Intercultural understanding, conversation, negotiation. . these are all difficult and fraught areas of contemporary social interaction. For those interested in working sharing or creating understandings across differing cultures of belief (faith), power (privilage and politics), and sociology (ethnicity and customs) intercultural improvisation provides a vehicle for opportunity and formation of relationships.
ASK myself:

What is intercultural improvisation?

Why is it interesting and important?

the music begins with silence

Where words fail music speaks --Hans Christian Anderson

Music begins where words end -- Jean Sibelius

People's experiences are all different, and you don't know what the person experienced. They know, but you don't, so I think it's important to listen carefully to what a person has to say. And not to force them into any direction at all but simply to model what you've experienced, model it and also be what I call a Listening Presence. If you're really listening, then some of the barriers can dissolve or change.
Pauline Oliveros

"in that silence add one note" Oliveros

In this particular case there are members of multiple Christian and Jewish denominations all musical leaders and members of various indigenous groups, also all musical leaders and knowledge-holders. The discomfort with the clash between cultures is palpable in the air. These people have gathered with the intent of improving relations between the dominant christian, settler culture and that of First Nations, in this case there are members of Anshnaabe, Haudenosaunee, and other "Six Nations" members.

Where does this start?
Where does it go?

What is the cultural work of CM here?

In dealing with musics across cultures we are immediately confronted by a confusion of similar terms with different meanings. Music and cultural vocabulary has been further confused by the adoption of terms from the world of retail sales.

Take for instance the term "world music". Like many terms used today, it doesn't mean what is implies. World music was adopted from the music industry attempting to categorize musics for retail consumption. Music was sold under label of "classical" to mean orchestral, vocal, and instrumental musics in the Western European classical tradition, popular, rock, jazz, and other forms . .

Anything else was identified by a region such as "Africa" or "Asian" or "China" and designated as world music.

This is looking at the music of world from a strictly Western viewpoint, where anything that is not "normal" is considered "other." Anything "other" was thrown into world music. . implying that those musics were other or different.

CM attempts to opne up this limited perspective seeing music through its interrelationships.

What are the relationships of musics from several cultures with one another?

1) Multicultural -- refers to many existing in parallel with no real attempt at dialogue, blending, (this happens at multicultural festivals)

2) Cross - Cultural -- can be thought of as one, usually dominant, culture reaching out (think symphony outreach) to another, less dominant. . also the reverse. . a non dominant culture reaching out to dominant. (ex. symphony orchestra outreach . . take Beethoven to the masses or including an Iranian singer on stage with the symphony)

3) Intercultural music making refers to a sort of equal footing, sharing , blending and attempt at dialogue. Think Chieftans and a Chinese music ensemble.

It is #3 in which this study is most interested.

By now most musicians and scholars are well-versed in the dangers of cultural appropriation. Working across cultures is fraught with appropriation. When are you stealing? What are you stealing? Many mainstream musicians now avoid cultural musics as they fear appropriation. When are you treating another music with disrespect?

In the ethical space where there is amplified moral ballast to every action. . . simply imitating the music of someone else could be fraught with "mistake". . . so what do we do?

Music as Gift. . as shared. . as generosity as olive branch?

A less understood pitfall of working across cultures in exotizing the other. . .

To exoticize someone else is to disregard the original context of the music and somehow create a fantasy world around it. . . we hear it all the time. .

Oh Asian music is so mystical. . .or I like to just Eastern it up a bit. . .

Celtic Music as a genre is a creation of exoticization. . .creating a fantasy culture and world that essentially has never existed (Bohlman)

The draw of these is undeniable and while they can form identity are not the best attitudes for intercultural music work.

In my practice, true intercultural work, that is, sharing of music without the effects of exoticism or appropriation.

(See Exoticism Effect and Appropriation Effect)

It is essential to be aware of the creation of musical ethical space. The notion of ethical space comes from Poole and later madified by Willie Ermin as a way of approaching the negotiation space between Settler and First nation's cultures (Canadian Govn't).

Ermin says "Ethical space is"

For over a dozen years a music and social action special event has been held in the KW region -- this is sing fires of justice. . a self described intercultural and interfaith festival of music and spoken word around issues of social justice.

Several years ago Sing Fires tackled the the issue of Canada's Lost Sisters: Missing and Murdered Indigenous women who have disappeared without a trace through the drack sin the legal system.

This event included a Women's First nations singing drumming group, a Jewish contemporary group (temple Shalom), Dawud Wharnsby one of the leading world practitioners of Islamic Nasheed songs, a massed choir made up university students from two universities and a variety of church and community groups.