The following questions are intended for print and broadcast journalists in connection with interviews with American Voices and their Executive Director John Ferguson. These topics are designed to facilitate conversation with them and will make for a fascinating interview:

1. American Voices artists come from many different areas of the jazz and classical music worlds. How did the initial idea for the organization come together and how do you bring so many styles of music together today?

American Voices got its start in 1990 through a chance invitation to perform in Latvia during the waning days of the Soviet Union. We performed at a festival, Arsenals Festival, organized by the Latvian independence movement. It is a tribute to Glasnost and to the Soviet Embassy in Paris that they ever gave a visa to Americans to perform at such an event! Once in Latvia, we saw the huge curiosity about and enthusiasm for American musicians and American music and composers. We gave concerts featuring everything from Charles Ives and Philip Glass to Cole Porter and Leonard Bernstein. Everywhere there were huge and attentive audiences. We coached students and observed them blossoming under the more open and free way of teaching and interacting we have in the U.S. We visited music libraries and saw they had very few scores by American composers, books about American music and composers or recordings. In general, we saw a kind of blank page waiting to be filled in – curious minds, enthusiastic audiences, well-trained musicians, but little experience our musical culture. So, we started then and there with our program of music score donations, masterclasses and workshops, concerts and interactive projects.

From our beginnings as a trio touring the USSR, we have since expanded from all kinds of classical American music to include jazz and blues programming (1995), Broadway (2001) and Hip Hop (2004). Our geographic range has expanded as well from a focus on the countries formerly behind the Iron Curtain to the Middle East and Asia (1998), Latin America and Central Asia (2000) and Africa and the Caribbean (2004).

In all the countries we visit, there has been a focus on interaction with local performers as a significant part of what we do. In the countries we visit most regularly, Vietnam, Russia, Kazakhstan, etc., we have been able to present one or two big projects per year around different aspects of American music ranging from Broadway and Opera to Jazz and Hip Hop. We have also developed jazz festivals in Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan to address the thirst for international performers in these former republics of the USSR. In other countries such as Burma (and Afghanistan) where the conditions for conducting a cultural program are very challenging, we have focused on interactive projects, such as Jazz Bridges, with local traditional musician as there are few other genres of music and musicians to work with.

2. Tell me about your personal connection with American Voices. What does it mean to you to be part of these music and cultural bridges?

As the founder of American Voices, I take great pride in the work we have been able to accomplish over the years. As a musician and performer, there is nothing more rewarding that being able to perform for audiences who are wildly enthusiastic about your concert and the opportunity to hear American music and performers live for the first time. In the interactive projects we do, such as the Broadway projects we recently performed (May 2005) in Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan and Moldova, it is especially inspiring to meet such talented young musicians and share in their aspirations as we prepare a great show together over the course of one week.

Since September 11th, I have come to see our role in predominantly Muslim countries and elsewhere as quite important as we are often the only exposure our project partners and audiences have to Americans and our culture. In countries like Kazakhstan or Brunei, the opportunities to meet Americans who are not diplomats or businessmen are quite few. We put a human face on the picture of the US that people carry with them and we do this not only through the concert hall, but also through public schools, universities and national television and radio. It is really encouraging to see the warm response we get in countries such as Syria or Turkmenistan. Further proof, if it was needed, that art can transcend the political and economic issues that divide nations and peoples.

One of the messages I would like to bring back to the United States is that relations ‘out there’ are actually not as dire as predicted in the media. There is still a large reservoir of good feeling towards US citizens and I wish more arts organizations and universities would take their programs and resources to countries that have little contact with the US. By this I explicitly mean, please consider changing your international touring schedule from London, Paris, Tokyo to Bishkek, Phnom Penh and Asmara!

Finally, although we are called American Voices, a large part of our effort is spent on encouraging the performance of local jazz, traditional music, etc. Through our Jazz Bridges program, we put our jazz musicians together with local traditional musicians and the results often inspire local musicians to take their traditional music down new paths of exploration or, for audiences, to respect local traditional music even more than before.

To be able to be part of this effort is quite and honor and quite a responsibility which we take quite seriously while enjoying the process to the fullest.

3. Tell me about some of your collaborations with the artists that tour under the auspices of American Voices.

Two recent examples of successful collaborations:

In May of this year (2005) Ira Spaulding and I returned to Ashgabat, Turkmenistan for the 3rd time. It was however, the first time since the government had prohibited performance of Western music in public in mid-2001. Embassies however are exempt from this law and with the help of the US Embassy we were able to schedule a Broadway evening involving local performers in the country’s new concert hall.

We arrived to rehearse a small group of utterly disheartened classically trained singers who had been prohibited from practicing their art in public for the past four years. Many of their colleagues had fled to Russia and the slow demise of western singing in Turkmenistan was obvious. This was in stark contrast to our previous visit in 2001 where we worked with a chorus of 65 classically trained singers and gave masterclasses to dozens of young opera singers.

In any case, we got to work and by the second day the mood had shifted and the rehearsals began to take on a more energetic allure. As we worked together and took breaks together, the stories began to come out: conservatory shut down, no more singing lessons possible, opera house closed, symphony orchestra can only play national music, etc, etc. Everyone wanted to leave – to study in France, to teach piano in Dubai, etc.

There is of course little two American musicians can do about these problems other than listen sympathetically. However, we came to see that our rehearsals were injecting some life back into these Turkmen musicians who had not worked on a significant project in years. By the time of our gala concert, they were exuberant and put on one of the best concerts in recent memory in Turkmenistan. (the program was a Broadway review of songs by Gershwin, Bernstein and Rodgers and Hammerstein).

For me, the grand finale, ‘Tonight’ from West Side Story took on the aura of a kind of freedom anthem, sung in defiance of the years of government restrictions and caveats. The 800 seat auditorium was full, over 500 were turned away for lack of seats, but the concert was broadcast on National Television so it hopefully had a national impact. Ultimately the concert may only have given some brief respite to a small group of singers. But we hope that the government will have noticed that such a concert could be given without provoking insurrection and that Turkmen audiences are enthusiastic of the opportunity to see the world, in the case the US, through cultural performances.

Something special also happened to us in Burma in 2002. In 2001 and 2002 there was a brief period of thaw in the relationship between Burma and the democratic world. The US Embassy and our local sponsor, Unocal, asked us to come put on a concert at the Ambassador’s residence for members of the military government, the National League for Democracy and the UN team working on dialogue between the two. We were thrilled to be part of this event and it all went quite well.

As we started to think of a follow-up project in 2002, I was at a bit of a loss for an interactive program as western music was almost completely moribund in Burma after years of harassment, emigration and destitution. Burmese traditional music was not in much better shape. However, there was a new private music academy in Rangoon that was trying to revive Burmese traditional music and instruments with a faculty of six revered and aged masters. This was the project where the idea for Jazz Bridges was born.

We brought two jazz and two classical musicians from the US to work closely with Burmese traditional and pop musicians for one week. We then put on a concert and recorded it, excerpts of which art available on our CD American Voices Around the World.

The results were quite stunning. After a initial slow and wary start by the Burmese worried about a government crackdown (it came in 2003...), we got to work and discovered a wealth of ways a jazz pianist and singer could work with Burmese harp, the Patt Waing (Burmese tuned percussion), Burmese / Hawaiian Slide Guitar and Zither.

As in Turkmenistan, the stories began to come out about the lack of opportunity to practice one’s art and how this was there first contact ever with foreigners. Although there was little we could offer other than sympathy, as we spent time in the exploring musical possibilities together magical moments began to happen and we were able to meet in a kind of musical middle ground.

For me the two highlights of this project were the Burmese Harp accompanying CoCo York on the spiritual, Motherless Child (see www.americanvoices.org) and Mike Del Ferro working from a synthesizer with the singer Sue Wei (who despite her striking voice, had to make her living singing Karaoke songs with Chinese tourists) in a classical song Burmese song, The Kings of Tavoy.

At the final gala concert, the Burmese audiences were reluctant to show much public enthusiasm for the program, but we later learned this was due to the government observers planted in the audience, taking notes on who might be too enthusiastic. Privately however, many commented that this was the first time such a fusion of Burmese music and jazz had been attempted, with compelling results.

In the meantime, Burma has slid even further into decline and despotism, but Voice of America continues to broadcast our Jazz Bridges CD and we hope it continues to inspire listeners around Burma. We also hope to someday to be able to return to continue our work with Burmese traditional music and musicians. The old masters are still there and we hope to be able to capture even more of their art before it is too late.

4. Tell me about your current projects. How about the recent concerts in Vietnam? Describe what it’s like to work with young musicians and perhaps children that have never been exposed to classical or jazz music before.

We recently brought the first Hip Hop group from the US ever to Vietnam. Each of the two concerts in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City was completely sold out to an audience of over 4000 Vietnamese teenagers. In a country where official state media controls all images of the US, it was quite a cultural coup for audiences around the country to see this concert on TV. HaviKoro performed with several local Hip Hop / Rappers / BreakDancing groups and the opportunity for your people to work with HaviKoro and to perform together, undoubtedly left an indelible impression. We have been close partners of the US Embassy and Consulate in Vietnam and have brought the first performances of American opera (Porgy and Bess in concert version) and Broadway to Vietnam audiences through joint performances with Vietnamese students from the conservatories of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. HaviKoro specializes in bringing Hip Hop with positive message to young people and the Vietnamese government was particularly pleased with their message of saying no to violence in drugs.

Other current projects include:

May 2005: Broadway in Central Asia tour – the first Broadway shows ever in Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Moldova. In each of these projects we prepare a revue with students from the local conservatory.

Jazz from J to Z in Pakistan: American Voices Jazz Artists CoCo York and Mike Del Ferro Trio tour Lahore, Peshawar and Islamabad, Pakistan under the auspices of the US Embassy Islamabad. Highlights of the tour include a joint performance with Pakistan’ star performer Makaal Hasan in Islamabad.

Gershwin in Latin America: All Gershwin concerts with the Symphony Orchestra of Mendoza, Argentina featuring highlights from Porgy and Bess, Rhapsody in Blue and An American in Paris. Further concerts include a July 4th concert in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic and a tour of Mexico and El Salvador.

Broadway in Brunei: concerts in the public schools of Brunei and an evening concert for the Brunei Music Society at the Sultan’s Polo Club in late July.

Taiwan International Summer Jazz and Broadway Academies, Taipei. Shih Chien University: Two one-week academies providing the only international level jazz and Broadway educational opportunities in Taiwan. Featuring an international faculty of 11 from the US and Europe, the academies also offer 5 public concerts featuring faculty and outstanding students throughout the country.

5. Have there been any problems you’ve encountered along the way as ambassadors of American music? Or have there been any unexpected joys that you’ve found along the way?

The joys far outnumber and outweigh the problems! We are fortunate to have US Embassies and consulates as our partners in most of our projects and they have the staff time and clout to deal with most of the problems we face.

I would say the two biggest problems we face are dealing with corrupt officials and with government resistance to our visits. When organizing our jazz festivals for example, we have often been asked point blank by Ministries of Culture for bribes or inflated prices or special fees at the last minute in order to carry on with our program. We have had to suspend our festival in Azerbaijan indefinitely for this reason alone. We now find it easier to work there with smaller projects that do not involve officialdom. The other problem we often have is with controlling authoritarian governments who are not accustomed to our interactive style of working with local musicians in the American repertoire. Such governments’ first reaction to our projects is often resistance. But, I must say that we have been able to win over many of the most resistant over several years of steady programming. It is perhaps hard for many US readers to imagine, but in many of the places we go, we must first perform our program for censorship committees before we can take to the stage (Vietnam, Brunei). Although I dislike censorship, I must say that their committees and American Voices now know each other in many countries and have developed a trusting working relationship. The final obstacle we face is visas. Some countries are extremely difficult in giving visas to U.S. citizens. In most case this is a tit-for-tat result of our tightened visa policies in the United States, but in some cases, the arrival of foreign musicians makes governments nervous. I only wish we were considered to hold such power and influence in the United States!

6. Do you like working with living composers and musical styles from the many countries the group has visited?

Most of the work we do with living composers is with American composers. Two of America’s foremost composers sit on our advisory board, William Bolcom and Frederic Rzweski. We also have worked closely with Dan Welcher, Edward Knight and other recognized composers.

We have participated in many contemporary music festivals in places like Albania, Slovakia and Latvia however and had the chance to perform short compositions by composers there. It is interested to see how the United States is viewed as the Mecca for new music and composers in many countries. I am not sure most US composers would see it that way, but there does seem to be a deep respect for American innovation and originality.

7. How are you responding to the changing face of music and its relationship to the world of the 21st century?

To be honest, we spend much of our time in time warps and fortunately do not have to grapple with this difficult issue facing the developed world, especially the US and Europe. In the countries of former USSR, the performing arts are still held in high regard and concerts are well-attended and conservatories full of young artists. Music is considered a very respectable profession which can lead to access to the outer world, travel and a dependable income. Music is also one of the best ways to communicate to the public in these countries as media gives intense coverage of our concerts with interviews, documentaries following our projects, etc. So, in much of the world we do not have to face the phenomenon of declining and aging audiences, etc.

In other parts of the world, such as the Middle East and Asia, classical music and jazz are ascendant and countries are busy building their concert halls and conservatories, hiring foreign faculty and developing their cultural lives. It is quite fun and rewarding to be able to work mostly in these environments.

In particular, jazz seems to be a livelier tradition in countries such as Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan where it is being mingled with traditional music and other popular traditions to create new national version of Jazz. It is very encouraging to work with jazz musicians in this part of the world where the art form is not limited by public taste shaped by commercial media’ s influences.

So, in the big picture, the problems America faces will be the problems of Asia and the Middle East perhaps 15 to 20 years from now. In the meantime, I would hope that American musicians can give their all to help outer countries currently building up their cultural lives.

8. Tell me about plans for reaching countries of the world you haven’t reached yet.

We are especially interested in working more in Africa and the Middle East, but the funding and current climate for these countries is quite a challenge. State Department funding for cultural programs is also rapidly dwindling from almost non-existent to zero in favor of democracy-promotion and other post 9/11 necessities. Despite this situation, we are working more and more closely with local sponsors in the countries where we want to perform.

In the Middle East, we are hoping and waiting for a thaw in the relationship and more open societies in some countries such as Saudi Arabia that would allow us to resume the kind of programming we were doing prior to 2001.

In general, though, the problem comes back to one of funding. Audiences almost everywhere are open to and enthusiastic for the kinds of performing and educational programs we offer. We are currently developing a plan for long-term viability and sustainability with annual programs and projects centered on Central Asia, the Middle East, Africa and South East Asia.

9. What is the funniest or most moving thing that’s ever happened to you in your travels?

The most moving thing that happens with regular consistency is the kind of roaring response we get in a city that has never before hosted American musicians of the particular kind of music we are offering.

I think of two cities where we recently toured in Kazakhstan, Karaganda and Aktau. Just the overwhelming applause when you walk out on stage is quite moving. You realize you are making history for this city and this audience and all their hopes and aspirations about the United States are somehow tied up in this performance. There is also a quality of audience attention in those situations that is quite inspiring. They are hanging on to every note and nuance and it simply inspires you to do you very best. Also in Kazakhstan, we recently performed our Broadway review in Astana with over 40 local music students from the Conservatory. They did a fantastic job and the pride that audience took in their own students performing Broadway, well, for the first time was very moving and deeply satisfying.

The funniest moments often have to do with language and cultural contexts and are a bit hard to explain in English in writing... hmmmmmmmmmm...

10. What does the future hold for American Voices?

We are looking at a Jazz Bridges project in September 2005 project in a ‘recovering country’ that has just returned to Democracy after successful elections. Security concerns do not allow me to reveal where until after the program, but it will be the first American performance there in many years.

Otherwise, we are issuing two new CDs this fall – Jazz Bridges Azerbaijan, recorded at a live concert in Baku on June 15th, and a live recording from the September project mentioned above.

We are looking to deepen our relationships with the countries of Central Asia and the Middle East as well as to continue to work with our Asia and Latin American partners, particularly Vietnam, China, Taiwan and Burma.

American Voices website is at www.americanvoices.org.

All press inquiries should be directed to Jeffrey James Arts Consulting at 516-797-9166 or .