By Dinah Alobeid
Gold encrusting, ivory pieces, brass handles and the occasional well-placed turquoise. The expansive room is filled with musical treasures from centuries past. But this is no ancient jewelry store, this room is on the second floor of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and the exhibit is Sounds of the Silk Road: Musical Instruments of Asia.
The museum showcases a collection of musical instruments and music-related art from several different areas of Asia ranging from Turkey and Iran to China and Korea. These aren’t everyday instruments either. Each piece has a history, a tradition and a past that resonates through their display and intricate patterns and craftsmanship. The exhibit opened on Saturday and will run through Jan. 5.
When climbing the stairs in the Japanese galleries on the first floor, as you approach the second floor, a quiet and seemingly empty spacious room spills before you. However, in the center of the room a wood platform raised approximately one foot off the ground shows off massive gongs and delicate drums from Indonesia, many coming from the island of Java. There are numerous instruments in this display that look like xylophones but they are gamelans. The same name is given to the orchestral type of music played in Indonesia, reads one of the display explanations. Another instrument from Indonesia in the center display is the rebab, a fiddle made of such delicate materials as ivory, decorated with silk and brocade. The one on display is from the mid-19th century.
The instruments, which have origins ranging as far back as the 17th century, are grouped by country or region of origin with sections devoted to Afghanistan, Iran, Turkey, India, China, Korea, Tibet, Indonesia, Japan and Thailand.
One of the most unusual, even bizarre, materials used in the instruments is found in Tibetan thod-rnga, a rattle drum. It is made from the tops of two human skulls, joined at the crowns. The bones of people who have died violent deaths are found in the construction of some Tibetan ritual instruments, the display explains. The use of bones is religious, “underscoring the transitory nature of life,” the exhibit reads.
The Japanese instrument room is also decorated with silk tapestries depicting women and men playing the traditional instruments or dancing to the rhythm of said instruments.
From Buddhist handbells in the shape of a lightning bolt to represent enlightenment, which may only be rung using the left hand, to Turkish guitars with mosaic designs typical of Islamic artwork, each instrument in the exhibit carries a meaningful history.
Every other Wednesday from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. throughout the summer and fall, a traditional Indonesian orchestra will rehearse for the public, according to the MFA’s Web site. These performances give the exhibit a well-rounded characteristic that brings the music of the instruments to life. There are also other performances which will be announced throughout the course of the exhibit such as a Japanese koto performance held Monday afternoon. For more information visit the museum’s Web site, www.mfa.org.
