Journey West is a musical program chronicling the migration of melody through an interactive aural and visual performance. Our trek tracks melodies and changing instrumentation beginning in the Middle East, traveling through Eastern and Western Europe, and finally arriving in the United States.

The performance illustrates the primary factors involved in carrying melodies to distant land: wars, imperialism, nomadic dispersions, mass emigrations due to political oppression, and musical crazes that sweep the globe. The musical performance is presented with changing visuals to help illustrate the regional and musical differences encountered on the Journey West. The musicians offer demonstrations on their respective instruments and provide basic theoretical explanations to accompany the technical examples.

The Journey West is designed with multiculturalism in mind; to educate those interested in distant ethnicities and to allow members of ethnicities presented in the program to enjoy music of their homeland or ancestors. With a foundation of diversity, it is our intention to engage international students and members of the Ithaca Community as our audience comes together to learn, listen, and enjoy.