Bridging Culture Gaps With Music

In the 1977 film, "Close Encounters of the Third Kind", space aliens and human beings figure out that they can communicate through a simple musical phrase. The movie was one of the first to portray aliens not as enemy invaders to be wary of, but as friendly beings sharing a universe with us. Tonight on the Front Porch, we'll look at real-life examples of people using music to bridge cultural rifts. We'll talk with Harlow Robinson, a member of the Yale Russian Chorus alumni group. When he was an undergraduate, he organized the YRC's trip to Russia during the height of the Cold War.

The YRC alumni group will perform at Dartmouth this Sunday. Click here for more information.

We'll also speak with Ed Gerskey, chief of music programs for the Voice of America radio service about the way the VOA has tried over the years to share the popular culture of the U.S. with countries around the world.