Ozomatli's Music and Message Attract Thousands of

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 AMMAN 003260

SIPDIS

STATE FOR R/PPR, ECA/PE/C/CU, ECA/PE/C
ALSO FOR NEA/PPD, NEA/ELA, AND IIP
CAIRO FOR PA
TUNIS FOR PA

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KPAO OEXC SCUL JO
SUBJECT: Ozomatli's Music and Message Attract Thousands of
Jordanians to Performances Throughout the Kingdom


1. SUMMARY: The three-time Grammy award-winning Los Angeles-based
Latino funk and hip-hop band "Ozomatli" performed a series of
concerts to highly-receptive audiences during a visit to Jordan last
week, captivating more than 3000 young Jordanians during their tour
of the Kingdom. Ozomatli thrilled audiences everywhere, drawing
people out of their seats to "shake it up" on the dance floor. In
addition to two large concerts, Ozomatli performed for hundreds of
students and children at a series of outreach events at youth summer
camps, a home for abused children, and a Palestinian refugee camp.
The program received extensive media coverage, including television,
radio, and all of the major Arabic daily newspapers. This
attention-getting program supported Embassy Amman's goals of
reaching diverse, young audiences throughout Jordan, and promoted
MPP goals of encouraging mutual understanding and combating
extremism. END SUMMARY.

YOUNG PEOPLE IN JORDAN AND AROUND THE REGION MOVED BY THE MUSIC AND
THE MESSAGE


2. Ozomatli visited Jordan from July 23-28 as part of a Middle East
tour sponsored in part by R and ECA. PA Amman proposed the tour
last fall, and eventually oversaw the regional tour in cooperation
with Embassies Tunis, Beirut and Cairo (Lebanon eventually had to
drop out due to political turmoil). PA Amman's goal, shared by the
participating posts, was to reach large audiences of youth,
including many underprivileged youth, with a message of American
ethnic diversity, peace and tolerance. Through direct engagement
and multiplied outreach through media appearances, we achieved these
goals in each country.


3. Ozomatli performed at two large public venues during their stay
in Jordan: at the 25th Annual Jerash Festival for Culture and the
Arts, and at a free concert in Aqaba. The performance at Jerash
attracted approximately 800 people, and the performance in Aqaba
attracted over 1,000. This turnout was much greater than expected
for Aqaba, where cultural programming is rare, but less than
expected for the Jerash Festival. PA Amman's inquiries after the
event revealed that turnout for the Festival has been low for all of
their performers this year, with fewer than 500 showing up for two
very popular Arab singers who performed the same week. At both
Ozomatli performances, members of the band reached out to make
personal connections with the audience. They jumped off stage and
performed in the center of the dance floor, chatted with the crowd,
took photos, signed autographs, and went to great lengths to show
that we all have more in common than we are different.


4. In addition to their main concerts, Ozomatli performed for
hundreds of young people at a series of outreach events at youth
summer camps, a home for abused children, and a Palestinian refugee
camp near Jerash. Their concert at the Souf UNRWA camp marked the
first time that the USG has programmed a cultural event at a
Palestinian refugee camp in Jordan. UNWRA and other officials there
have invited us to continue such cooperation. Children at the camp
not only loved the music, but enjoyed interacting with the band
members afterward: they played basketball, asked for autographs,
and performed dances for them before they departed. At the Dar Al
Anda children's home for victims of domestic abuse, the director
tearfully thanked the band after having watched the children dance
to Ozomatli's music, clap, chant, and beg for more. She noted that
she had never before seen the children react so enthusiastically to
any program, and emphasized how important it was to their
rehabilitation to have joyful experiences such as this.

OZOMATLI PROMOTES DIVERSITY AND TOLERANCE


5. At every performance, Ozomatli broke down barriers, interacting
personally with their audiences, and showing by example what can be
achieved when you bring diverse groups of people together. The
band's incredible musical talent is influenced by their own varied
ethnic and cultural background. At a time when Jordanians maintain
a largely hostile attitude toward U.S. foreign policy, through this
program they saw the best of America - that diversity and mutual
respect makes us stronger and feeds our ideals. Not just with their
music, but also with their words and actions, Ozomatli promoted
American culture and values and suggested to the audience that peace
and tolerance can bring people closer together. An example of
Ozomatli's willingness to learn about its audiences: bassist Will
Abers performed an improvised song he composed on-the-spot in Arabic
at the Souf Palestinian refugee camp to delighted children.

PRESS COVERAGE


6. All four major Arabic dailies in Jordan reported on the Ozomatli
July 26 concert at Jerash Festival on July 28. Reports were
featured with color photos on the cultural news pages, and more
specifically as part of a page dedicated to Jerash Festival
coverage. During the two weeks leading up to the concert, all major

AMMAN 00003260 002 OF 003


newspapers ran press releases about Ozomatli's tour in the region.
Ozomatli's press conference prior to the concert also received good
coverage in the four Arabic dailies; Embassy PAO participated in the
press conference alongside two members of Ozomatli. During the
conference, this year's U.S. participation in the festival was
highlighted, as well as U.S. ethnic diversity and Ozomatli's message
of hope and peace and respect for world cultures. Under the
headline "Ozomatli presents its performance in the South Theater,"
Arabic daily Ad-Dustour described Ozomatli's performance as
"exceptional" and said that this was the first performance by an
American band at the Jerash Festival in twenty years. The report,
which was featured along with a color photo showing a dancing
audience in front of the band, said that once the members of the
band started "swaying," the audience began to dance and interact
with them. Under the headline "Ozomatli fills the South Theater
with boisterous joy," Arabic daily Al-Arab Al-Yawm said that
Ozomatli has "prompted an atmosphere of boisterous joy ... with
which the large audience interacted to the point that they moved
into the arena of the amphitheater and filled it with dance and
joy." Under the headline "Hip-Hop on the South Theater while the
North Theater celebrated popular traditions," Arabic daily Al-Rai
said that Ozomatli rendered the arena of the South Theater into a
dance floor where the mostly youthful audience danced to their
music. The report, which also featured a photo of the band and the
dancing audience, described Ozomatli's music mixture and mentioned
their regional tour. Under the banner headline "The American
Ozomatli performs its music: a crazy artistic mixture" splashed
across the top of the page with two huge color photos, Arabic daily
Al-Ghad carried a report about Ozomatli's performance focusing on
the "immediate" interaction between the band and the audience, as
Ozomatli turned the arena into a dance floor. The report mentioned
that this was the first American participation in Jerash Festival in
twenty years. The report also featured background information about
the band. Jordanian Television broadcast a report about the
Ozomatli concert in Jerash on its morning show on July 27, which
recapped the Jerash Festival events. The four-minute report showed
cheerful crowds dancing to the band's diverse music. Two days
before their concert at the Jerash Festival, two band members did a
ten-minute interview on a local English language radio station, Play
99.6 FM. The interview was broadcast live during the morning drive
show, which attracts thousands of listeners, both students and young
professionals. The band talked about its music, its message of
peace and justice, and its feelings about touring the region. The
PAO also talked about the reason behind bringing a band such as
Ozomatli, which represents the United States in all its diversity.

IMPACT


7. Ozomatli's visit to Jordan demonstrated Embassy Amman's ongoing
commitment to bringing American cultural events to
culturally-neglected regions of the country, and especially to
reaching younger and more diverse audiences. Ozomatli's rapport
with young people and humble approach to their audiences won them
many converts and garnered tremendous good will for American
culture. One comment posted on a popular blog after the Jerash show
said: "They are inarguably THE best live act I have ever seen, aside
from being amazingly down-to-earth and knowing exactly what moves a
crowd.. hats off for Ozo, good stuff..." Another young boy
commented after the performance in Aqaba that "Ozomatli sweetened
Aqaba tonight." More than 3000 people attended the two large
concerts and four outreach performances. Overall, the program
supported MPP goals of expanding mutual understanding and combating
radicalism through outreach.


8. Cost-share: Ozomatli visited Jordan as part of a regional tour
which also included Tunis and Egypt. The tour was funded by a
Department of State grant that totaled 69,021 USD, distributed among
the three countries. In addition to this grant, PA Amman provided
program support of 8,000 USD, covering expenses related to promotion
and advertising and support services such as equipment rental. PA
Amman obtained sponsorships of the program from local partners that
amounted to 59,000 USD. This included: sponsorship by two major
radio stations (Fann FM in Arabic and Play 99.6 in English),which
launched promotion campaigns of a value of 20,000 USD; the Jerash
Festival contributed approximately 25,000 USD towards performance
fees, hotel rooms in Amman, and sound equipment rental; a local
design and printing firm fully sponsored the design and the printing
of flyers and posters, valued at approximately 7,000 USD; the 5,000
USD performance fee for the concert in Aqaba was sponsored by Tala
Bay, a real estate development corporation; and 2,000 USD worth of
hotel rooms in Aqaba was sponsored by ASEZA (the Aqaba Special
Economic Zone Authority).


9. Amman strongly endorses Ozomatli. They have outstanding musical
talent and are also ideal cultural ambassadors who were eager to
meet people, and talk about their music as well issues they find
important in America. They were generous with their time and

AMMAN 00003260 003 OF 003


flexible in the face of an incredibly demanding schedule. PA Amman
thanks them and would also like to thank R, NEA/PPD, and ECA for
their support of this program. Finally, we thank Embassies Tunis,
Cairo and Beirut for their hard work in supporting this initiative.
We believe that it was worthwhile in terms of the number of people
the program reached, and the positive message that Ozomatli shared
through its music and interactions with thousands of young people.
Photos may be found on U.S. Embassy Amman's website at:
http://amman.usembassy.gov. Additionally, their tour in Jordan was
videotaped by a professional videographer whose tapes will be
forwarded to Washington as soon as editing is complete.

HALE