Traveling the Silk Road at AMNH

On the day we visited the Traveling the Silk Road exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History, the Shanazaki Ensemble, part of the Silk Road Project, was playing at the end. Our 'journey' through Xi'an, Turfan, Samarkand, and Baghdad, from the ancient world (represented by silk, including looms and actually cocoons) into modernity (represented by books and machinery like an astrolab), was punctuated by bursts of cello, ud, shakuhachi, drums, and other instruments that were developed or would have been played along the famed trade route. Smells of musk and jasmine from a re-created night-market in Turfan floated through the air. It was a lovely, informative way to spend an afternoon.

Photo: thanks