By PRISCA SAM-DURU

As part of its social and cultural responsibility to positively promote, through a wide range of academic, cultural, private sector, professional, and sports exchange programs thereby, encouraging the youths to engage in meaningful activities, the United States Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs has made plans to sponsor musicians from 21 countries, including Nigeria, who will travel to the United States to engage audiences in Main Street America through Cultural Diplomacy.

OneBeat   Programme being the platform for the event builds on US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton’s vision of “smart power” which embraces a full range of diplomatic tools, which includes music, to bring people, especially youths together to foster greater understanding.

As a cultural diplomacy initiative, the programme which begins from 10th of September in New Smyrna Beach, Florida, OneBeat, will connect international musicians with American musicians and audiences, especially underserved youth.

Places to be toured include,  Charleston, SC; Asheville, NC; Floyd, VA; Roanoke, VA; Washington D.C, Philadelphia,  and New York, where they will engage with local musicians, and also conduct outreach workshops with local youths.  The musicians are expected also to perform in ensembles, reinvent traditional tunes, compose original works, record in the state-of-the-art OneBeat mobile studio, and prepare for performances and educational workshops

Michael Olukayode Kuti, former bass player of Fela Anikulapo-Kuti’s Egypt 80 Band, whose musical career started at the early stage of 15, is also billed to join the other musicians for the tour.