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| Buddha and Hercules, 2nd Century AD |
Some people are scratching their heads over the idea of performing a Baroque opera in the middle of the Himalayas. I must admit, it is a little unusual, not the kind of thing that happens every day especially when you consider that opera is an expensive art form and it is in this case aimed at an audience that has never seen an opera before. You could argue that the money be better spent, that the West goes its way and the East the other ... or rather in this internet age, that we all keep hurtling towards a generalized uniformity of identity at the expense of individual or ethnic identities that will become either quaint or nostalgic has-beens.
What will be lost is destined to be ... but I think money and energy need to be spent to celebrate at the same time our glorious life form as human beings, that which brings us all together under the same umbrella, and also our uniqueness, as individuals or collective groups.
I was most surprised to discover the other day that, in a certain sense, this project has an astounding precedent to be found in the ancient civilization of Gandhara around the 1st and 2nd centuries AD. Gandhara was a region that extended between north-west India and Afghanistan. At this point in history, thanks to the conquests of Alexander the Great some 300 years prior, a community of Greeks settled here and introduced their Hellenistic culture.
Up until this moment, the figure of Buddha had never been represented in sculpture or painting. The Greeks however brought with them their art of sculpture and in one of the most amazing expressions of syncretism, they produced what are thought to be the very first images of Buddha. Anyone familiar with Greek sculpture will immediately recognize the attention given to the human form, the way the clothes drape over the body and the Greek facial and hair features that betray their origins.
Looking at the image at the top of the post, the strangely natural juxtaposition of Hercules and Buddha, quintessential expressions of the West and the East, is a true inspiration for this project.
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| Buddha from the 1st century AD, Gandhara |
