But I'm also an advocate for not throwing the baby out with the bathwater. "I see an opera like Lakmé, with its many religious themes, and I find this depiction of Hinduism to be quaint.
"I've been torn my entire life as an Indian American who conducts opera and orchestral rep," said Maestro Viswa Subbaraman, on the Seattle Opera podcast. One can still enjoy a work of art, or beautiful music -while recognizing its limitations. Narratives that often fail to represent non-white cultures with dignity and humanity. Thus, when we enjoy these works today, we also hold all the complexity of what they represent: Storytelling from a limited worldview. The folks back home had plenty of curiosity about the non-western world, but their access to real information was extremely limited. These works were created during a period of enormous western imperial expansion, when European powers were racing each other to establish colonies all over the world. Historically and artistically, Orientalist operas occupy a curious position. These works also helped to justify ideas of superiority that fueled imperialism and colonialism.
Often, Orientalist operas depict friction between the dominant culture and an exotic, untamable “other.” Orientalist works of art such as The Pearl Fishers, Carmen, Djamileh, Lakmé, Madame Butterfly and others helped European viewers fulfill fantasies about “exotic” people. Orientalism referred to a white European fascination with Middle Eastern, Asian, and North African societies. But when we’re talking about opera and European art from the past, “Orientalism” has a much broader meaning. Nowadays in the United States, the terms “Orient” and “Oriental” are well known as dated, racist labels for Asian peoples and cultures. The Pearl Fishers at Seattle Opera in 1994
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