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Secretary of State Antony Blinken plays guitar at the State Department, September 27, 2023.
To be honest, if you told us that the US secretary of state, a 61-year-old white guy, was gonna grab a Stratocaster and belt out some Delta Blues in public, we’d have braced for a much more awkward outcome than this.
But Antony Blinken’s rendition of the Muddy Waters classic “Hoochie Coochie Man” was actually … pretty good! Like, not “Bill Clinton in sunglasses blowing sax on late night TV” good, but probably better than Vladimir Putin nervously crooning “Blyubyerreh Khill” to a room of captive celebrities.
America’s top diplomat sang the blues earlier this week at the launch of a new US initiative that enlists music and musicians to “convey American leadership globally and create connections with people worldwide.”
I couldn’t pass up tonight’s opportunity to combine music and diplomacy. Was a pleasure to launch @StateDept’s new Global Music Diplomacy Initiative. pic.twitter.com/6MUfTXO9xK
— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) September 28, 2023
The Global Music Diplomacy Initiative envisions worldwide exchanges of US and non-US musicians and musical scholars. Music as a way to learn English is one big (and smart) focus. An early round of tour programs includes a Herbie Hancock visit to the Middle East, a Philadelphia Orchestra residency in China, and bringing hip-hop artists into conflict resolution efforts in Nigeria.
The whole thing is reminiscent in some ways of Cold War programs that sent US musicians — sometimes handled by the CIA — to the far corners of the world to spread the gospel of American free market capitalism and artistic liberty.
The world has changed a lot since then — no doubt the US still boasts some of the best and most innovative musicians in the world (we just celebrated the 50th birthday of hip-hop, arguably the most transformative musical genre in history, which was born in the Bronx).
But does the US — divided at home and less trusted abroad — still have the political credibility to really make the world, as Muddy Waters sang, “wanna know what this all about”? We’ll turn up the volume and see where this goes.