ISLAMABAD
(AP) – Carrots haven't worked with Pakistan. Neither have sticks. Now the U.S.
has enlisted the power of jazz music to improve relations with Pakistanis at a
time when the important alliance has hit rock bottom.
The Ari
Roland Jazz Quartet certainly faced a daunting task. The U.S. has spent
billions of dollars over the past 10 years to win Pakistan's support in
fighting al-Qaida and Taliban militants and turn around rampant anti-American
sentiment in the country. Now, Congress is threatening to cut off funding given
the lack of results.
The
performances are part of a recent stepped-up effort by the U.S. Embassy to
sponsor cultural events in Pakistan. Already this year, an American director
has staged Neil Simon's play The Odd Couple. The embassy also plans to bring
over a country rock band and a hip hop group as well as American documentary
filmmakers who will give workshops to Pakistanis.
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.
But
relations between the two countries have been anything but friendly during
their trip.
Only two
days before the musicians got here, militants fired rocket-propelled grenades
and assault rifles at the U.S. Embassy and NATO headquarters in Afghanistan,
killing seven Afghans in an attack that the top U.S. military officer said was
carried out by fighters supported by Pakistan's main spy agency.
Adm. Mike
Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, also blamed the Inter-Services
Intelligence agency for helping militants from the Pakistan-based Haqqani
network who carried out a recent truck bombing in Afghanistan that wounded 77
American soldiers.
Pakistan's
leaders have lashed out in response, warning the U.S. that the allegations in
Washington could destroy the alliance between the two countries. The
accusations have also sparked a fresh wave of anti-American anger in the local
media and among ordinary Pakistanis.
Talk about
a tough audience for a music group.
But Ari
Roland, an energetic double bass player, and his band members, two saxophonists
and a drummer, didn't show any hesitation when they took the stage in front of
several hundred people seated in a small outdoor auditorium in Pakistan's
capital, Islamabad.
Mostly
dressed in suits and ties, the band played several jazz standards, such as
Louis Armstrong's What a Wonderful World and George Gershwin's Summertime. They
also invited a Pakistani musician onstage who played tabla, traditional
percussion instruments that look like bongo drums.
The crowd
cheered as the tabla player accompanied them on several Pakistani songs, his
fingers flying up and down like pistons over the drums. The energy hit its peak
as the crowd sang along to Jazba-e-Junoon, or Spirit of Passion, a patriotic
song by the Pakistani rock band Junoon.
There was
plenty of bilateral good cheer, but the group's performances, which also took
place in the cities of Karachi and Lahore, will likely do little to win over
Pakistanis. The crowds have been small and largely made up of elite Pakistanis
who are more likely to have positive attitudes toward the U.S.
Across the
country, only 12 percent of Pakistanis have a favorable view of the U.S., and
69 percent see the country as an enemy, according to a poll this year by the
U.S.-based Pew Research Center. The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus
4 percentage points.
Attitudes
haven't improved even though the U.S. has given Pakistan roughly $20 billion in
military over the past 10 years and has pledged $7.5 billion in economic aid to
help build things like schools, hospitals and power plants.
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