PAS AMMAN BRINGS HIP HOP TO JORDAN

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 001852 SIPDIS STATE FOR ECA/PE/C/CU (SROUSE); NEA/PPD (DBENZE) E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KPAO OEXC SCUL JO SUBJECT: PAS AMMAN BRINGS HIP HOP TO JORDAN ¶1. SUMMARY: PAS Amman organized a highly successful musical program with the American hip hop jazz ensemble Opus Akoben February 27-March 1, 2006. The group performed live at three venues in Irbid and Amman, and also conducted three master classes. More than 550 young people from a broad range of backgrounds attended the concerts. The program enabled the Mission to engage young Jordanians at a time of heightened tension in the region and helped to create a sense of goodwill toward the U.S. among Jordanian youth. Embassy Amman will capitalize on this goodwill with its ongoing outreach activities targeting this critical audience. End Summary. -------------- REACHING OUT TO YOUTH -------------- ¶2. To reach young Jordanians with a positive message from the U.S. and increase understanding of and appreciation for U.S. society and values, the Public Affairs section of Embassy Amman scheduled Opus Akoben at a variety of venues. The three musical performances took place at Yarmouk University, at a popular local dance club, and at the premier cultural venue in downtown Amman. The band also conducted master classes with students from Yarmouk University in Irbid, students at the University of Jordan and the Jordanian Academy for Music, and students of the local Haya Cultural Center in Amman. Overall, more than 145 students participated in the workshops. ¶3. At Yarmouk University in Irbid, Opus Akoben's program began with a master class. They later gave an impromptu live performance at the student activities building. Eighty students attended the master class with Jordanian musicians performing classical music which the band integrated into a musical hip hop piece with Jordanian influences. The musicians played together harmoniously as the different musical traditions melded their respective musical voices. Following the master class, the band then performed for an audience that had grown to 110 students. -------------- MAKING AN IMPRESSION -------------- ¶4. Opus Akoben performed February 27 at Club Fez, a popular local dance club in western Amman. Club Fez, which typically uses recorded music or DJs as its draw, energized a full house of 130 patrons with Opus Akoben's lively performance. Opus Akoben's rich mix of hip hop with reggae and jazz overtones kept the place hopping until early in the morning. -------------- CREATING AN OPENING -------------- ¶5. On Wednesday evening, March 1, 2006, Opus Akoben performed live in front of more than 300 fans at Al Hussein Cultural Center in Amman. The Center, usually the venue for staid performances of classical or traditional music, saw its ambience dramatically transformed. The evening started with a short but lively set performed by the local funk band INK. Opus Akoben then came on stage and by the end of the first song had much of the audience clapping or dancing in their seats. Then, with the onset of next song, some 50 fans came down front and spent the rest of the concert dancing in front of the stage while others danced in the aisles. Opus engaged the crowd with classic hip-hop call-and-response interaction, and a group of "b-boys" fans even came on stage to perform break-dance moves. The audience of high school and university students was totally enthralled with this multi-influential, rhyme-driven hip-hop funk music and dance. -------------- ENGAGING AN AUDIENCE OF CRITICAL IMPORTANCE -------------- ¶6. The impact of this program was fortuitous and timely. Fortuitous as it enabled Embassy Amman to advance its MPP goal of increasing mutual understanding among a hard-to-reach constituency - Jordanian youth. The positive message promoted by the band was applauded by all in attendance. This was not the hip-hop often portrayed in popular music videos, featuring "gangsta rap" and misogyny - at ease with drugs and violence. This was a more constructive rap of socially-engaged rhyming to a beat, dealing with social reality in stark but heartfelt terms. The program was timely as Jordanians, like many Arabs, have a low regard for U.S. foreign policy. This music was a way to avoid polemics and speak of shared values through music directly to the youth. As Terence Nicholson, one of Opus Akoben's two lead rappers said in thanking the audience: "What comes from the heart goes to the heart." The goodwill generated by this program and similar PAS activities will create more openness for Embassy Amman activities that promote reform and empowerment. An indication of the success of the program was the numerous requests for the band to return to the area later in the year. -------------- HELPING WITH COSTS -------------- ¶7. The Municipality of Amman provided the Hussein Cultural Center and its support staff free of charge. Local band INK opened for Opus Akoben free-of-charge, bringing along their enthusiastic local fans. -------------- GETTING THE WORD OUT -------------- ¶8. Press coverage of the program included a taped interview on the popular music station Beat FM, which played the interview after the performance. Embassy Amman also distributed 200 posters and 400 flyers in both Arabic and English to eight high schools in Amman and all 20 private and public universities in Jordan, ensuring the widest possible awareness of the event among the targeted audience. HALE