music diplomacy

“Free To Rock,” screening in Gaston Hall this Tuesday at 7:30, reveals the subculture that took a stand against communism and its denial of freedom, a chance for those unfamiliar with Soviet cultural and political history to see behind the Iron Curtain and understand the power of rock ’n’ roll.

Another eye-catching performer is Mixer. Formed in 2013, the rock group won Best Band at the Golden Melody Awards last year and has participated in ROC Ministry of Foreign Affairs-backed cultural diplomacy tours of Japan and South Korea, with their energetic shows proving popular with both local and overseas audiences.

November 5, 2015

When Armand Diangienda picks up an instrument that he has never played, he looks for its hidden rule. That skill [...] was crucial twenty years ago, when he started the Kimbanguist Symphony Orchestra, in Kinshasa, the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In 2014, they travelled to the U.K. to perform with several ensembles, including the BBC Concert Orchestra, in a tour of English cities.

Ahead of crucial election, musicians rail against government-sanctioned repression of persecuted Rohingya minority. The band Side Effect is one of Myanmar's most popular punk rock bands and among a growing number of musicians rallying to combat hate speech. The performance came as religious tensions escalate in the former military dictatorship leading up to a landmark general election on Sunday.

The notes of the sarabande of Bach’s Suite No 2 rise in the cold air, praising God for the “miracle” of the fall of the Berlin Wall, as Mstislav Rostropovich later put it. The photograph is seen around the world. The date is 11 November 1989, and the Russian virtuoso is marching to the beat of history.

An economic blockade between the U.S. and Cuba didn't prevent jazz from traveling between the countries. But what if the dialogue could flow freely?Arturo O'Farrill & the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra wanted to find out. [...] He got six composers to envision, in their own ways, the continuation of a musical conversation that Gillespie and Pozo started. 

The "ping-pong diplomacy" was on display again - this time at Beijing's Poly Theater, where players and musicians from both countries gathered on Thursday to perform a show cheering Sino-U.S. exchanges of the early 1970s. 

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