We are on the threshold of an historic opportunity to mend a badly broken relationship with our Caribbean neighbor, but Cuba is much more than a neighbor - she is a long lost relative, a source of wonderful culture, incredible artists and musicians, and several civic examples that we could all learn from. She could also become one of our greatest allies in the Western Hemisphere. 

 Alizadeh secretly recorded a video for her rap song, “Brides for Sale.” “I scream for a body exhausted in its cage,” she sings in Farsi, “a body that broke under the price tags you put on it.” After posting the video on YouTube in October 2014 [...] she was offered a scholarship to a high school in central Utah. The ordeal is the subject of Sonita, a documentary that was selected to be screened at the International Documentary Film Festival in Amsterdam this November.

Meridian International Center President Stuart Holliday said the venue was a natural spot for Cabañas to make one of his first forays into the world of cultural diplomacy — a U.S. organization that’s into “bridging cultures” offers a sort of soft opening for Cuban diplomats to begin their charm offensive. 

Besides the opportunities to play with and learn from Cuban musicians, Jaffe says that the PHJB plans to share their New Orleans musical history – “People in New Orleans still dance to jazz. We play jazz at our funerals” – with their hosts.

In 1984, Prince was on top of the world, with a No. 1 album and later a No. 1 movie, both named Purple Rain. Little did Prince know then how widely his projects' influence would spread, or the ways in which they might translate — literally. Three decades after the film first premiered, it got a remake filmed in Niger, featuring members of a nomadic group of people known as the Tuareg.

They came from all over conservative Algeria, clad in black leather, studded bracelets and even the traditional Muslim veil to revel in a rare heavy metal concert. Organized earlier this month in the eastern city of Constantine -- designated this year's Capital of Arab Culture by the Arab League and UN cultural agency UNESCO -- the two-day Fest 213 brought together metal fans from across this North African country.

The Carmel Institute of Russian Culture and History, American University, hosted Russian jazz legend Igor Butman at the Embassy of the Russian Federation in Washington DC. The event, meant to represent the unifying qualities of cultural cooperation[.]

“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.