The Music of Strangers Page #3

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of what her friends and

family go through in Galicia.

I knew exactly what

the tradition meant

to the elder generation.

But I was excited

about everything

that was happening in

the present tense.

It was like something explosive.

She took the instrument

to an extreme

that people could not

even think about.

She's the Jimi Hendrix

of the gaita.

But, you know, I don't think

everybody likes Jimi Hendrix.

When you play an instrument

that really represents

your country or your

area of the world,

that has implications.

The first bad reviews I got

were from the kind of people

that really wants to preserve

pure, traditional Galician music,

and some of them were

not very nice to me.

I was 18 years old.

I wasn't thinking about any

other political meaning.

I just played bagpipes.

One day I woke up

and I saw myself

doing that for the

rest of my life,

and I didn't like that feeling.

I decided to put all that

life away and go away.

I didn't even bring my bagpipe.

I mean, I moved to New York

about 10 days before

9/11 happened.

And do I say it was easy?

It wasn't easy, because

all the stereotypes come.

And, you know, you're

judged by the way you look,

and I had a big

beard at that time.

I was born in Paris.

We moved to New York,

and I had nothing

to do with that,

except things just

changed around me...

the way things look,

smell, taste.

And it was confusing.

A lot of friends said, "Why

are you going to America?

You're crazy." And... I

was crazy, actually.

No English.

Nobody know what a pipa was.

The very first thing

that I learned

was that my experience

as kamancheh player

would not count as anything.

It was zero.

The moment you place yourself

in a different context...

...then you have to

stretch yourself,

because nobody knows the pipa

or the kamancheh or the gaita.

I worked in a restaurant.

I drove a cab.

But I wanted to learn,

I wanted to study and

become a better musician.

Play in a Chinatown with...

local musicians,

you know, factory

worker, taxi driver.

That's the only

way I keep it up.

The good thing about

being in New York,

everybody comes from

a different place,

and we all bring our roots.

Those roots get re-rooted here.

Definitely, America's

very different.

But I'm more interested in actually...

in appreciating the differences...

what you have that I don't have.

Not that I want to

take it away from you,

no, but I want to

learn from it, no?

I do remember a press conference

which was one of the first times

that we got up as a group

to talk about what we did

in front of cameras,

in front of the press.

And they were asking questions

along the lines of, you know,

"It's like you're taking

this traditional music,

"you're mixing it together,

and you're diluting,

you know, these traditions."

Nick, you want to go? Uh, sure.

I was just terrified.

Share a little bit about...

We were not at the

point of describing it

as a family or as this

creative cauldron.

Uh...

We had none of that,

really, to stand on.

Thanks, everybody,

for being here.

I'm gonna go to the bathroom.

To try to describe what

we were trying to do,

what this meant and all

that was... was a nightmare.

I knew that whatever we did,

there was going to be

naysayers from all sides.

Kinan and Wu Man,

are you... you ready? Kinan: Yep.

All set.

Yes, criticism hurts.

But you actually have

to have conviction

in the genuineness and

the power of your ideas.

And I'm sort of saying,

"Gee, let's take a chance."

Phew!

What a view!

This project, it

adds your voice.

I think this is what is

exciting about the journey is,

you look for your

voice, you know?

Sometimes you think

you found it,

and then once you have

it, it changes again.

Oh, look, look, look.

They're playing badminton.

Oh yeah, let's go see this.

This is... I love this.

Wow.

- Look.

- Wow.

Oh. Whoa!

That's great. That's great.

Mmm.

Mmm!

It's very, very necessary for me

to go and live in Iran,

because what happened

after the revolution...

all of the better

teachers moved out.

I went back 2002 to

teach Persian music.

Uh-huh.

I think living with

tragedy for many years

and being alone is

really, really tough.

So when he moved back to Iran...

he started teaching,

met Zohreh...

and it changed his life.

It's very dangerous.

The Iranian government

really keeps their...

their eye on... on

artists like Kayhan

and other musicians

that are quite popular.

They were warned that they

should not be participating

in conversations about

what's happening in Iran.

One thing that I cannot

accept is violence.

I've been outspoken,

I've been active,

you know, to try to help that.

Did anything happen

to you personally?

Yes, but, you know, I... I

wouldn't want to talk,

you know, to camera about it.

I can choose to be part

of that society or not,

and-and... and that's not a

very idealistic society

for me to be a part of...

so I had to leave.

But... Zohreh stayed.

I haven't been back for

five years now, yeah.

You know, I miss her,

and I miss my homeland,

and I always want to go

back and live there.

I haven't been able

to do it so far.

But I think it... it will happen.

Yeah, I think I missed one.

Okay, guys, all right.

Okay. I'd like to

ask you something.

I would like a very free rhythm

and almost nothing.

It's sort of intimate

and atmospheric and...

So, how does it go?

It can go... It can

do something there.

Good. Something like that.

Mongolian birds'

wings fluttering.

And if you want to do...

you know, it could be wind, right?

So...

- Is that okay? Yeah.

- Let's do it.

So it should sound like

a giant horse fart.

You know? Like...

Back to the top.

In the States, the first few

years was really difficult.

But music circle and the music

community is very small.

So when you're interested,

you went looking for something,

and definitely,

it's there or there

if you pay attention.

My instrument, nobody knows it.

And I remember one

day, I get phone call.

"How come this string quartet

wanted to work with me?"

She is a total rock star.

She started playing with

so many different people.

It's like, "I need a pipa

player!" "Call Wu Man."

In America, people

think you're Chinese.

You play Chinese

instrument and from China.

But when I go back to China,

they say, "Oh, you're American."

"You... you don't

know today's China."

When you leave your

home, your country,

and you have this picture

of it in your mind.

When I went back, nothing fit

that picture I had in my mind.

Everything changed.

People were even

speaking differently.

I think the challenge

in Galicia right now is

the same challenge that exists

in the rest of the world,

which is keeping

your roots alive.

There is no tradition

that exists today

that was not the result of

really successful invention.

But unless a tradition

keeps evolving...

...it naturally becomes

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