While most media coverage around Islam focuses on wars or terrorism, two female singers, Falguni Shah and Emel Aykanat, are using music to show a fuller picture. They do not know each other...but for years they have each used Oriental instruments and rhythms to speak out against racism and try to overcome prejudices.

"Cool Japan" hasn't succeeded in spreading Japanese pop music very far. AKB48 seems poised to change that. AKB48 isn't blazing a new path forward for Japanese culture; it's an extension of what has been selling but applied to music.

Brazil, stressed the availability of the Angolan musician and composer André Mingas for the enhancement of cultural diplomacy between the two States..."The country thus lost an outstanding man of culture... he contributed to the spreading of the Angolan culture and strengthen cultural relations with Brazil,"

For two countries that have spent so much time together, the traces of an American cultural impact are faint and will grow dimmer still as the United States military withdraws...but there is a hip-hop scene.

One of the aims of RIFF is to project local folk music in a more contemporary and global setting. Part of the idea behind the five-day festival is to encourage musical collaborations across countries and genres.

Washington and Islamabad may have traded accusations and veiled threats in recent weeks, but a series of joint concerts here by an American jazz band and a Pakistani soft-rock group demonstrated that in nonpolitical spheres the two countries can have a productive and at times — does one dare say it? — harmonious relationship.

The relationship between the US and Pakistan is back on track. Musically speaking, that is. ...a series of joint concerts here by an American jazz band and a Pakistani soft-rock group demonstrated that in nonpolitical spheres the two countries can have a productive and at times - does one dare say it? - harmonious relationship.

The jazz quartet from New York City arrived in Pakistan about two weeks ago for a series of concerts and music classes with local musicians. The trip culminated with a live recording of a “friendship song” with a Pakistani rock band during a concert Tuesday night.