In 1998, cellist Yo-Yo Ma created an arts organization called Silkroad in order to promote collaboration and multicultural artist exchange, and one element of the organization is the Silkroad Ensemble, a rotating collective of dozens of musicians from Asian and European cultures. In early 2025, the Silkroad Ensemble is touring with six musicians, and will be stopping in Seattle on March 28.
On this tour, the musicians include Japanese percussionist Haruka Fujii, Indigenous American lap-steel slide guitarist Pura Fé, Lebanese violinist and vocalist Layale Chaker, Armenian American cellist Karen Ouzounian, African American violinist and vocalist Mazz Swift, and Scottish Celtic harpist Maeve Gilchrist.
The Silkroad Ensemble has recorded 11 CDs, and this year, will be touring a new performance entitled Uplifted Voices, with compositions emphasizing homeland, ancestors, community, and family. The project’s theme was brought forward by Silkroad artistic director Rhiannon Giddens.
“Throughout the creative process for the past few years, the artists have always discussed identifying the meaning and messages we want to share with the audience through the program and the current theme represents our vision of the project,” said Fuji in an interview with the International Examiner.
During Uplifted Voices, Fujii will share a song she wrote while Silkroad was working on its 2024 album American Railroad. It is a musical storytelling of the people and communities who made the U.S. Transcontinental Railroad. “During research, I discovered there were over 13,000 Japanese immigrants who worked on the railroad, which is a fact not widely recognized,” Fujii said. “My piece weaves the ambition, dreams, and hopes of the immigrant workers on the frontline of railroad construction in the U.S. with the sentiment for their homeland.”
Fujii is a multi-percussionist who has studied music from an early age. “I grew up as the daughter of a known marimba player in Japan, Mutsuko Fujii,” she shared. “I started with piano, then switched to percussion while I attended a high school for music and arts.”
As a percussionist with western classical music training, Fujii’s passion is to explore the definition of what percussion is and can be. “My collection of instruments includes everything from toy wind-up monkey to car parts to rice bowls,” she said, adding that the marimba might be her favorite due to its versatility and warm wooden sound. “I love the fact that we can turn any materials into music-making devices.”
Although Fujii first joined the Silkroad Ensemble in 2010, her exposure to the group occurred even earlier, having attended a concert while she was a student. “I was friends with a couple of founding-member percussionists through my freelance work in New York,” she said. “In 2010, one of them asked me to cover for him for a lengthy tour, which visited all the major cities in Asia. After that, they kept inviting me back for more projects, and I was invited to become an ensemble member.”
After a decade of participation, Fujii joined Silkroad Ensemble’s leadership. “From 2020 to 2023, I served as one of the Artists’ Committee members, which represents the greater artist collective of Silkroad,” she said. “And during that time, I worked closely with Artistic Director Rhiannon Giddens on a few large projects.”
Before long, Fujii became Silk Road’s Associate Artistic Director. “It is such an exciting job and I learn so much from being a conduit between Rhiannon’s artistic vision, the rest of the ensemble artists, the production team, and the administrative staff. It takes a village to create the stage of Silkroad, and I am extremely grateful to be a part of the leadership team.”
She also finds that her work with Silkroad and her solo work mutually enrich each other. “My experience with Silkroad inspires the solo and other work of my own in many ways,” she said, “and I also bring the creative ideas and skills I foster from working with different groups and composers into Silkroad projects to share those with Silkroad artists.”
Fujii is especially excited to bring this new Silkroad project to Seattle. “All of the Uplifted Voices musicians are not only amazing artists, but extraordinary human beings representing their roots, heritage, family, and communities,” she said. “Each project turns out to be such a rich experience of learning about each other and creating our new musical language to tell stories together.”
Silkroad Ensemble performs on March 28 at the Meany Center for the Performing Arts, University of Washington, Seattle.
