Often, the enjoyment of a work of art requires one to forget about its message and simply focus on its sensory appeal. In other cases, the work of art is the message. The project of cultural diplomacy often straddles this border between agenda and art for art's sake, and at a time when U.S.-Russian relations are publicly frayed, cultural exchange can help to keep tensions at bay. Last week, Grammy Award-winning American saxophonist Bill Evans, a former bandmate of Miles Davis, performed with his band "Soulgrass" at Spaso House, the official residence of the U.S. ambassador.

The United Arab Emirates isn't a country you'd typically associate with hip-hop. It's a place that is generally bereft of the cultural signifiers native to the dark, dank locales where rap was birthed—Illmatic, for instance, probably wouldn't have been the same album if it was about the struggle of going $40 million over budget on your new artificial archipelago instead of the fight out of inner-city poverty.

Anthony Bobb and Dontray Ennis have never been on an airplane. The farthest either of them has been from the Washington, DC, area is a recent trip to New York City. But on Nov. 16, the pair of DC rappers plans to board a flight to Beijing, en route to their final destination — North Korea. It’s not exactly a top tourist destination. But Bobb and Ennis, who go by the names Pacman and Peso, are psyched about the adventure.

It was girls’ night out at Hayarkon Park in Tel Aviv for Rihanna’s one-night-only show in Israel as part of her “Diamond World Tour.” Teenage girls linked arms, mothers accompanied ten year old daughters, 20-something young women took selfies, and small percentage of men - reluctant boyfriends, benevolent fathers and gay couples - all waited on the grass for RiRi to alight upon the stage.

A new organisation called EMMA for Peace has been launched to support and promote music education and cultural dialogue across the Mediterranean and the Middle East. EMMA for Peace, or the Euro Mediterranean Music Academy, is supported by UNESCO. And, according to its website, the organisation aims to create a network of music institutions ‘brought together in the shared interest of music and the promotion of peace in the Mediterranean and Middle East regions.’

Cuba's control over its media just may be lightening up a bit. Cuba's state-controlled Trabajadores newspaper announced the entire list of Cubans nominated for the Latin Grammys, and included even those artists living in exile, ending a long history of ignoring those in exile, according to the Miami Herald.

Indian troops stepped up security in disputed Kashmir's main city of Srinagar on Saturday, ahead of a concert to be held later in the day by celebrated conductor Zubin Mehta. Organizers said the concert would go ahead despite demands by Indian Kashmiri separatists for the event to be cancelled on grounds it would allegedly legitimize Indian "state repression" in the restive region.

The first hotel specializing in the music of Cuba, the Blue Salsa Club, will open its doors in November with a new idea in cultural tourism in the resort community of Varadero, the most famous on the island, local media reported Sunday. The project hatched by Spain’s Blue Bay group and Cuba’s Paradiso cultural tourism agency will promote musical genres like salsa, guaracha, bolero and the Caribbean island’s traditional dances.