A United Nations of Music

Aditi Bhagwat, an Indian foot percussionist, rehearsing with other OneBeat fellows,
 Kyungso Park, left, and Chance McCoy at Atlantic Center for the Arts

OneBeat has brought together 32 musicians from 21 countries to write, produce and record original music.

NEW SMYRNA BEACH, Fla. — In one studio a Polish saxophonist was jamming with an Indonesian gamelan master. In another, two singer-songwriters — one from Kenya, the other from Denmark — were finishing a song they had written together. Next door a Lebanese oud player and a Korean playing a traditional zitherlike instrument called a gayageum rehearsed a duet for a coming live performance.


In one room after another world music in its truest sense was being created last month at the Atlantic Center for the Arts here, just north of Cape Canaveral. As part of a new federally sponsored program called OneBeat, 32 musicians from 21 countries on 5 continents, almost equally divided between men and women, were brought together to write, produce and record original music and take it on the road for American audiences.

“The canvas here is huge,” said Aditi Bhagwat, a singer, percussionist and dancer from Mumbai. “I’ve seen instruments I’ve never seen; heard rhythms, scales and harmonies I’ve never heard; and tried things that, if I did them in India, some might think I was foolish. But here everyone is open to new things, to change and experimentation, which can only encourage you to grow as an artist.”

On Thursday the OneBeat tour will arrive in Brooklyn, the last stop on a tour that began in Orlando, Fla., and included stops in Charleston, S.C.; Asheville, N.C.; Roanoke and Floyd, Va.; Washington; and Philadelphia. The musicians are scheduled to visit the Brooklyn Community Arts and Media High School, check out local recording studios and perform at Roulette in Boerum Hill on Friday, and the Bring to Light Festival, on the waterfront in Greenpoint, on Saturday, before returning to their home countries.

Read More