[FA Worldmusic] (Mis)adventures in musical diplomacy

[Steve Hochman]

Mark, thanks for sending that around. Fascinating... and maybe he'll  
start a trend. As we know, music and art can be the best diplomacy  
tool...




On Jul 2, 2008, at 12:21 PM, Mark Gorney wrote:

> I don't know if anyone's been following this story but probably a  
> first in
> whirled music, US ambassador to Paraguay James Cason (formerly head  
> of the
> US interests section in Havana), cut an album of Guarani folk songs:
> http://www.miamiherald.com/457/story/582020.html
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> Audio interview: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7484512.stm
>
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> but apparently he didn't quite get it right:
> http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080627/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/paraguay_us_singing_am
> bassador
>
>
>
> Moral of the story: especially given the terrible history of the US  
> in Latin
> America, if you're going to genuinely respect the culture of a  
> place, take
> the time to make sure you're doing it properly, otherwise you're just
> perpetuating the same culture of ignorance, and some would say  
> imperialism.
> Or maybe US Gov't. personnel just don't make good singers?
>
>
>
> When Cason was in Cuba, he never did any son.
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> Mark Gorney
>
> Worldisc
>
> 415.826.2638
>
> mark at worldisc.net
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