OZOMATLI TO PERFORM IN INDIA AND NEPAL
AS U.S. CULTURAL AMBASSADORS
Ozomatli |
Since their inception over ten years ago, Ozomatli's mission has been to globally spread a message of peace and understanding through diversity in music. From February 11th thru 21st, Ozomatli will be extending their devotion to polyglot urban sound clashing all the way to India and Nepal, representing the United States as Cultural Ambassadors on a Fullbright-Hays grant from the State Department.
As guests of the US Embassy in India, the three time Grammy award winning band will take part in free public concerts, musical workshops, master classes, and community outreach. The theme of the program is music education, devised to appeal to Indian youth, and to advance mutual understanding between the United States and India.
They will be visiting the Arya Anathalaya Orphanage and School, the Prayas Juvenile Aid Center and the Ravi Shankar Institute for Music and Performing Arts in New Delhi. They will also have the unique opportunity to perform the first ever live concert at Nek Chand's Rock Garden in Chandiargh, a sculpture garden and amphitheatre built entirely of industrial waste items, and a world ecological landmark.
In Nepal, the theme will be "Unity in Diversity," to celebrate the newly ratified Peace Accord, ending 10 years of turmoil and isolation. They will be doing various workshops through the Umbrella Foundation, an organization that works with five orphanages which are currently overrun with children who have been affected by the last 10 years of conflict. They will also work with local student / youth musical groups on the theme "Constructive Ways To Make Your Voices Heard," teaching disenfranchised youth ways to integrate their social messages into music.
Ozomatli are an L.A. based, multiethnic, multiracial group who are a living example that music can transcend any cultural or social boundary. Ozomatli has long been devoted to outreach and community involvement, and these performances and workshops - in Delhi, Bangalore, Chandigarh and Kathmandu - are a further extension of that commitment.
Ozomatli releases their fourth full length studio album, Don't Mess With The Dragon April 3rd in the U.S. on Concord Records.
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