U.S. sends musicians to make overtures in war zones

In March 2009, 4 musicians from Alvin Atkinson and the Sound Merchants traveled with the U.S. State Department for a new diplomacy program called Musical Overtures. They visited Armenia, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Lebanon, with the hopes of bridging the cultural divide between he U.S. and these conflict–area zones.

Pianist Jonathan Lefcoski walked into a rehearsal at a music club in Baghdad. He did not know if he would be welcomed, or at least his music recognized. However, he was playing through Caraven, an American Jazz classic with an Iraqi bass player. He said that he realized that, "music was universal."

The U.S. musicians had already traveled to other countries in the past. However, this was the first time that Music Overtures took musicians into the war zones of Iraq and Afghanistan. The State Department had always wanted to send musicians over to Iraq and Afghanistan, but they could not because of the brutal situations in those areas that did not provide musicians with enought safety.

This kind of project is called a cultural diplomacy. This type of diplomacy dates back to the Cold War. Music was considered as a "good cultural weapon." The government back then sponsored musicians, especially Jazz musicians because Jazz was the most internationally known type of music that originated in the U.S. Jazz musicians such as Louis Armstrong and Dizzy Gillespie were sent into countries.

However, Alvin Atkinson (the lead singer and drummer) and his band had faced problems in the past also. On a different tour two years ago, a man in Jordan called him a "bloodsucking imperalist." and told him to leave the country. A black president seemed to improve foreign attitudes toward the U.S. On the other hand, Atkinson remembers his day in the city of Mazar-e-Sharif, where he danced on stage with Hassan Bismil, a famous singer. Atkinson began to sing, and the crowd quickly grew from a few dozen to more than 300 people. They did not know any English, but they tried to sing along with him anyway.

Now, Musical Overtures is growing steadily, mainly from the influence of George W. Bush. He had increased the budget of such cultural programs from $900,000 to $1o million in 2008. The budget right now remains at $8.5 million. Hilary Clinton, Secretary of State, stated that the cultural exchange is an important part of Obama administration's emphasis on using non-military ways to expand American influence.

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The responses from other readers to this article was mostly negative. They were criticizing that this news article should not be one of the head articles. I disagree. Music Overtures is one of the few ways that can reach out to civilians, the true owners of their countries, and speack of peace through music. Music has no boundaries. Music is one of the few things that every single person on this planet appreciates and is fond with. Instead of guns, why not use music? I also admire the musicians who traveled into the war-zones despite risks of death.