Smithsonian Folklife Festival: The Silk Road

by Keith Stanley

copyright 2002

   This year's (2002) Smithsonian Folklife Festival on the Mall is the most ambitious ever.  It's theme is "The Silk Road," featuring the cultures along that famed ancient trade route between the East (China & Central Asia, with extensions to the Indian subcontinent) and the West (Italy and Western Europe), through the Middle East (Turkey, Iran, Iraq).  More than 300 musicians, dancers, and artisans from some 25 nations along the fabled Silk Road are present on the Mall for the two weeks of the Folklife Festival, demonstrating the living culture of their regions.

   Last Saturday (June 29th), it was my good fortune to wander the Eastern portion of the Silk Road Folklife Festival, taking a few photos which I now share with you:
IMG_0798 man & camel (good).jpg (66431 bytes) IMG_0814 Chinese opera make-up small (ok).jpg (61126 bytes)
Nomads - Man with camel Beijing Opera make-up
IMG_0834 Chinese opera.jpg (79905 bytes) IMG_0827 Chinese opera fabric fling (good).jpg (44503 bytes)
Beijing Opera Beijing Opera
IMG_0864 Urhoy choir.jpg (75692 bytes) IMG_0881 performer on with Kushtia Bauls, I think, but am not certain.jpg (46554 bytes)
Urhoy choir Unknown performer
IMG_0899 Asian mask dancer.jpg (70671 bytes) IMG_0948 Asian mask dancers (ok).jpg (113981 bytes)
Ethnos Shingigaku mask dancer Asian mask dancers
IMG_0911 Asian mask dancer.jpg (33816 bytes) IMG_0930 Asian mask dancer.jpg (36754 bytes)
Asian mask dancer Asian mask dancer
IMG_0941 Asian mask dancer (good).jpg (60232 bytes) IMG_0951 Asian mask dancer bird (good).jpg (66467 bytes)
Asian mask dancer Asian mask dancer
IMG_0952 Asian mask dancers.jpg (82586 bytes) IMG_0884 Asian mask dancer.jpg (33600 bytes)
Asian mask dancers Asian mask dancer
IMG_0925 Asian mask dancer.jpg (47306 bytes) IMG_0886 Asian mask dancer.jpg (51217 bytes)
Asian mask dancer Mask dancer
IMG_0924 Asian dancers.jpg (54394 bytes) IMG_0961 mask dancer musicians on stage.jpg (64595 bytes)
Asian Mask Dance Theater Mask dance musicians on stage
IMG_0795 Pakistani painted truck detail (good).jpg (135717 bytes) IMG_0978 Pakistani truck front bumper, grille (+).jpg (126706 bytes)
Painted Pakistani truck (side panel) Pakistani truck (grille) - (July 7th)
To see images of the Silk Road fashion show, click:
Link to fashion show

More Asian Dance/Performance at Smithsonian

I welcome any questions or comments.  

To contact me (Keith Stanley), please email me at kesta1001@yahoo.com.

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