music diplomacy

This month’s concerts have been made possible thanks to organizer Morten Traavik, a trusted figure in the area of cultural exchange as far as Pyongyang is concerned. He told local news agency Yonhap that the band can draw on the division of their homeland Yugoslavia in understanding sentiment towards the separation of the Koreas at the close of Tokyo’s colonial rule.

Stories about cultural diplomacy took center stage in this week's PD news coverage.

One Indian rapper is taking on corporate giant Unilever with an environmental protest song set to the tune of Nicki Minaj’s “Anaconda.” Chennai-born rapper Sofia Ashraf partnered with the grassroots organizing campaign Jhatkaa to create the video “Kodaikanal Won't,” calling on the corporate giant to clean up its mess and pay restitution to workers of the thermometer factory that was responsible for a giant toxic waste dump in the Indian city.

Six students from Fryeburg Academy recently returned from "singing their way through Europe" during July. The tour was run through the auspices of the American Music Abroad company, which is based in New Jersey and now in its 40th year running such tours.

On Tuesday, August 4, Canberran Christopher Latham will conduct the premiere of the Gallipoli Symphony in Istanbul. [...] "Essentially, the work brings together the best composers from Australia, New Zealand and Turkey. [...] I believe it is the largest piece of cultural diplomacy our country has ever created," he says.

July 24, 2015

News headlines showcased this week how nations utilize cultural diplomacy and other soft power assets to brand themselves abroad.

Evidence of thawing relations between the United States and Iran will take center stage tonight in, of all places, Duluth. But before the Lake Superior Chamber Orchestra played even a rehearsal note of Hooshyar Khayam's "Kalileh" [...] the Iranian composer and Warren Friesen were busy together in the LSCO conductor and artistic director's kitchen last Saturday.

The UK comes top of the table with an unmatched combination of strong assets across all categories of soft power. The UK does particularly well on Culture, Digital, and Global Engagement.

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