film series on the UMass Amherst campus, will conclude March 30 at Bowker Auditorium with a production blending traditional Japanese puppetry by Koryu Nishikawa V and Tom Lee.
On the Web: fineartscenter.com