Check out this great slideshow from the New York Times. It's photos from the Cold War when jazz musicians were sent to play music and build rapport with people in other countries, especially countries with strong Soviet influence.
What a fantastic example of diplomacy-sending ordinary musicians to talk about their experiences as citizens. Certainly, as Black Americans, these people weren't going to pretend everything was all bread and roses. Apparently, when the State Department tried to instruct Gillespie about how to respond to questions, he replied "I’ve got 300 years of briefing. I know what they’ve done to us, and I’m not going to make any excuses."
Musicians occupy a special place in society- they transcend a lot of class boundaries and the non-verbal nature of music gives it the potential to unite people across langauge and cultural barriers.
We should be promoting New Brunswick this way - send out our musicians as ambassadors, without any beauraucrats. I bet that would be far more effective than any waving at the border, or flyers at gas stations. Hot Toddy, Isaac and Blewett, Jens Jeppesen, the New Brunswick Youth Orchestra, these are the people I'd like to represent us.
1 comment:
Wow. Those are amazing. Cultural exchange!
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