REQUEST FOR RHYTHM ROAD PROGRAMMING

UNCLAS RANGOON 000759 SIPDIS STATE FOR ECA/PE/C/CU (ROBERT KEITH, COLOMBIA BARROSSE); EAP/PD (KARL STOLTZ, JENNIFER GALT, SABIN HINTON) POSTS FOR PAO AND CAO E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KPAO OEXC SCUL SUBJECT: REQUEST FOR RHYTHM ROAD PROGRAMMING REF: STATE 90853 ¶1. Post wishes to participate in the Rhythm Road - American Music Abroad Program in 2009. Post's first choice is an urban music group and second choice is zydeco. Post can program the group for five days, preferably during the months of January or February (Burma's dry season) in the country's two largest cities, Rangoon and Mandalay. ¶2. This program would advance Post's MSP goal of "Spreading the Word," in which we promote American culture and values in Burma with the aim of encouraging free speech and a more pluralistic society. The program would give impetus to the growing number of Burmese youth and popular music groups who look to the United States as a model for their own futures, and it would also touch upon many aspects of their restricted lives. ¶3. The target audience for a Rhythm Road program is the younger generation of Burmese who are eager to experience American culture first-hand but have limited opportunities because of heavy censorship by the government. Programming in Mandalay would break new ground for the Embassy's Jefferson Center reading room, which opened in February 2008 at the site of the former U.S. Consulate. To date, we have yet to host a significant cultural event at this site. ¶4. Possible venues in Rangoon include the American Center, the International School of Yangon, the Myanmar Institute of Theology, and the American Club. In Mandalay, the aforementioned Jefferson Center would host. ¶5. Rangoon successfully hosted Rhythm Road performer Maya Azucena in April 2008. The concerts in Rangoon were extremely popular with our target audience and left a strong impact on both the performer and her audience. Her concerts here followed a long tradition, going back five decades, of American musicians who came to Burma, including former Jazz Ambassadors Benny Goodman, Duke Ellington, Count Basie and Charlie Byrd. We look forward to continuing this tradition and promoting U.S. culture and values through another musical group traveling via the Rhythm Road. DINGER