Music - the preeminent language of the world. Traveling the globe on the great trade routes, music has blurred frontiers: intermingling, colliding, merging and blending cultures. It climbed aboard oxen in India and shuttled across southern Asia into Europe to erupt as the brazen Gypsy music of today. Ancient African rhythms pulsate through today’s salsa, blues, jazz and rock.

In our day and age, communication has never been more instantaneous or pervasive – reaching into every corner and crevice of this globe. The world is a village and the world’s musical scene is richer than ever -- Jamaican Reggae, Cuban Salsa, British/Indian Bhangra, Marrabente of Mozambique, the Soukous sound of the Congo, Japanese folk-rock, the mesmerizing music of the Sufis.

“Globalization may be a fighting word in politics and business, but in the realm of music, it has a nice ring to it – and a funky beat, and a tantalizing groove.... Cultures are borrowing the sounds of other cultures, creating vibrant hybrids that are then instantly disseminated around the globe to begin the blending process all over again.”

- CHRISTOPHER PORTERFIELD, Executive Editor, TIME MAGAZINE

And yet, we in the West generally hear only the smallest selection of top 40 / popular, chart-busting songs. Many in the “developed nations” are largely deprived of the extraordinary richness of the world’s musical cultures.

How do we broaden our tastes to encompass much more diverse musical flavors? How do we introduce audiences to the riches of these myriad musical forms, reinvigorate our stilted Western musical styles and remind ourselves, through music, that we are all part of the same whole . . . . . ?    (cont. on second page)