ON January 26, the Embassy of India held the local celebration of the South Asian nation’s 75th Republic Day at the Rizal Ballroom of Makati Shangri-La. Ambassador Shambu Kumaran welcomed distinguished guests from the government, diplomatic and consular corps, as well as business leaders who joined the Indian community, who…
In 1970, when Sultan Qaboos came to power, Oman had only two schools, not one of them for girls. Today, the country's public university protects itself from the female onslaught with a men's quota. Charlotte Wiedemann reports
As reform protests grow in the Sultanate, it's worth remembering that its ruler doesn't deserve to be mentioned among the worst of the Arabian autocrats. By Robert Kaplan
Documenting Diversity
A recent conference brought together music experts from all five continents in the Moroccan town of Assilah. The event defined itself as an initiative to take stock of the diverse musical forms in all the countries of Islamic culture. Manfred Ewel reports
The responsibility of cultural policy for music education is of essential importance for musical development, but this issue was not discussed at the conference
The first conference on Arab music was held in Cairo in 1932, attended by music experts and musicians from Europe and the most important Arab countries.
Due to the fundamental changes that the world and the Islamic-influenced countries have been through since then, the subject area was broadened this time around to cover the entire Islamic world and phenomena such as music and the mass media, global trends in music consumption and the influence of state cultural policy.