Music

Alvin Atkinson & The Sound Merchants, a jazz/blues band based in New York City, traveled to Iraq and Afghanistan to perform a series of concerts as a part of the Department of State’s Musical Overtures cultural exchange program, USA Today reported yesterday:

Though U.S. musicians have visited other countries on cultural exchange missions for years, Musical Overtures is the first to take them into the dual war zones of Iraq and Afghanistan, says Alina Romanowski, the State Department's deputy assistant secretary for professional and cultural exchanges.