Australia's former prime minister and the Work singer shared the spotlight in New York City on Saturday evening local time as part of the Global Citizen Festival. Their unlikely partnership is in aid of a new Global Citizen education initiative, which was officially launched at the concert after performances by Metallica, Chris Martin, Eddie Vedder, Kendrick Lamar and Bill Nye.

Changdong district, a relatively small residential commuter area, lies on the northern outskirts of Seoul. Home to a few hundred thousand people, it's an area that's growing but which has little cultural facilities or industry. [...] City planners hope that K-pop can do for Changdong what the Beatles did for Liverpool in the UK attracting both locals and tourists into the area, who could bring jobs and spending power with them.
 

The ancient sitar instrument originally crossed cultural boundaries when it was used by The Beatles during the 1960s. Now, it’s hoped the instrument will again bring cultures and countries together, as part of an Indian exhibition featuring sitar soloist Shubhendra Rao.

This year, Ashkenaz Festival presented a new program called The Israeli-Iranian Musical Initiative [...] The ensemble of Iranian and Israeli musicians have brought together traditional music, as well as jazz and western classical instruments, in an attempt to explore a dialogue between Israeli folk and traditional Persian music.

Strisvara, an all-women musicand cultural exchange project, will take place in Bengaluru come September 10. Organized by Arun Sivag and NH Subhash Gowda — the 18-day residency and concert tour programme will see female musicians from the US, Sweden, Spain and Nepal engage in music with independent Indian artistes, along with those from native Soliga tribe of Biligirirangana Hills. 

Serena hotels under its Cultural Diplomacy Initiative arranged a Bosnian Cultural Evening featuring musical performances by the Bosnian sibling duo, Jasmina and Dzenana Sehanovic, to raise funds for the construction of the Pak-Bosnian School in Pind Dadan Khan, Jhelum, says a press release.

A Taiwanese is among 25 musicians from 17 countries and territories selected to participate in an international exchange program organized by the U.S. State Department to promote musical collaboration and people-to-people exchanges, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said Thursday.