Think Paul Simon’s “Graceland” with Ladysmith Black Mambazo. Think Sting’s “Desert Rose” with Algerian sensation, Cheb Mami. Think Ry Cooder and the “Buena Vista Social Club”; the Beatles and Ravi Shankar; R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe and Indian singer Asha Bhosle on the great “1 Giant Leap”; the “Worlds Apart” duet between Bruce Springsteen and Asif Ali Khan; Wyclef Jean and Youssou N’Dour singing “Diallo”; or the just-released collaboration between Macy Gray, D’Angelo and Femi Kuti on the album tribute to Femi’s dad, Fela.

Musicians at the top of their game regularly gain inspiration from a wide variety of musical influences. Increasingly these sources come from lands far away – Cuba, Senegal, India, the Middle East, Algeria, South Africa. The resulting collaborations are startling, refreshing and superbly entertaining.

This program proposes to create and film musical cross-collaborations, not in a spotty, sporadic fashion, but on a broad, thorough and comprehensive scale. Anchored by a series of feature length music documentaries, this program enables its viewers to gain a better understanding of their neighbors in this extraordinarily diverse world.

The WWOM has been carefully engineered to become a powerful platform, and widely recognized and respected institution on the world’s cultural landscape -- a source of entertainment, celebration and learning for generations to come.